I remember an episode of “The Simpsons” where the Simpson family went to a movie that played so many ads that the crowd – led by Homer Simpson – started chanting “START THE MOVIE! START THE MOVIE!”. I felt the same way when I recently went to a movie theater. Specifically, an AMC movie theater.
I’ve seen 3 movies in the last few weeks. I saw “The Equalizer 3” a couple weeks ago and then I saw two movies in one day – “A Haunting in Venice” and “Dumb Money” – this past weekend. I happened to see all 3 movies in the same multiplex – the AMC at The Grove. After seeing the same series of ads – including the movie previews – 3 times in a row, I started to feel like Homer Simpson. Enough of the advertisements! START THE MOVIE! If a movie is listed as 1 hour 45 minutes, it would actually play OVER 2 HOURS due to all the things that played before it.
Fortunately, AMC movie theaters – at least the theaters in the Los Angeles area – have reserved seating so you can avoid the additional 15 minutes of ads that they call “pre-show entertainment” but still have a good seat in the movie theater. However, even if you show up at the scheduled movie showtime you’ll still have to sit through a series of things.
The first thing shown around the scheduled start time of the movie was the “Fathom Entertainment” advertisements. Special screenings of classic movies or other events shown on movie theater screens on certain dates. I’m not sure how these differ from movie previews since some of them are advertising upcoming movies but at least they were shorter than the average preview running time. The next thing that played is the AMC promos advertising concession items and the “AMC Stubs” membership program.
(Full disclosure: I am an “AMC Stubs” member. Not the “A-List” membership which includes up to 3 free movies every week. I’m on the “Premiere” level which includes all the benefits EXCEPT for the free movies. It’s much cheaper than the “A-List” membership.)
Next up on screen is the biggest (and longest) part of the things that play before the movie – the movie previews (in the past, I have written that the movie previews are actually advertisements). The first comment I have about the previews are how many played. THERE WERE AT LEAST 8 MOVIE PREVIEWS BEFORE EACH MOVIE. The average run time of a movie preview is about 2 minutes so that’s 16 MINUTES of movie previews. I know that some people love movie previews but there are DOZENS of ways to watch them. You can even watch some previews on the AMC website. It would make sense if all the movie previews were for movies coming out in the next few weeks, but some of the previews were for movies that open in 2024. Watching a preview for a movie that opens a few months away doesn’t really promote a movie. Unless someone really wants to see the movie, I believe that most people will need another reminder about the movie closer to the release date.
The second comment I have is that they showed at least 1 preview from EVERY MAJOR STUDIO. There was at least 1 preview for a Disney release (including Fox/Searchlight/Pixar/Marvel/Lucasfilm movies), a Paramount release, a Universal release, a Warner Bros release, and a Sony release (which includes Columbia/Sony Picture Classics/Tri Star). There were also 2 previews for movies that will be released by a smaller studio (like MGM or Lionsgate) or an independent distributor. The last 2-3 previews that played are for movies from the studio that released the movie I’m going to (eventually) see. For “Equalizer 3” and “Dumb Money” there were 2 Sony previews. For “A Haunting in Venice” there were 3 previews for movies Disney is releasing soon.
I’m guessing that showing a preview from every major studio is due to some sort of deal that the studios made with AMC theaters, however there is a problem with that deal. For example, Paramount currently only has 3 previews showing in movie theaters (as far as I know) because they don’t have many movies coming out soon. 1 of them is an animated movie – “Paw Patrol The Mighty Movie” – and the other 2 are dramas – “Killers of the Flower Moon” (which is actually an Apple Studios production that Paramount is releasing theatrically), and “Bob Marley: One Love”. If AMC is playing at least 1 Paramount preview before EVERY movie it shows, that means the people who go to AMC theaters a lot will be seeing those previews a lot – especially for “Bob Marley: One Love” since that movie isn’t opening in theaters for about 4 MONTHS. Also, after “Killers of the Flower Moon” is released, there will only be 1 Paramount preview to play before ALL adult movies. Although I’m guessing that Paramount will release another preview around that time so they’ll have 2 previews showing before the movie (probably “A Quiet Place Day One” which Paramount is currently scheduled to release in March 2024)
What’s even worse is when AMC still decides to show the same preview before several movies when there are other previews they can show. Warner Bros has at least 2 other previews showing in movie theaters (“Wonka” and “Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom”) but I saw “The Color Purple” preview play BEFORE ALL 3 MOVIES I watched.
(START THE MOVIE!!!!)
Finally, after all the previews run there are still MORE ADS. There’s an AMC promo to silence your cell phones, look for the emergency exits, and things like that. Then there’s the AMC advertisement I HATE THE MOST. The AMC advertisement that Nicole Kidman is in. WHY do they show this right before the movie. I’m ALREADY IN AN AMC THEATER so I don’t need to see an advertisement for AMC theaters.
The first thing I hate about the advertisement is one of mine pet peeves. She references “a silver screen”. Movie theater screens haven’t been silver for years. Movie theaters screens are now matte white. They used to be silver to make the projection brighter. Now they have laser projectors. They don’t need the screen to make the image brighter.
The second thing I hate about the advertisement is the line “WE MAKE MOVIES BETTER”. AMC theaters SHOW movies. AMC occasionally releases movies, but THEY DON’T MAKE MOVIES. They also don’t make movies BETTER. I’d love to see someone try to run an advertisement at Dodger Stadium where they say, “WE MAKE BASEBALL BETTER”, or an advertisement at SoFi Stadium that says, “WE MAKE FOOTBALL BETTER”. They don’t make the game better; they only make WATCHING THE GAME better. The same could be said for AMC Theatres.
(START THE MOVIE!!! START THE MOVIE!! START THE MOVIE!!)
For 2 of the movies, I was in a premium format theater so the next thing that showed on screen was a logo for it. There’s a promo logo for Dolby Vision, for IMAX, and for Real-D 3D.
Then…. finally…. the actual movie starts playing. Approx. 20-30 minutes AFTER THE LISTED SHOWTIME. All the things that play before the movie at AMC theaters is one of the reasons that people miss the Arclight Cinema chain – which showed hardly any advertisements and only 2-4 previews before the movie. However, than could be why the Arclight Cinemas shut down (there is still a chance their Cinerama Dome theater in Hollywood may reopen in 2024). A few of the former Arclight Cinemas are now AMC theaters. Then again, AMC has been having financial troubles recently.
There was an episode of The Simpsons” that had a parody of the “THX” logo that played in several movie theaters years ago (I don’t think many theaters play it anymore). I’m not sure if it was the same episode where they complained about everything that played before the movie started but – ironically – after that episode aired, THX made that parody into a real logo and played it in movie theaters for a short time. So “The Simpsons” created another ad that showed before a movie started.
LOS ANGELES FILM REVIEW 