I am a big fan of “movie previews” (also known as “trailers”). Watching a good preview could be better than watching a whole movie (because they sometimes put the best scenes from a movie in the preview). Some people go into the theater to find their seats several minutes after the scheduled showtime (thanks to reserved seating they don’t have to come early to get a good seat). Other people would like movie theaters to list 2 showtimes – the second showtime is for when the actual feature film starts playing. Personally, I always make sure I’m in my seat at least 5 minutes before the listed showtime so I won’t miss any of the previews.
However, I still think it’s possible to show too many previews. Recently, I went to see “Captain America Brave New World” and the number of previews was well above the acceptable amount. The following 10 PREVIEWS played:
- “KARATE KID: LEGENDS”
- “NOVOCAINE”
- “JURASSIC WORLD: REBIRTH”
- “THE AMATEUR”
- “THE ACCOUNTANT 2”
- “MISSION IMPOSSIBLE – THE FINAL RECKONING”
- “HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON” (2025)
- “SUPERMAN” (2025)
- “THE FANTASTIC FOUR: FIRST STEPS”
- “THUNDERBOLTS*”
There was also a promo for the upcoming theatrical re-release of the Harry Potter movies, and the “IMAX” logo mentioned “THE FANTASTIC FOUR: FIRST STEPS” movie. When you add up the time for previews and the movie theater logos and promos, there was approx. 30 MINUTES before the feature film started playing. Even a fan of movie previews like me would say that’s WAY TOO MANY PREVIEWS.
Realistically, movie previews are just extended versions of commercials. These days you sometimes see “go online to see the full preview” at the end of a commercial for the upcoming movie on television. You can see movie previews all over social media and on several other websites. You no longer need to go to a movie theater to see a movie preview. The “Thunderbolts*” preview I saw in the movie theater might have been exclusively for IMAX movie theaters, but I found a similar preview – a little shorter and a couple different scenes – on several websites.
I worked as a projectionist at a movie theater in Los Angeles several years ago, so I know how important movie previews are. All the major studios (Paramount, Sony, Warner Bros, Universal, Disney) want their new preview playing before the new blockbuster movie. However, if you count the studios on the list above there are 2 Paramount releases (“Nonvaccine” and the “Mission Impossible” sequel) and 2 Marvel releases (“Fantastic Four” and “Thunderbolts”). Also, DreamWorks movies are currently released by Universal, so Universal essentially had 2 movie previews (“How to Train Your Dragon” and the “Jurassic World” sequel), and 20th Century Studios and Marvel Studios are both released by Disney, so Disney esentially had 3 movie previews playing (“The Amateur” is a 20th Century Studio movie).
It’s still great to see a movie preview on a big screen with surround sound audio, but some people prefer watching a movie preview online where they can pause it to see images that are only shown for 1 or 2 frames. The shots are so quick you may not even notice them when you watch the scene in a movie theater, but you can see them clearly if you freeze the video online.
Back when I worked as a movie theater projectionist, movie previews were important because it was the only place to see them. People would come to see a movie just to see the preview for the next “Star Wars” movie. However, we would never play 10 previews before a movie. Even 8 previews would be too many for some people. I don’t like it when movie theaters only play 2 or 3 previews, but I also don’t like sitting for up to HALF AN HOUR before the feature film starts playing.
LOS ANGELES FILM REVIEW 