"Movies start 25-30 minutes after showtime," the AMC disclaimer reads.
showtime noun show·time *ˈshō-ˌtīm *
: the scheduled or actual time at which a show or something likened to a show begins
this post was submitted on 30 Jun 2025
102 points (100.0% liked)
movies
984 readers
140 users here now
A community about movies and cinema.
Related communities:
Rules
- Be civil
- No discrimination or prejudice of any kind
- Do not spam
- Stay on topic
- These rules will evolve as this community grows
No posts or comments will be removed without an explanation from mods.
founded 3 months ago
MODERATORS
For AMC and other major theater chains, the trailers and advertisements are considered part of the "show". It's part of their website terms of service somewhere, but I can't find it right now.
or something likened to a show
lol whoever wrote this definition must have seen some absolute garbage
Miriam is the only dictionary which included that bit, and I assume it’s because you can describe any event start as showtime.
But commercials are not the show.
We used to have like eight to ten minutes of trailers. I could live with that. This just reinforces that my (quite nice) home theater setup is the best way to consume content. I recommend getting a projector if you have a good space for it. Changed watching movies for me forever.
I used to install AV professionally (now on the design side) and while I am pro-home theater, I am anti-projector for home use for 99%+ of people.
Home theaters all about the sound so I'm on board with that but unless you regularly get a dozen people together for a movie and NEED the size, an 85" display for the same price or less has a better picture, is quieter, doesn't need to warm up, and is relocatable when you replace it.
The audio quality is so good that, last night, when a phone rang on the right side of the movie, my partner turned her head. I didn't point it out, but she reacted because it was pretty realistic. The sound is awesome because I'm an audio nerd.
It's the best upgrade you can do and a lot of people don't realize it! Their experience with home audio is usually crappy TV speakers and $100 Walmart sound bars (hardly an improvement)
I've "convinced" many friends to get speakers. Even a 2.0 setup will change your experience
I used to reliably be able to leave my house at the listed show time, drive about 10 miles to the theater, get a ticket, park and buy popcorn and be in my seat right as the show started.
I don't mind previews in general, I think it's a good way to get settled in before the picture. I often see something that I would unlikely run across normally, and while I might not even ever watch it, I like being exposed to what's out there. Now, can previews be better, as in presenting the movie while not dragging on or revealing too much...absolutely. I'd love to have shorter, less spoiling advertisements, and more of them to get a feel of what's been made.
Now, ads in general, I'm not a fan of. That's probably because I'm not used to them since I don't watch general TV (which, I have no idea how people watch and don't go insane).
The trailer for Project Hail Mary had me really hopeful that it was going to be a perfect trailer, then at the very end they revealed a huge plot point that would have been better left as a surprise.
I actually thought this was a response to my comments in the trailer thread, lol. Having not read the book, I don't know where a good cut off would be. Having not suggest an alien at all? Alien contact revealed, but not much more? Some replies say there's still a lot more, so maybe this isn't ruined "enough"? If the trailer had only shown him without much of any plot revealed, would it attract enough viewers who knew nothing of the book?
It's a tough decision, and there will always be upset people. The goal is to get tickets, so whatever marketing research deems will work the best wins.
I think having encountered the alien structure would have been enough after it docked with his ship, with the voiceover of meeting an alien. The actual alien encounter would have been so much better only revealed in the film IMO, but as you said, what I think is best may not sell tickets
Yeah. I get it.
But when I did the book, I went in completely blind. There's zero indication it's going to involve extraterrestrial intelligence until suddenly it does. I loved the surprise and feel sad that so many moviegoers are gonna be robbed of that experience.
When I first saw the poster I was extremely excited. Once I saw the trailer though, I was a little worried. I think Ryan Gosling is fantastic, and I generally love him in everything, but I worry I won't like him in this particular role. I do agree that the trailer should have stopped before revealing as much as it did.
I don't watch network TV either, but if I had to put up with ads at all, it would be on the device that I watch and not vice versa.
Obligatory not an American, not an AMC customer.
I feel the same as you about the previews. I don't catch many new releases, so any time I go in the trailers are usually different and it's a fun way to notify me of upcoming films I may be interested in. The formulaic trailers present a lot better on a big screen with a better sound system than I have at home, so I don't mind sitting through them. However, I also enjoy the ads at my local cinema because most are from local businesses. Some of them are very cute and/or bad but it's always interesting to see how other small local businesses are trying to market themselves.
I just got out a regal imax screening, seated at showtime and expected some trailers but they ran 30 minutes of straight up ads and then 15 of trailers. Dudes, the movie is already 3 hours long and tickets were $30 a pop - can we please cut this crap all together?
- Everyone leave reviews of that cinema: "too many ads before the film"
- Boycott
- Repeat until they die or stop sucking
Yes. I'm sick and tired of silent boycotts. Unless you're boycotting because of something major currently in the news, you have to tell the company you're boycotting why you're doing it or it doesn't work.
The theatre I usually go to is an AMC theatre, and they just start the previews however many minutes they take up before the movie starts, so the movie itself starts on time.
Or at least, they still did the last time I was there. Which was only about a month or so ago; went and saw a showing of Monty Python's Holy Grail for its anniversary.
However, it's also not fully automated as of yet. There's a human being who still has to start and stop the thing.
Marcus theaters is the one I frequent most, which is seldom. When movie pass was a thing, I went to at least 3 movie a week, maybe more because it was basically free.
I would show up 20 minutes late ~~everytime~~ every time, and I would catch the message about turning your phone off and the Atmos sound blast right as the movie would start. When you see that many movies, the trailers are all repeats. It was a 100% success rate.
I went to the new How to Train Your Dragon the other day, and the movie actually started about 23 min after the scheduled start.
everytime
Not a word, my dude.
All the AMCs in my area start the actual movie ~20 mins after scheduled showtime. So we leave the house at showtime and arrive just in time to start the movie.
✨ Capitalism ✨