Bill Wants Cinemas To Disclose Actual Start Times

U.S. Senator Martin Looney of New Haven, Connecticut has reportedly proposed a bill that would require cinemas to disclose exactly how long previews before films are.

A film that is scheduled to start at 2pm never starts at that time – regular commercials, promotional videos and movie trailers start at that time and generally add on anywhere from 15-30 minutes to a session’s runtime.

It has long been a part of the cinemagoing experience, and one of the reasons some have opted out of attending cinemas these days as this block of commercials rarely gets shorter.

According to The Daily Mail and Vulture, the legislation would: “require that each movie advertisement or listing include, and separately list, the scheduled start time for (1) the movie trailers and advertisements that precede the advertised or listed movie, and (2) the advertised or listed movie.”

Speaking with his regional paper The Register Citizen, Looney says the aim is to empower moviegoers to potentially avoid ads entirely, perhaps luring back some of those moviegoers potentially turned off by having to sit through them:

“It seems to be an abuse of people’s time. If they want to get there early and watch the promos, they can. But if they just want to see the feature, they ought to be able to get there just in time for that.”

Several movie theaters already include disclosures stating that audiences should allow for around 20 minutes for commercials.

In-cinema advertising also helps movie theaters cover costs and so doing this sort of measure could potentially harm the livelihood of theaters, as it would potentially discourage advertising partners from shelling out on commercials.

More than 3,000 screens are estimated to have been lost since the pandemic as the industry is still battling to recover.

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