A Connecticut lawmaker wants cinemas to stop wasting moviegoers’ time, and provide them with precise times for when the opening trailers before a film will begin, and when the actual movie will start.
Democratic state Sen. Martin Looney introduced a bill that would require theaters to list both times in their advertisements and on their websites.
“It seems to be an abuse of people’s time,” Looney told the Register Citizen. “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.”
Looney said his office has been getting calls from his constituents, complaining about inordinately-long delays between the trailers and the main feature.
“It does seem to me that people are, in effect, a sort of captive audience watching the advertising before they get to see the feature they came to see,” Looney said.
Theaters typically factor in the trailers and ads when listing film start times and a movie’s approximate length.
AMC Theaters, the largest movie theater chain in the world, runs “approximately 20 minutes of preshow material, including trailers, between the published showtime and the start of the feature film,” according to their website.
Some of Connecticut’s independent theater owners spoke to the Register Citizen, and bemoaned the proposed law, saying they depend on the income they make from playing previews and commercials.
Most argued the previews are part of the overall moviegoing experience, and said Hollywood studios would stop paying Connecticut theaters to screen previews, should the truth-in-advertising bill be enacted.
The film industry has struggled to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2024, domestic ticket sales reached $8.7 billion — down more than 3.3% from 2023, with $9.04 billion in ticket receipts, according to Comscore.
Back in 2019, movie theater revenues were more than 23% higher, surpassing $11 billion.
