Finally, some folks in Chicago have sued two theatre chains for showing advertisements before the film. Their legal reasoning has to do with posted movie start times – admittedly a very flimsy argument. They either want the start times adjusted to account for the time the ads consume or to be compensated $75 dollars per viewing.
Now, I don’t believe this will get very far. When adjusting start times do you take into account the coming attractions previews as well? Who judges arrival times on a matter of 1-3 minutes anyway? Wouldn’t you risk missing some of the flick?
Legally I think this case is dead on arrival. Morally I think it’s an excellent and overdue litmus test. We, the consumer, pay – handsomely in some cases – to attend a motion picture. I know that even here in the backwater regular price is running about $7.50 per. I also understand that the theatre business is tough. As I understand it theatre owners contract for a specified length of exhibition for any particular film during which time their share of the profit is close to non-existent. Any addtional exhibition time is their money. Typical, the studios and distributors get the biggest piece of the pie while the folks who do the grunt work get screwed…sort of like the music biz. Advertisements are a way for theatre owners to make up the difference and try to make a bit of a profit. With the runs of theatre bankruptcies in the past couple of years I can see that it’s needed.
Regardless, it’s in damn bad taste to make us pay to watch commercials. Isn’t that just an ad-man’s dream? In the end, although I understand both sides of the suit, I’m totally with the people suing and I hope they effect change. Sadly, I think the only way to make change a reality is to just stop going to specific theatres until the management changes its ways. But in a time when escapism is heartily needed I don’t think that’s a viable solution.