1) It’s interesting to see how commercials before a movie translate over onto the big screen.
2) It’s only two minutes of your time.
If that two minutes will help the movie industry to make some more money, go ahead. You already set aside a block of time to see a movie. What’s an extra two minutes? Now if it starts extending into twenty-minute blocks of commercials, that could be a problem.
3) The commercials aren’t interrupting the movie.
They are just something on before the movie. Part of the reason for going to the theatre is to see stuff really big on a really big screen.
4) It’s always funny to watch commercials in public.
In 5th grade the teacher showed us an educational tv show, but he didn’t edit out the commercials. It was quite funny to be in that social situation in school watching commercials. Maybe that’s just the novelty of it (which might be related to point A above).
5) It’s funny to hear people laugh at a commercial they see for the first time when everyone else in the theatre has seen the commercial 50 trillion times.
(This fifth reason was added later as it was a comment made by unlikelymoose below)
Yes, there are some bad aspects to the commercials like putting your mind in the wrong frame of mind before a movie. But watching commercials is like many things in life. You can sit around and complain about it, or you can try to see the positive aspects of it.
» Listen to this as a two-minute podcast (excuse the audio quality).
This post was inspired by Tom’s post, “Commercials in movie theaters-hate ’em, but ban ’em?“
why do i want to help the movie industry make more money? just curious about this one. i’d like to help charities get more money. and poor people. and students. but movie companies? nah.
i definitely like to see trailers before movies. a lot of times my life is so busy that i don’t keep up with what movies are coming out. so the trailers help me see what to see next.
but all you’re doing is sitting there for a couple minutes.
i’m saying, i’d rather spend those couple of minutes seeing a trailer than a commercial.
This is a little unrelated, but what truly bothers me about movie theaters today is the cost of a ticket. DVD players are cheap. DVD-Rs are cheap. Netflix, Blockbuster, and Hollywood Video are cheap. Yet somehow, the neighborhood theater is charging $10 for a single-person ticket after 7pm. What’s kind of amazing is that you can actually get a better A/V experience (albeit a few months after the film’s realease) with a good TV and a good pair of headphones. Seriously. Especially if you like to watch movies alone (I won’t go to a movie alone, but I rent them to watch alone), then the alternative of watching a DVD at home becomes even more compelling. If you’re a real movie buff, the cost of the personal home theater system can pay for itself quickly in the money you save on movie tickets!
maybe movie theater ticket prices are high because more people are waiting to see the movies at home later, rather than in the theater. so the movie theaters are trying to regain profits. ironically, the higher ticket prices are keeping people away even more. such a vicious circle.
oh wearing headphones to watch a movie at home. That’s a great idea! I’m gonna try that.
I would be very mad if they stop the movie and play a commercial and start the movie up again. That make Hulk angry. And I don’t mind product placement in movies. Our culture is surrounded by branding. But commercials before a movie are interesting. It’s funny to hear people laugh at a commercial they see for the first time when everyone else in the theatre has seen the commercial 50 trillion times.
they tend to show certain types of commercials in the movie theaters. i see a lot of video-game commercials [which i don’t really understand, since i don’t play video games, so those commercials are lost on me”> and car commercials and Coke commercials. how about a commercial for pharmaceutical drugs, like for high blood pressure or heart problems? that might make people NOT buy the popcorn or the pop!