Cinema chains promoting and advertising films and then not screening them

liam100

This really annoys the hell out of me. Cinemas chains around Ireland displaying posters, cardboard displays and showing trailers for films that are never screened in that particular cinema. I don't have the luxury of living in Dublin where when a promoted film is not screened in your local cinema you can easily catch it in another cinema chain in the city. Most towns in Ireland have only one cinema chain. When you contact the relevant cinema chain head office the standard reply is that trailers and promotional materials are sent out to ALL cinema screens in the chain in advance of the opening date. The distributors then decide how many prints will be available when the film is released. It appears to be pot luck whether or not your cinema will screen the particular film you want to see. It's mind boggling to think that when you go the cinema after parting with your hard earned cash you are subjected to 15 - 20 minutes of trailers for films which may not be ever screened in that particular cinema. This crap has been going on for decades and needs to stop as the practice is misleading for cinemagoers. Cinemas should only be promoting films that they intend showing. End of rant.

flazio

Ex cinema worker here. Cinemas, least the one I worked in, don't know what films they are showing until 5 days before it arrives. We got our list on the Monday for what's coming in that Friday. There is no long term plan.

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar

seriously?
i thought the cinema in carlow were just being bastards by only showing the next week or so

Mitch Connor

they know the movies they will be getting sooner than that - but in general the program won't be done until the weekend before, and sent to the papers etc - this is so they have an idea what movies they need to continue to feature prominently in the screens.

The staff on the ground might not know the movies coming, but the people in charge will.

e_e

It's not just outside of Dublin either, I saw the trailer for Mud in IMC Dun Laoghaire yet still had to go into the IFI to see it.

Antar Bolaeisk

Cinemas generally have a decent enough idea of what they might get, films tend to be marked for limited, wide or saturation distribution but even if a film is marked for saturation there's still no absolute guarantee that a cinema will get it.

Wide saturation means a 50/50 chance of getting a film for a non-city cinema and limited means only the biggest cinemas have a chance of getting it.

There's also some films which are meant to have certain trailers shown before them although they tend to be for huge upcoming films that normally everyone gets.

Cinemas want to push the films they know they'll get but they'll also hedge their bets and show trailers for films they are likely to get further down the line rather than having it just pop up one day with no prior notice. Unfortunately, there's no guarantee they'll be showing it until 1-2 weeks beforehand.

Mitch Connor

As far as I know the pre-movie reels are already made up, and just shown - the cinema in quesiton wouldn't have much control over it unless they specifically move to remove something from the reel (which happened in one cinema I know of with regards an anti-abortion advert). I don't think cinemas chose what movies to advertise, I think that it is down to the distributor.

Antar Bolaeisk

Mitch Connor wrote: »

As far as I know the pre-movie reels are already made up, and just shown - the cinema in quesiton wouldn't have much control over it unless they specifically move to remove something from the reel (which happened in one cinema I know of with regards an anti-abortion advert). I don't think cinemas chose what movies to advertise, I think that it is down to the distributor.

I'm not sure how it works now with digital but with 35mm you could decide what to put on in front of a film, the way it comes is the film in X number of reels, the adverts supplied by Carlton (or whoever) and the trailers which are supplied separately.

So long as you weren't putting an 18 rated trailer at the beginning of a kids film it was fine.

Mitch Connor

Antar Bolaeisk wrote: »

I'm not sure how it works now with digital but with 35mm you could decide what to put on in front of a film, the way it comes is the film in X number of reels, the adverts supplied by Carlton (or whoever) and the trailers which are supplied separately.

So long as you weren't putting an 18 rated trailer at the beginning of a kids film it was fine.

But the cinema wouldn't have been making up the trailer reels themselves and splicing their own run together - they would have used the trailer reel that was supplied with the movie.

e_e

The IFI and Lighthouse have trailers that are specific to their cinema though. As well as this if a film is only playing in the Lighthouse there'll be a "Lighthouse Exclusive" message beforehand.

Antar Bolaeisk

Mitch Connor wrote: »

But the cinema wouldn't have been making up the trailer reels themselves and splicing their own run together - they would have used the trailer reel that was supplied with the movie.

They have (or had) individual reels for each trailer and a guide as to structure (something like trailer - adverts - trailer - special advert - feature but I can't remember the exact structure) so yes, the cinema does make up the trailer reels.