A few weeks ago I saw the Movie, “The Great Raid”.
And while the movie reasonably followed the books, the movie had one major failing: It was dull, dull, Dull!

As the theater was part of the Regal Chain there was this atrocity called The 20.  20 minutes of pure commercials and garbage that I avoid the best that I can.  This garbage comes on before the Trailers and the movie themselves start.  As Trailers often are better than the movies they preview I can often decide which movies are worthwhile almost instantly.  And I don’t mind seeing them.  On this particular day I only had to wallow through less than five minutes of this visual pollution called The 20.  I timed my entrance to the showing very well that day.

But as I struggled to stay awake while watching the movie a horrible thought hit me.
When you pay to see the movie and you watch The 20, you are in effect paying to see 20 minutes of commercials that you would see on the TV for free.  And while I hate to say it, with the exception of the preview for the TV series Earl, The 20 was more entertaining than most of the movie.

Which brings me to the Question of the Night:

Do You Think There Will Come a Time When the Main Feature at a Theater Will be Commercials and Not a Motion Picture?

I have this horrible thought that when the next Harry Potter movie shows up, The 20 will be The 40 or The 60.

I wouldn't know. I haven't been in a theater in 7~8 years.

Here's a hint... the movies already *are* the commercials.  Watch for conspicuous product placement a little more closely.

Just took my wife to the Brother's Grimm.  Commercials ran for 10 minutes after the announced start time!  With the 20 minutes of ads before the scheduled start that totals 30 minutes of commercials.  (I'm not complaining about the before start ads, but the after start time ads really piss me off!)

Quoted: Here's a hint... the movies already *are* the commercials.  Watch for conspicuous product placement a little more closely.

some movies you dont even have to look closely.

Like "I, Robot"

www.thebestpageintheuniverse.net/c.cgi?u=i_robot

It seems like it's only been like that for aout 5 years or so. I don't remember there always being such a heavy dose of commericals before. Just previews, which is somethign I love watching. Now there's ads for things that are in no way related to movies at all. They don't even try to tie the product in with the movie being watched or anything. They're the same ads run on TV, just bigger and louder.

And what's the deal with the ticket prices. Not only do theaters gouge us at the ticket booth and refreshment stand, but now they're double dipping by taking money to show the commericals and not dropping the prices on tickets in return for us having to sit through that crap.

I figure for about a year or so while I was avoiding the theater by downloading movies on Kazaa I at least made some of my money back by not paying to see a film in the theater. The greatest gratification of P2P downloading is not giving my money to the "industry".

I've already finished my popcorn by the time the movie starts

Quoted: Here's a hint... the movies already *are* the commercials.  Watch for conspicuous product placement a little more closely.

Seriously. I could live with a little sponsored product placement if it's minimal and done tastefully. This is beyond Hollywood of course, so we'll get alot more in your face commercials disguised as movies.

Crap, I might visit a movie theatre once or twice a year now, as the quality of movies has gone way down in the last 10-15 years. In the past 5 years, the ONLY movies that got me to go to a theatre were the Lord of the Rings Trilogy, and maybe Star Wars 3. The rest can wait til they come out on DVD.