Shhh! The Ads Are About to Start

In 2003, Illinois attorney Mark Weinberg filed a class-action lawsuit on behalf of Chicago resident Miriam Fisch after she suffered through several commercials before watching "The Quiet American" starring Michael Caine. The suit demanded that Loews accurately inform customers about the starting times of its movies. A judge dismissed the case, but Weinberg appealed. Now that Loews has agreed to post more showtime information, Weinberg says the matter is moot.

"I personally do have a problem with the barrage of commercials, but that's not a problem one can deal with legally," he says. "That's just a vulgar part of our culture. This [Loews' announcement] solves the legal issue, but this doesn't address what I think offended a lot of people."

Similarly, Illinois state Rep. Jack Franks and Connecticut state Rep. Andrew Fleischman, who each proposed legislation seeking more accurate film listings, plan to drop attempts to revive their respective bills, which both died earlier this year.

"There are always market solutions for making changes in policy," Franks said by cell phone on his way to the state capitol. "I think this will work and I bet other chains will be doing it as well. I think it's just good business."

As for New York City Council member Gale Brewer, whose proposal suggests theaters should be fined $500 to $1,000 each time they fail to disclose the real reel times, she's not planning to abandon the fight yet. "We think this is a great step in the right direction and we're very pleased that Loews decided to do this," said Ali Davis, Brewer's legislative director. "But this doesn't solve the problem."

So far, no additional theaters have announced similar plans. Both Dick Westerling, senior vice president of marketing for Regal Entertainment, and Pam Blase, vice president of corporate communications for AMC Entertainment -- the two largest U.S. chains, with 6,273 and more than 3,500 screens, respectively -- say they do not need to take any action because the public already knows their paid advertising ends before the posted showtime.

In fact, they're expanding the reach of their "advertainment." Regal and AMC will combine cinema-ad efforts beginning next year to deliver a new, as-yet-unnamed version of "The 2wenty," which will eventually appear on more than 8,000 screens throughout the country. Meanwhile, Screenvision, the cinema advertising company that works with Loews, will roll out its own 20-minute pre-show on 5,000 screens during the next 18 months. Matthew Kearney, Screenvision's chief executive officer, says the new pre-movie promos will debut at the Loews Georgetown and Gaithersburg's Loews Rio this summer.

Not all venues are going the way of "The 2wenty."

Landmark Theatres, an art house chain with locations in the District and Bethesda, runs 10 to 12 minutes of commercials and trailers, but chooses spots -- like a series of independent shorts sponsored by Stella Artois beer -- that mirror the spirit of the indie and foreign films on the marquee. "We've had a lot of positive feedback because of showing the shorts," says Ray Price, Landmark's vice president in charge of marketing. "We actually had one patron who went in and watched the short, then tried to leave because he thought the movie was over."

And then there's Cinema Arts' Tomashoff, who hopes the challenges of remaining an independent theater don't force him to rescind that theater's no-promos promise. (Other Washington area independents that run commercials -- like the Avalon on Connecticut Avenue NW -- don't exactly get rich by doing so. Andrew Mencher, Avalon's programming director, estimates its sparse spots bring in $5,000 to $6,000 each year.) "As long as people make no commercials a factor as to why they come here as opposed to going somewhere else," Tomashoff says, "it's to our economic advantage not to be showing them."