Sony Pictures Boss Tom Rothman to Theaters: End the 30-Minute Pre-Movie Ads and Trailers

If you’ve wandered into a multiplex lately—maybe to check out that one movie everyone’s talking about—you probably noticed something: you might as well show up half an hour late. Seriously, most theaters are turning their pre-movie ritual into a marathon of trailers and in-your-face ads. The cinemas are basically telling you upfront: 'Hey, your movie ticket includes a 30-minute commercial break before anything happens.' I can’t be the only one annoyed by this.

AMC kicked this off, but now it’s hard to find a theater that doesn’t spell it out in fine print online: "Allow up to 30 minutes for trailers and ads at start time." So after you’ve found your seat (thanks, reserved seating), you’re basically locked in for an extended sales pitch before the lights finally dim for your actual movie.

When the Ads Take Over

This isn’t just a minor inconvenience—it’s become a small crisis in the exhibition world. People are catching on, and what do you think happens? Folks just plan to show up after the half-hour of nonsense. With seats reserved, no one’s worried about missing out or fighting over armrests. The only losers? The trailers themselves, which the studios really want you to see. Now they're playing to nearly empty rows because, well, everyone’s outside in the lobby nursing an oversized soda.

Sony’s Top Guy Shouts ‘Cut!’

CinemaCon always brings a lot of movie studio execs together to brag about whatever they’re rolling out next. This year, though, Sony’s Tom Rothman used his time on stage at Caesar’s Palace to tell theater owners what a lot of us have been thinking: 'Get off the ad crack.' And that wasn’t even the end of his rant.

Rothman made his point loud and clear: theaters are so busy milking those extra ad dollars that 'the endless advertising and long pre-shows' are chasing people out of their seats. Instead of sitting through everything, audiences are just timing their arrival to skip the entire package—trailers included. And that’s a problem for studios, because those previews exist for a reason: to make you want to come back. Rothman called it 'enticements gone to waste.'

Rothman didn’t stop at griping about ads. He nudged studios to consider longer exclusive theatrical windows—even if it means not every film gets a slot. He also went a little off-script by asking for more original stories, not just endless sequels and franchise reboots. His argument? At the end of the day, you can't pump out a sequel if there's nothing new to rip off. My words, not his, but the message is clear.

Bottom Line

• Theaters are now putting up to 30 minutes of ads and trailers in front of movies, and they spell it out when you buy tickets online.
• Thanks to reserved seating, people just show up late and dodge the whole thing—which means trailers aren't working as intended.
• Sony’s Tom Rothman told theater owners at CinemaCon to cut the pre-movie ads and bring back shorter pre-shows.
• He also wants studios to stick to longer theatrical runs for films, and to invest in more original stories, not just recycle the old hits.

So, if you’re wondering why you’re eating popcorn in the lobby instead of your seat, now you know who to blame. Will theaters actually listen to Rothman’s 'less is more' argument? Well, let's just say I wouldn’t bet my popcorn money on it… yet.