What time you should actually arrive at cinema to avoid adverts
The time on your ticket is 7pm, but you already know it’s not going to start then.
So, what time do you get to the cinema?
If you’re arriving at 7.10pm, you’re almost certainly safe, but any later and you may cut it fine.
Here, we’ve gathered information from the UK’s major cinema chains and spoken to experts about how long you can expect adverts and trailers to run until the main event actually begins.
Cineworld
According to the Cineworld website, ads and trailers “normally last between 30-45 minutes before the actual film begins”.
The cinema also asks customers to collect tickets at least 20 minutes before the listed time “to make the most of their visit”.
Odeon
There appears to be a shorter wait at Odeon, which claims advert and trailer length is “typically 15-25 minutes” – but this varies with each performance and can be “considerably less”.
“We always recommend to avoid disappointment you arrive with enough time to enter the screen at the scheduled performance start time,” the website says.
Everyman
There’s a wider range at Everyman, which says it plays 25 minutes’ worth of adverts and trailers.
But beware – “the length of ads and trailers varies for special events and it can be between 15 and 40 minutes, subject to type of event”.
Pic: PA
Showcase
There isn’t any specific information on the website and we got no response when we reached out to them, but Showcase did respond to a customer on social media on this very question.
In a May 2022 tweet, the cinema said: “The advertised time is when the adverts/ trailers start and are approximately 20-25 minutes long before each show.”
Vue
Vue offers a more precise window: “Please be aware that most films have around 20 to 25 minutes of ads and trailers before the feature starts.”
Its only recommendation is to be in your seat at the time stated so you “don’t take any chances in missing the start of your film”.
‘In general, it’s 24 minutes’
Karen Stacey, the chief executive of Digital Cinema Media, which supplies advertisement for the likes of Odeon, Vue and Cineworld, told Sky News the wait is typically 24 minutes – 12 minutes for ads, and 12 for trailers.
his remains true whatever the film and whatever the time of day, with about 95% of DCM’s schedules “exactly the same”.
“It’s very formulaic, that’s what consumers are used to,” she said. “By making it consistent in length, people are always happy to come and join in.”
She said 24 minutes gives schedulers enough time to prepare the film and allow a more staggered entry for the audience – while also bringing in revenue.
Any longer than half an hour, though, is “rare”.
“Cinemas want to have as many films in as possible and they want to be mindful they don’t finish too late in the evening,” Ms Stacey said.
“My experience working with them is they are quite strict.”
Pic: iStock
Are there rules over the length?
As the above suggests, there aren’t any set rules or procedures governing cinema advertising length.
Kathryn Jacob, chief executive of cinema advertising company Pearl & Dean, said the length was determined by the cinema.
“Some cinemas take only one ad, like the BFI IMAX, and the maximum length is determined by the cinemas themselves,” she told Sky News.
“Factors determining the length depend on demand from advertisers and the films that a cinema might want to showcase to the audience that’s at the screening via trailers.”
Cinema policy is the key decider and she said research has shown audiences find advertising in cinema “part of the entertainment”.
Do viewers like the adverts and trailers?
Ms Jacob may have a point.
According to research published by DCM, advertising in cinemas is more effective than in any other media.
For a 60-second advert in the cinema, viewers will watch 48 seconds, which is a far higher proportion than TV or social media.
It is also highly trusted, with DCM citing a survey by IPA Touchpoints claiming nearly 100% of respondents say they trust what they see in the cinema – for comparison, 75% trust TV adverts.
Avid cinema-goer Bill Boswell, who pays £18 a month for an unlimited pass at Cineworld on the Isle of Wight, said he was happy to wait.
“I know that these adverts help pay for the cinema to run,” he told Sky News. “The cinema is my place to escape, so it’s good for my mental health and I would not want to lose it.
“If I watch at home, I can sometimes reach for my mobile phone, but a film on the big screen would get my 100% attention, so I just accept the pre-show adverts.”
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But what are the drawbacks?
The main thing Mr Boswell considers is his car, as his nearest Cineworld offers three hours of free parking.
“I would sometimes plan on 30 minutes of trailers and work back so I can fit the free parking in, as the cinema costs enough already,” he said.
“If the film is more than two and a half hours, I park outside town and walk to the cinema.”
Consumer expert Martin Lewis raised parking tickets as one of the issues in a 2019 tweet, in which he said he waited 33 minutes for a film to start.
Responding to one user, he said greater clarity would help customers to save on parking tickets and babysitting, while giving “legitimate expectation”.
“And there’s no rigorous research that prices [cinema tickets] would go up – they’re often set by market demand,” he added.
Are there alternatives?
If you want to avoid the pre-show altogether, your best bet might be independent or community cinemas.
Draycott Community Cinema, for example, is the only cinema in the Somerset village and is run by volunteers.
Pic: Draycott Community Cinema
Committee member Chloe Haywood told Sky News they are always debating how long to make their pre-show.
They try to keep it to two short trailers, often without any adverts – though they are planning to find a sponsor later this year.
“We do find that it sets the audience up for the screening,” she said, referring to their brief pre-show.
“We don’t have trailers for long. They’re to advertise the next two films, any local news that might be of interest, and then standard ‘switch off your phones’ type info.”
Entertainment
‘People want you to stay in your lane’: Reese Witherspoon on her ‘deeply personal’ decision to write a novel
It is “pretty surreal”, Academy Award winner Reese Witherspoon admits, finding herself at the top of The New York Times bestsellers list.
When I meet the actress alongside her co-writer, best-selling author Harlan Coben, overnight the pair have learned that their thriller is now at number one.
He jokes: “I was texting her last night and saying you’ll now have to call yourself number one bestselling novelist, forget about Oscar winner!”
Reese Witherspoon and Harlan Coben told Katie Spencer about their novel Gone Before Goodbye
As one of the most successful authors in the world, Coben has sold over 80 million books to date, while for Witherspoon this is new ground.
Not content with running a hugely successful production company responsible for a string of hits, as well as one of the most successful book clubs in the world, she explains she felt compelled to give writing a try.
“People want you to stay in your lane… as a creative person I think it’s impossible to just choose one kind of life.
“Creativity is infinite and who I was as a creative person when I was 20 is very different from the person I am now at 49.”
Gone Before Goodbye, a thriller about a talented surgeon who finds herself caught up in a deadly conspiracy, is the result of Witherspoon daring to put her head above the parapet.
Witherspoon says she felt compelled to give writing a try
Coben admits he was “a little wary” at first.
“I don’t co-write novels but when she made the pitch and started talking about it, I was like ‘dang that’s good, we can do something with that’.”
While countless celebrities work with ghostwriters, Coben says: “I said to her from day one ‘it’s only going to be you and me in here… no third person in here, I don’t do that’. So every word you [read] comes from Reese and me.”
Coben has sold over 80 million books to date, while for Witherspoon this is new ground
Witherspoon explains: “He was like ‘if we’re going to do this, it’s going to have to be at a really high level because people going to expect a lot, so our bar was really high.”
“I said to her, in the beginning, novels are like a sausage,” Coben laughs. “You might like the final taste, but you don’t want to see how it was made and Reese got to see the full sausage getting made here.”
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When it came to writing, Coben says they “fell into a rhythm right away”, working together in three-hour stints, “back and forth with a yellow legal pad – what about this? What about that?”
Coben says they ‘fell into a rhythm right away’
Witherspoon says it “feels really deeply personal” to have their work now in print.
“Usually, as an actor, I walk into other people’s worlds and it’s already set up… but this was creating the whole world with Harlan and just from beginning to end feels very personal.”
While the story seems an obvious fit for being adapted to the screen, perhaps with a certain blonde actress in the leading role, Coben says that was never their intention.
“The biggest, biggest mistake novelists make when you write a book is to say ‘this would make a really great movie’. A book is a book, a movie is a movie, and we both focused on wanting this to be just a great reading experience.”
Given that their collaboration is already selling in big numbers, will the pair team up again to write a second?
Witherspoon says: “Let’s just see what people think of this one first.”
Kim Kardashian has revealed that she has been diagnosed with a brain aneurysm.
- Footage from the latest season of The Kardashians shows the reality TV star going for an imaging scan.
The 45-year-old appears to suggest her small aneurysm may have stemmed from stress.
Brain aneurysms are relatively common, with data suggesting they affect about one in every 50 people.
In many cases, patients may be unaware that they have one – as they tend to cause few symptoms when unruptured.
Brain aneurysms are common but often go undiagnosed. iStock file pic
Should an unruptured aneurysm grow to a larger size, it can cause headaches, balance problems and speech issues.
Those that burst are extremely dangerous and can prove fatal in some circumstances.
While aneurysms can emerge throughout the body, they are most typically found in the aorta, which carries blood out of the heart.
Research suggests brain aneurysms are most common in adults between the ages of 30 and 60 – with women disproportionately affected.
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Associate professor of neurology Dr Laura Stein told Sky’s US partner NBC News: ” The most well-described risk factors include a predisposition [family history of aneurysm], high blood pressure, cigarette smoking and inflammation.”
She went on to explain that most fatal ruptured aneurysms are in the brain, killing about one in three patients.
“When it’s a blood vessel that’s in the head and it bleeds, there’s a much higher risk of having a very bad problem just because the brain is enclosed in a fixed space,” Dr Stein added.
Low-risk aneurysms are monitored by doctors for growth or abnormalities, and there are a series of potential treatment options for those considered dangerous.
Elsewhere in The Kardashians clip, Kim admitted that her ex-husband Kanye West will be in her life “no matter what” because of the four kids they share together.
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