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.”
Donald Trump has said he is considering “taking away” the US citizenship of actress and comedian Rosie O’Donnell, despite a Supreme Court ruling that expressly prohibits a government from doing so.
In a post on Truth Social on Saturday, the US president said: “Because of the fact that Rosie O’Donnell is not in the best interests of our Great Country, I am giving serious consideration to taking away her Citizenship.”
He also labelled O’Donnell, who has moved to Ireland, as a “threat to humanity” and said she should “remain in the wonderful country of Ireland, if they want her”.
O’Donnell responded on Instagram by posting a photograph of Mr Trump with Jeffrey Epstein.
“You are everything that is wrong with America and I’m everything you hate about what’s still right with it,” she wrote in the caption.
“I’m not yours to silence. I never was.”
Rosie O’Donnell moved to Ireland after Donald Trump secured a second term. Pic: AP
O’Donnell moved to Ireland with her 12-year-old son in January after Mr Trump had secured a second term.
She has said she’s in the process of obtaining Irish citizenship based on family lineage and that she would only return to the US “when it is safe for all citizens to have equal rights there in America”.
O’Donnell and the US president have criticised each other publicly for years, in an often-bitter back-and-forth that predates Mr Trump’s move into politics.
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This is just the latest threat by the president to revoke the citizenship of someone he has disagreed with, most recently his former ally Elon Musk.
But the two situations are different as while Musk was born in South Africa, O’Donnell was born in the US and has a constitutional right to American citizenship.
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Amanda Frost, a law professor at the University of Virginia School of Law, said the Supreme Court ruled in a 1967 case that the fourteenth amendment of the constitution prevents the government from taking away citizenship.
“The president has no authority to take away the citizenship of a native-born US citizen,” he added.
“In short, we are nation founded on the principle that the people choose the government; the government cannot choose the people.”
The Salt Path author Raynor Winn’s fourth book has been delayed by her publisher.
It comes amid claims that the author lied about her story in her hit first book. Winn previously described the claims as “highly misleading” and called suggestions that her husband had Moth made up his illness “utterly vile”.
In a statement, Penguin Michael Joseph, said it had delayed the publication of Winn’s latest book On Winter Hill – which had been set for release 23 October.
The publisher said the decision had been made in light of “recent events, in particular intrusive conjecture around Moth’s health”, which it said had caused “considerable distress” to the author and her family.
“It is our priority to support the author at this time,” the publisher said.
“With this in mind, Penguin Michael Joseph, together with the author, has made the decision to delay the publication of On Winter Hill from this October.”
A new release date will be announced in due course, the publisher added.
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Winn’s first book, released in 2018, detailed the journey she and husband took along the South West Coast Path – familiarly known as The Salt Path – after they lost their family farm and Moth received a terminal health diagnosis of Corticobasal Degeneration (CBD).
But a report in The Observer disputed key aspects of the 2018 “true” story – which was recently turned into a film starring Jason Isaacs and Gillian Anderson.
Raynor and husband Moth (centre) with actors Jason Isaacs (L) and Gillian Anderson (R). Pic: Steve Tanner/Black Bear
Experts ‘sceptical of health claims’
As part of the article, published last weekend, The Observer claimed to have spoken to experts who were “sceptical” about elements of Moth’s terminal diagnosis, such as a “lack of acute symptoms and his apparent ability to reverse them”.
In the ensuing controversy, PSPA, a charity that supports people with CBD, cut ties with the couple.
The Observer article also claimed the portrayal of a failed investment in a friend’s business wasn’t true, but said the couple – whose names are Sally and Tim Walker – lost their home after Raynor Winn embezzled money from her employer and had to borrow to pay it back and avoid police action.
Anderson played Winn in a movie about the couple’s journey. Pic: Steve Tanner/Black Bear
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It also said that, rather than being homeless, the couple had owned a house in France since 2007.
Winn’s statement said the dispute with her employer wasn’t the reason the couple lost their home – but admitted she may have made “mistakes” while in the job.
“For me it was a pressured time,” she wrote. “It was also a time when mistakes were being made in the business. Any mistakes I made during the years in that office, I deeply regret, and I am truly sorry.”
She admitted being questioned by police but said she wasn’t charged.
The author also said accusations that Moth lied about having CBD/CBS were false and had “emotionally devastated” him.
“I have charted Moth’s condition with such a level of honesty, that this is the most unbearable of the allegations,” Winn wrote on her website.
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