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Movie Marketing

There’s more behind the “short trailers” directive than starting movies on time

So yeah, this is happening:

In a move sure to ignite plenty of debate in Hollywood, the National Association of Theater Owners has released voluntary guidelines calling for movie trailers to be no longer than two minutes — 30 seconds shorter than is the norm.

The guidelines also specify that a trailer cannot be shown for a movie more than five months before its release. Nor can marketing materials be displayed inside of a theater for a film more than four months away from release.

via Theater Owners Enact New Guidelines Calling for Shorter Movie Trailers – The Hollywood Reporter.

A couple thoughts:

One: This has to also be about in-theater advertising at some level. If they can cut down the time the trailers take it’s more likely that time would be filled by additional ads and not used to speed up getting to the feature film.

Two: I still don’t get why there aren’t more “internet-only” trailers that are created that go outside the 2.5 minute restrictions. If studios can’t put the trailer they really want in theaters, they can still put it on their own sites. Come on, this is no-brainer.