AMC CEO Adam Aron confirmed on yesterday’s Q2 earnings call what was first reported weeks ago: the country’s largest theater chain is planning to cut down its bloated preshow.
The move comes after a deal with National CineMedia last month added even more ad time before screenings — a blatant cash grab that didn’t go unnoticed. With preshows stretching to 25–30 minutes, studio executives were fuming, fearing that audiences might finally revolt against the multiplex experience. AMC didn’t help its own case by openly advertising the extended wait time to customers.
“We think we can shave four or five minutes out of it. So it’s not that there’s been a change of heart,” Aron said. “We always knew that when we did the NCM deal, that we would probably have to shorten at the same time we’re lengthening, so that those two changes to vectors offset each other and balance each other out.”
So where will AMC find those four to five minutes to shave off its preshow? According to CEO Adam Aron, an internal study comparing AMC to rival chains revealed the culprit: AMC runs one extra trailer, adding roughly 2½ unnecessary minutes. Cutting that brings the runtime closer to industry norms.
Also on the chopping block are another 2–3 minutes of AMC’s in-house fluff — the “Silence Your Cellphones” and “Silence Is Golden” bits — along with a one-minute IMAX promo. In other words, the new “shortened” preshow will still be plenty long… just slightly less of an endurance test.
For now, Aron’s pledge to scale things back reads less like a goodwill gesture and more like damage control.
It’s worth noting that independent theaters and chains like Alamo Drafthouse often cap their pre-show content at a more reasonable 10-15 minutes. Maybe that’s part of why they’re seeing growing loyalty among the more discerning crowd.