Sony’s Tom Rothman Tells Exhibitors To “Get Off The Ad Crack” Over Pre-Show Ad & Trailer Bloat [CinemaCon]

Well, we didn’t see this coming from Sony Pictures head Tom Rothman. Still, we’re welcoming his recent advice to exhibitors attending the CinemaCon event in Las Vegas during the studio’s big panel about how to handle pre-shows.

Rothman is urging exhibitors (the main attendees of CinemaCon are press and exhibitors) to trim the pre-show lengths before the actual feature film plays, stating that theaters have to “get off the ad crack,” calling out their overload of cramming in as many commercial ads and trailers as they can into a single screening.

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“Get rid of the endless advertising and substantially shorten the long pre-shows,” Rothman said (via Variety) while promoting the studio’s upcoming slate in Las Vegas. As you might imagine, the studio executive was also championing expanding the theatrical window, even if it means fewer titles get released, “Enforce longer windows…Yes, even if that means you cannot play every film.”

We wholeheartedly agree with Rothman’s pre-show assessments here, despite the boost in revenue for the theater chain from ads; ultimately, it rarely benefits the audience, and many folks skip the pre-show entirely (Rothman calls that “enticements gone to waste”). Although some may not be too upset about being exposed to multiple trailers before the main event, we are, again, inundated with trailer bombardments online.

So, with Tom Rothman sharing another insightful concern about the theatrical experience that could be addressed to improve the overall experience, it isn’t terribly surprising. We hope he ends up doing more state-of-the-industry interviews, like his recent chat with Puck News’ Matt Belloni, where he discussed the benefits of “scarcity and exclusivity.”

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Sony, in recent years, has been positioning themselves as one of the few traditional studios that haven’t pivoted or been pressured to churn out streaming content (“KPop Demon Hunters” being the recent outlier and sold to Netflix after being handled by Sony Animation) in a rush to put a bunch of films for home-viewing and chasing subscription dollars. Allowing them to be vocal cheerleaders to focus on improving the audience and cinematic experience, and we’re all for Rothman being that voice with his common-sense opinions.