Rant: Movies, Commercials, and Trailers

I went to see “G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra” last week with my fiance, Carey, and our daughter Ashlee. It was a spur of the moment thing. We were at a nearby jeweler getting her new wedding band serviced and, when we were done, I proposed a movie.

The girls wanted to see “The Time Traveler’s Wife,” but I quickly vetoed it. Although I love sci-fi and the movie appears to have sci-fi elements to it, it has chick-flick written all over it. No way was I going to see that movie, in the middle of the day, with two girls. My man card would get pulled – fast.

I paid for G.I. Joe and we entered the theater about ten minutes before the movie started. We’ve all been trained to tolerate the “Screen Scenes” with random trivia and the occasional sponsorship message before the lights go down, so I wasn’t too surprised to learn, once again, that Close Encounters of the Third Kind was the loudest film ever made to date.

Then the lights went down and the movie was about to start. I waited eagerly for the trailers to begin; I love watching the trailers.

But I didn’t get the trailers. I got 10 minutes of commercials. Commercials for retail products. After the commercials, I got two, count em, two trailers.

I was dumbfounded. It took me a moment to realize that I had been cheated of one of my most treasured movie experiences. The trailers get me excited about what is coming out soon. I love movies that start with 15 minutes of trailers. I jokingly look over to Carey every time and say “Do you want some movie with your trailers?”

But this time I was denied my trailers for Coca-Cola commercials. For car commercials. For a bunch of crap I don’t need and don’t want.

Is this the beginning of a new trend. As the economy struggles has the movie trailer been relegated to a back seat in favor of commercial advertisers?

I am so disappointed.