It's commonplace that, even if a movie starts at 9pm, you're not late until your get there by 9:30. That's because trailers take up so much time of the first portion of your theater time.. And that fact has now caused theater owners to try to seek new rules to shorten movie trailers..
The HOLLYWOOD REPORTER has the story about how the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF THEATER OWNERS (NATO, not to be confused with the other organization) wants to give movie exhibitors more control over how Hollywood movies are marketed inside theaters. Theater owners feel that trailers are already too long and don't want NATO telling Hollywood they have more power to make them even longer..
Currently trailers are 2.5 minutes long.. But the MAN OF STEEL ran three minutes..
I personally don't think a trailer lasting more than 2 minutes is effective.. Most of the time, in modern cinemas, all trailers sort of flow with the same format. The horror movie has scary music and the big jump scene.. the action movies have the explosions and the joke at the end.. the dramas have the sad music and the romance kiss.. the comedies have the silly music along with the funniest parts of the movies placed in the trailer. We know the game, Hollywood. We know the game NATO.. and we also know that, in the end, anything lasting longer than 2 minutes, and 2.5 to be sure, is meaningless. The attention span of popcorn eating soda hogs (me being one of them when I actually get to a theater) isn't very long.. We are waiting for the main reason we go to the theater. Do I appreciate trailers? Sometimes. But certainly not all of them...
NATO can do what they want.. Theaters can protest. I have no dog in this fight. I'm fine knowing that even if I'm late I can catch a film.
And if I really want to watch the trailer, I'll watch it online..