• A new bill introduced in Connecticut would force movie theaters to list a movie's "real" start time.
• This would mean you could time your visit to skip the ads and trailers before finding your seat.
• Boo! Hiss! Trailers are part of the magic of moviegoing.

Imagine you're Nicole Kidman, wearing a sparkling dark suit, entering an empty theater. You take your seat with your big soda, the flickering light illuminating your face. Somehow, heartbreak feels good in a place like this. The joy and thrill of seeing a movie in the theater always comes with a moment of anticipation: the trailers that come before the movie.

And yes, sometimes now, even ads. But watching these, that's just part of the experience, right? We go in knowing that there will be a few minutes before the movie starts. As a chronically late person, I find this buffer of an extra 10 or so minutes useful.

One lawmaker from Connecticut is trying to change this.

State Sen. Martin M. Looney, a Democrat representing New Haven in the Connecticut State Senate, has proposed a bill that would require movie theaters to list the real start times of a movie — not when the trailers start.

This means that a theater's website would have to list both the time the ads or trailers begin and the time the actual film begins — something like:

"A Complete Unknown" 7:00 p.m. (film starts at 7:08 p.m.)

Looney did not respond to a request for comment from BI, but he told the Register Citizen, which first reported on the bill: "It seems to be an abuse of people's time. If they want to get there early and watch the promos, they can. But if they just want to see the feature, they ought to be able to get there just in time for that."

Sure, we've all been slightly frustrated having to sit through not just trailers but also regular advertisements when we paid for a ticket just to see a movie. But to me, sitting through the previews feels like a small price to pay for the pleasures of moviegoing.

(Although like much in politics, it's a divisive issue. Several of my colleagues love the idea of knowing a movie's true start time.)

Ads and trailers also are a part of revenue for some theaters at a time when movie ticket sales have not recovered from the start of the pandemic, and as streaming has eaten into their business.

A spokesperson for the National Association of Theatre Owners declined to comment about the bill.

The trailers before the main attraction also allow movie lovers to learn about new movies. An EMARKETER report based on a YouGov poll from late last year found that in-theater trailers or ads were the No. 3 most likely way people saw promotions for new movies in the US and Canada — after TV and social media.

Some theaters aren't thrilled by the idea.

Ryan Wenke, CEO of the Prospector Theater in Ridgefield, Connecticut, which is a nonprofit that employs adults with disabilities, told Business Insider that their movies typically start about five minutes after listed showtimes.

"I hope the 2025 legislative session prioritizes more pressing issues like disability rights and employment opportunities for underrepresented populations," Wenke said.

If you were hoping for a respite from rising streaming subscription fees in 2025, you’re out of luck. Several streaming providers have already increased monthly and/or annual subscription rates, continuing a disappointing trend from the past few years, with no foreseeable end.

Years of pricing and value concerns

Subscribers have generally seen an uptick in how much money they spend to access streaming services. In June, Forbes reported that 44 percent of the 2,000 US streaming users it surveyed who “engage with content for at least an hour daily” said their streaming costs had increased over the prior year.

Deloitte's 2024 Digital Media Trends report found that 48 percent of the 3,517 US consumers it surveyed said that they would cancel their favorite streaming video-on-demand service if the price went up by $5.

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• Audiences have flocked to see "Wicked" since its release in theaters this week.
• But some moviegoers have complained about people singing along while watching.
• The issue has sparked a fresh debate on movie theater etiquette.

"Wicked" arrived in theaters this week to largely positive reviews.

But while the film itself may be going down well with audiences, some have been less than thrilled to find their fellow moviegoers singing along and giving their best impressions of Elphaba and Glinda (played by Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande).

The film adaptation of the long-running Broadway musical of the same name has since prompted a fresh debate over how audiences should behave.

For its part, AMC Theatres has asked moviegoers to keep quiet during screenings of the film, which landed in theaters on November 22.

But it seems not everyone has got the message.

One TikTok user said in a video that has gained more than 1.3 million views: "I'm here to warn everyone that the singing is, in fact, happening, and it's worse than you would expect."

"Not only were people singing at the top of their lungs during 'Defying Gravity,' but what was almost worse is people whisper singing, and their timing was off so you would just hear little whispers of the songs or even just some of the words before they were said," they added.

Another TikTok user wrote of their experience watching the film: "The rumors are true; the theater kids really did do a sing-along."

"9/10 movie but 1/10 audience," they added in the caption.

Weighing in on the debate in an interview with StayTunedNBC, Grande and Erivo said they understood people wanting to sing along.

"I say if you come the first time and you sing through, sing through. But come a second time and let us sing to you," Erivo said.

"And if someone throws popcorn at you or their phone or something, maybe stop," Grande joked.

"Wicked" isn't the first movie in recent years to spark debate about how people should act during films.

In 2023, when Taylor Swift's "The Eras Tour" concert film was released in theaters, videos of fans leaving their seats to sing and dance in the aisles were met with criticism online.

However, for "Wicked," there may be a solution to keep both sides happy — special sing-a-long screenings will begin showing in roughly 1,000 North American cinemas from Christmas Day onwards, Variety has reported.

The Universal Pictures film, directed by Jon M. Chu, is expected to have one of the biggest domestic opening weekends of the year.

After making $19.2 million in advance screenings, the movie is reportedly heading for a domestic debut of $120 million.