Summer's Movie Match-ups and Are Movie Trailers Too Long?

These days a movie trailer could run two-and-a-half to three minutes long and a theater could play upwards of five of them before the movie you've paid to see begins. Now the National Association of Theater Owners is asking studios to shorten the length of their trailers and, while they're at it, edit them so that they don't reveal too much of the plot. John points out that there is a cynical side to this showdown. Given that theaters are paid for running those trailers, the theater owners could want shorter ones just so they could run more of them. Meanwhile, the movie studios are having their own usual infighting this Summer with rivaling blockbusters getting released on the same weekends. But this year is a little different. With so many films made for over $100 million -- and sometimes up to $200 million -- the pressure to make back the budget is that much greater. With the head-to-head releases some films will inevitably be left in the dust.