And, oddly, the new hyper-affordable car from Renault. [link] I don't know why they picked the name "Logan" but I suspect it's more for Logan's Run than Wolverine.

Cable in the states has commercials now also, but it originally didn't, and that was supposed to be the whole point. Just like broadcast TV didn't originally have commercials during the show, but before and after only. As viewers get used to commercials, providers of TV or movies start packing in more and more. We could conceivably see a day where movie theaters stop the film for an intermission to show commercials. (Which, with the new longer movies, would be justified as a bathroom break.)

The economics of the movie theater industry are flawed...the studios are charging too much for the theaters to rent the movies, apparently, thus the move towards theater conglomerates. These conglomerates started so that they could develop relations with studios - AMC used to get Columbia/Tri-Star movies cheaper (I think it was C/T-S). Might still be the case, I dunno.

I wonder what would happen if theaters charged more for opening night, and then a bit less for opening weekend, and then a bit less for the first two weeks, and then dropped the price substantially? Theater-goers would squawk initially, but I'm sure it would catch on pretty fast, as there are indefinable benefits to seeing a movie early into its release. And theaters already have premium pricing for evening shows vs. matinee shows. Also, I wonder if charging a premium for reserved seats will catch on - once the new theater in Fairfax offered this, it's all we did. My DH wouldn't go otherwise.

This all goes counter to the American belief that movies are proletariat entertainment, of course. So maybe the commercials are the price we have to pay to keep movies for the masses, and still let the studios make ungodly amounts of profit (except, there's never any profit). I mean, I have no problem with profit-making, that's the whole point. But it seems to me that the studio executives have found ways to maximize their profit beyond the actual market level, and these ways ultimately hurt the end consumer. Sort of like Microsoft.

(waits for counterpoint from ita)

A source tells Pagesix.com the mutant will be, "An unbelievably hot and sexy hooker. Her super power is that she secretes a pheromone that helps her to seduce men. She can seduce anyone."

Smallville already did this storyline. Fairly well, too. (Well for SV, anyway.)

I wonder what would happen if theaters charged more for opening night, and then a bit less for opening weekend, and then a bit less for the first two weeks, and then dropped the price substantially?

That kinda sorta happens, in between first run theaters (that have the movies when they first come out) and the dollar (or, nowadays, $3.00) theaters that get the movies a few weeks later. I can see Batman Begins for $3.50 now, about the price of renting the DVD when it comes out, if I don't mind going to Kernersville, NC to do it.

That's my Batman. That's my motherfucking Batman.

That's exactly what I said as l left teh theater yesterday.

As plate of shrimp go, it's not really astounding, but I'll take it.

I had forgotten abotu the possibility of seeing the Serenity trailer on the big screen. Glorious!

Smallville already did this storyline. Fairly well, too. (Well for SV, anyway.)

Oh yeah! Wasn't that the one where Jonathan got seduced? I can't really remember, because SV has had like fifty thousand storylines where people are either possessed or controlled or seduced or anything at all that allows their actions to be completely without reproach, thereby giving the appearance of character development without actually developing characters.

A source tells Pagesix.com the mutant will be, "An unbelievably hot and sexy hooker. Her super power is that she secretes a pheromone that helps her to seduce men. She can seduce anyone."

This is also in the book Altered Carbon. Did we need a new mutant created for this? No. Did they think Mystique, Rogue, and Jean Grey weren't packing enough sex appeal to put butts in seats? (leaving out BerryStorm on purpose)

I have been seeing too many damn tie-in commercials for Fantastic Four over the weekend, especially those stupid Amazon gift card ads. Considering that I am not a comic book reader, I've never even heard of the Fantastic Four before the movie info came out, so I have no desire to see this film whatsoever, and these ads are just irritating me.

I wish that tie-in ads would be either much more subtle (like the Verizon contest tie in for RotK), or really blatant (along the lines of the hyperactive Buzz Lightyear commercial in the first Toy Story movie, voiced by Penn). This in between shit is just crazy making for me, because I can't ignore it nor can I mock it--I can only endure it.

I've never even heard of the Fantastic Four before the movie info came out

I haven't either, but the movie looks interesting enough. (I can't say whether it looks good or not because I am a HORRIBLE judge on that sort of thing. I usually enjoy most movies anyway.)

I went and saw Batman Begins again this weekend, except this time it was on the IMAX screen. Let me tell you how awesome that was! All the action was bigger and seemed more exciting because I almost felt like I was there (since the IMAX is designed to be seen by peripheral vision as well as normal). Because it was so big, though, some things that went by very fast were more blurry and kind of made my eyes hurt. It was still awesome though. (And the sound was even more amazing in the IMAX theater.)

The only preview we got was for Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. I'm kind of bummed that I haven't yet seen the Serenity trailer on a movie screen.

We saw the Serenity trailer not in front of Batman, but in front of Land of the Dead. (Which, for the record, eh. Although Simon Baker was yum.)

because SV has had like fifty thousand storylines where people are either possessed or controlled or seduced or anything at all that allows their actions to be completely without reproach, thereby giving the appearance of character development without actually developing characters.

Mostly, I think it's for the appearance of various actors in revealing outfits. And in the case of MR and TW I'm pretty much ok with it.

So not watching for the plots.

Re: trailers. The second time I saw Batman Begins I got both the Serenity and Willy Wonka trailers. The first time, neither one. Both times I saw BB at the same theater. No idea what's up with that.

Most big chain theatres change their preview reels every month, so if you saw it in June and July, you'd have gotten different previews.