By Donna Millsap
Oregon Herald Staff reporter

Regal Cinemas, by their own words, the "largest cinema chain in the world", is forcing customers to view ads to help pay their bills.

Our investigation indicates Oregon customers, by a large majority, do not wish to view any advertising in any form when they pay for entertainment. Regal employees, confused and obviously uneducated in at least this area, have no good answers and management refuses comment. The real problem, in addition to having to pay for ads, is not knowing when the film will begin. Will there be previews, will the movie begin on time? The Tigard Cinemas in Tigard, Oregon is a good example. On January 24th, 2002, "In The Bedroom", started at 7:30 but without previews, directly into the film. Customers wishing not to be force fed ads arrived a little late to skip them but missed part of the film instead. I was at that theater, at that time and can tell you directly that no employee questioned knew what was going on. In fact, they all had a different answer. One young girl employee, in answer to the statement that I arrived late to miss the advertising, asked me if I would rather pay more for the film or accept advertising (sic). If this sort of garbage is being fed to these poor high-school kids to report to their clientele, then perhaps Regal Cinemas may be in real financial trouble, or simple do not care for their customers. Another Enron in the brew? There seemed to be no adults running the theater, only a half dozen high school kids, hanging around in groups, laughing and playing, rudely ignoring questions from everyone until pressed. I was not the only customer asking questions.

"Steve" at the Tigard Regal Cinemas theater, when called, said he had "no comment", snickering as he said it twice. Regal Cinema headquarters had problems finding anyone in charge for comment. It's blatantly obvious Regal employees have no clear idea what to say in this regard to their customers, are not organized, mouth inept one liners designed by corporate idiots who have no understanding how to present honest entertainment. In fact, the young ushers and ticket takers contradicted one another, to the point of being ludicrous. We missed the first ten minutes of the film because no one seemed to be in charge or know for sure if the movie was playing, a preview, or an ad. They were defensive, not helpful or regretful, rude instead of considerate. There were at least three different opinions from three different groups of gangling kid ushers and ticket takers. Even the projectionist had problems reporting on what he or she knew.Oregon Herald staff Interviewed a dozen customers at the Tigard theater last night, asking them what they thought about ads on the screen in theaters and every one of them were strongly against it.

Five people indicated they would find alternative means of entertainment if theaters such as Regal Cinemas could not correctly and consistently run preview or not, and remove their ads from the screen, or at least let you know it was an ad and where the feature began.

One customer said he felt Regal "sucked", another said Regal had no idea how to offer entertainment, remembering projection problems, probably beaches Regal can not afford to hire adults. Others say the theater is too cold, prices too high, a small coke going for $3.25. The general mood is that they're waiting for something better than Regal Cinemas, that they just don't have their act together.

This reporter can only agree. Regal is not at all regal but below standard, petty, indifferent, cold, rude, and unprofessional.

I was told that "Kim" was the Tigard theater manager but when I called Kim had not arrived yet. I was not surprised. I called repeatedly for the next 45 minutes and the phone was always busy at the Tigard theater. I was finally able to get through much later. She was still absent from her post.

"Time is precious to Americans these days, " Ralph Nader said recently. "We don't have time to give away to the advertising industry for free. And the movie industry has no business taking that time through deception. When they say the screen time is, say, 7:30, that should be the time the movie starts, not the time the theater starts showing commercials to a captive audience."

The Cinema Billboard Network, which is a division of Screenvision Cinema Network, boasts: "We have a captive audience watching your advertisement. No interruptions! The patrons sitting in the theaters are not going anywhere." (Emphasis in original.)

Not all movie companies allow ads before their movies. The general counsel to Buena Vista, which distributes Disney movies, explained in 1990 why Disney generally prohibits advertising in theaters before its movies: "We do not believe people should be held hostage to unavoidable commercials in theaters any more than on their telephones." According to the Los Angeles Times, New Line Cinema and Warner Bros. don't allow in-theater advertising before their films.

Perhaps it's time that Regal Cinemas began getting their act together and begin to really think of their customers instead of only the dollar.