Lawmakers back off plan to regulate movie start times, for now
Contributed | pixabay.com/photos/movie-theater-canvas-steamed-2093264/
A movie theater.
After making headlines as far away as London for a proposal to regulate movie start times, Connecticut lawmakers have decided not to pursue the plan. At least for now.
A bill that would have required movie theaters to publish more accurate start times — or include a notice stating the picture would begin after 10 or more minutes of trailers and advertisements — was amended Wednesday, and now calls only for a study of the issue to be undertaken. The amended bill received a favorable vote from the Senate.
The legislation, Senate Bill 797, attracted global attention earlier this year after it was put forward by Senate President Pro Tem Martin M. Looney, D-New Haven. Looney said the idea came at the behest of multiple constituents.
“I have received complaints from constituents who note that they incurred additional baby-sitting costs, or were late for a dinner reservation and had to wait a half hour for a table,” Looney said in written testimony on the bill. He also mentioned “the case of a couple who went to see the Bob Dylan biopic, A Complete Unknown, [and] were subjected to a string of trailers for violent/horror films in which they had no interest.”
The original bill would have fined theaters up to $500 for failing to post accurate notices about start times.
Quickly, however, the theater industry in Connecticut pushed back on the idea. Business owners argued that advertisers would pull their business if they knew people were not going to arrive in time to sit through their ads, cutting into the theater’s bottom line. About one-third of the state’s theaters have closed since the pandemic, according to Connecticut Association of Theatre Owners.
The unusual subject of legislation appeared in news coverage across the country, as well as abroad. In February the bill — and Looney himself — became the butt of several jokes on the NPR comedy show ‘Wait Wait… Don’t Tell Me!’
Some Connecticut lawmakers questioned the concept and why it was worthy of the legislature’s attention.
“I hear a lot of concerns, a lot of ideas, but this was never one,” said state Sen. Paul Cicarella, R-North Haven. “So this is a new one for me.”
Speaking from the Senate floor Wednesday, Looney rejected the notion that the bill was taking away time from more important issues. He also pointed out the amended bill would create a working group to study larger issues affecting the theater industry.
“The purpose of the original bill has already been accomplished because of the publicity that the issue has been given,” he said.
In addition to start times, the working group will review policies to support “family entertainment venues” in Connecticut, including through the use of tax credits. The group will file a report by Jan. 1, 2026.
The Senate voted 27 to 9 to pass the amended measure, with all of the opposition coming from Republicans. The bill now heads to the House for further consideration.
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