Movie theaters take on DVR traits

Now moviegoers can skip the 10 to 15 minutes of ads that traditionally run before the feature presentations. Loews Cineplex will begin publicizing the actual start times of movies, the company announced earlier this week. The move was partly in response to customer feedback, as well as a bill introduced by Connecticut lawmakers.

Starting May 13 in Connecticut, movie listings will note that movies will start 10 to 15 minutes after the published showtime. Movie listings in markets nationwide will have the same information over the next month. Loews expects viewers to still arrive early to buy refreshments and pick out seats.

Marketing experts have said the move is also in response to trends in the entertainment industry that give moviegoers more choices for viewing films, such as pay-per-view, video-on-demand and Netflix.