That Feature-Length films, when in Theaters, ought to include a Commercial Break during the Movie

We can't agree to debate whether ONE, then proceed to discuss airing multiple commercials. This debate is a discussion over a MAXIMUM of one commercial per film, whether it's Lawrence of Arabia or a 75-minute Disney movie. You never said that the producer, director, and theater can agree on how many commercials there would be, just on whether there would be a (singular) commercial. Here's what you said in round 1: "If the Producer, director and theater all agree, they will also be able to arrange times for when the commercial plays. " You said "the commercial" not multiple commercials. The point I'm making here is there is a lack of framework in this debate - we don't know how many commercials will possibly be aired at a single film. You originally said one commercial, now you're talking about several. What's to stop producers, directors, and theaters from agreeing on showing a commercial every ten minutes for a two hour movie. That's an hour of commercials - 50% of the film's total run time. This would ruin the experience of seeing movies. How can you get into the story of any movie, other than maybe a slapstick comedy. Also, point of clarification: why does it matter whether the director agrees to the commercials or not? They have no executive control over the distribution of the movie unless they're a producer or part of the studio, so it's an unnecessary party to the agreement. Commercials earn revenue. Yes, this is a fact, I'm not disputing that. If you sell ad space, you will cash a check. But the question here is whether net revenue will increase or decrease when theaters start running commercials in the middle of movies. I would argue that fewer people would go to movies, especially when as much as 1/3 of their time there will be spent watching advertisements. Figuring how much ticket sales would fall (and they certainly would fall) would be pure speculation, but it's fair to assume that the losses would exceed revenue gains from the commercials, otherwise theaters and producers would have started running commercials years ago. Your source on revenue growth from commercials is bogus - those commercials are pre-feature, meaning they are what's playing on the screen if you walk into a theater before the previews even start. These commercials aren't any indication of the impact that mid-movie commercials would have, because (1) the revenue only goes to the theater, no the movie producers/distributors; (2) there is no negative impact on ticket sales associated with the practice of pre-feature advertising, because it has no impact on the movie, because it's not an interruption in the same way a mid-movie commercial would be. Theaters are already beginning to struggle, having to compete against home entertainment media like Netflix. If they start showing commercials, there would be no reason for people to go to theaters anymore. It would be far preferable to stay home and stream a movie with no interruptions in the comfort of your own home. Five minutes really is a long time, especially if there are several breaks over the course of a movie. It's not as big of a deal when you're at home watching TV, because you can do other things, but how many times are you going to refill a soda or go to the restroom during a two hour movie? Most of the time, audiences would feel like their time was being wasted. When you're at home, you can change the channel during a break, get some work done, or do anything else you want. You're much more limited in a theater setting. On television, networks are cutting commercials because people DON'T like watching commercials. Many studies show that commercial breaks decrease enjoyment of programming, contrary to what you claim. It's the reason streaming sites have become so popular - Netflix allows uninterrupted, on-demand streaming of content that allows for viewers to focus on the plot continuously, rather than in 10 minute pieces. . http://www.bloomberg.com... . http://time.com... The fact is, people just don't have the patience and attention span to accommodate more commercials. It breaks the flow of a movie, the audience gets irritable, and they choose to stay home next time because it's easier to watch movies online without commercials.