Warner Joins Disney in Ban of Theaters’ On-Screen Ads

A second major Hollywood studio has decided to prohibit theaters from running on-screen commercials before its movies are shown.

The Warner Bros. policy, disclosed Monday, follows the path paved by Walt Disney Studios in early February when it declared on-screen advertising a “turn-off” that has sullied the environment for viewing movies. Warner implemented the new advertising restrictions in bids sent out to exhibitors last week for the film “Gremlins 2: The New Batch,” which opens May 18 on about 2,000 screens nationwide.

“It’s an appropriate time for the change,” said Robert Friedman, Warner Bros.’ president of worldwide advertising and publicity. “I imagine that we feel the same as our colleagues at Disney.”

Disney’s initial announcement has sparked a debate between theater chains that show commercials and those that do not. About half of the nation’s 23,000 first-run theaters show advertising, for which they receive either revenue, discounts on wholesale prices of products such as soft drinks sold at concession counters, or, in the case of about 1,000 Southern California movie theaters, discounts on advertising costs in exchange for running commercials for the Los Angeles Times.

Many theater owners have argued that they should have a right to show whatever they want on their screens. Distribution executives have maintained that a studio has a right to set the conditions in which a film is shown.

Friedman said the Warner no-ad policy is substantially the same as Disney’s. It will allow theaters with pre-existing ad contracts to run commercials until the contracts expire. After that, the only exception to Warner’s no-ad policy will be for previews of coming attractions.

Until the move by Warner, no other major studio had spoken out against in-theater advertising, although some Hollywood distribution officials privately had applauded the Disney policy. On Monday, other studio executives contacted by The Times had no comment. Executives at Disney could not be reached for comment about the Warner action.

Some of Disney’s studio rivals have called its policy on in-theater commercials a public relations gesture, and some view it as yet another gambit in its feud with competitor MCA-Universal. The 1,930-screen Cineplex Odeon chain, which shows on-screen advertising, is 49% owned by MCA.

In support of its policy toward on-screen advertising, Disney has pointed to the results of a nationwide poll that it commissioned. According to the poll results, announced a week ago by Disney, more than 90% of the nation’s moviegoers don’t want advertising shown in theaters. The poll, conducted March 30-April 1 by National Research Group, surveyed 18,772 moviegoers in 10 cities nationally.

Despite the apparent aversion to advertising, Disney said, the public favors the viewing of previews by an equally high margin.

Disney executives said their policy was motivated by a concern for the future of the exhibition business and the preservation of what Disney Studios Chairman Jeffrey Katzenberg called “the movie-going experience” as differentiated from home video and commercial television.

Laura Morgan, public relations supervisor for The Times, said last week in response to results of the Disney poll that the paper believes that the future of in-theater advertising should be determined by the exhibitors and studios.