People complaining about getting two movies at Coco showings.

Cornish Lad

Mouseketeer
Joined
Oct 16, 2017
Wow people complaining about getting two movies - in my day here in the UK we always had two movies. First there was a "B" movie then a break for ice cream, trailers for upcoming movies and commercials and then the main "A" movie. How times have changed!
 
that's definitely how things used to be in the US as well - you'd have a news reel and a cartoon and then the feature, etc.

I think in this situation it is partly expectations vs reality ... we've been trained for what the "shorts" before a Disney film are and this was 3-4 times longer.

Also the tone of the short was very different than that of Coco (much sillier vs a more serious and emotional feature) and also just some Frozen backlash in general I think

Plus in this day and age of social media people love to complain and let their complaints be heard ;)
 
I was thinking about that, too. I remember when going to a double feature, AND sometimes a cartoon would be the norm.
 


I can understand some of the complaints. I went to see Coco last week and the show time was 1:20, the movie didn't actually start until after 2. It was over 40 minutes of previews and the "short." So if you are trying to make plans for dinner afterward or just need to be up for work the next day, it makes it impossible to gauge how long you will actually be at the theater. That said, previews are always a wild card. Me, personally, I wouldn't and didn't complain because I had nowhere to be and I liked the long Frozen short.
 
Well if the norm was previews consisting of 15-20mins prior to the movie-which previews have gotten longer over time--and then suddently another 20 minutes was tacked on you'd probably get annoyed. I love the previews before a movie but I know why the length of them gets annoying to people.

And people aren't complaining about 'getting' two movies. They are complaining about 40mins being taken up prior to the 1 hr 49min movie. Most people could tolerate a 2-8min short (which is what one source said is the average Pixar short length). But a 21min one is a different story. And if you knew about the long short you may have made the decision to see it when it becomes available on DVD or streaming but for obvious and understandable reasons Disney wasn't going to market the length of the short (which I believe was supposed to be a made-for-TV special--which makes sense if they had a 30min time-slot and had 9minutes of commercials).

I remember going to movies at one of the old theaters (which is no longer there) and they had intermission but it's been years since that was the case and I think that was usually just in the summer and only for certain showings. It was designed for kids mostly at least the theater I went to promoted it like that.

Nowadays--if they are still in business around people--you'll see what you're talking about or at least the opportunity for what you are talking about in drive-in movies.
 
I did enjoy the Frozen short personally. But I also think some of the backlash had to do with the context in regards to the main film, as a PP also mentioned. I think it was used as a way to drive Frozen fans to attend a film about a story they may not have chosen to see otherwise, although we learned Coco was able to stand on its own merits after all. Unfortunately, I don’t know that Disney was able to realize that until they saw the mass audiences’ positive comments and feedback from its release.
 


The complaining is so over the top. Did people complain this much when Prince and Pauper was released with The Rescuers? That's 31 minutes long.

I looked at it as more movie to watch
 
The complaining is so over the top. Did people complain this much when Prince and Pauper was released with The Rescuers? That's 31 minutes long.

I looked at it as more movie to watch
If you're talking about the Disney one IMDb lists it as 25mins. It was also released in 1990. Also Rescuers Down Under (I'm assuming that's the one you are talking about) was 1 hr 17 minutes long whereas Coco is 1 hr 49 minutes long.

That was also 27 years ago. We're talking about today as time has evolved. Most Disney movies were under 1 hr 30mins at that time. Besides the complaining you would have heard back then would have been in newspapers or word of mouth maybe the nightly news. Nowadays people can express their opinions instantaneously and with people all across the globe quickly.

FWIW my husband was actually looking forward to it and I was neutral about it. But I do get why people were complaining.
 
If you're talking about the Disney one IMDb lists it as 25mins. It was also released in 1990. Also Rescuers Down Under (I'm assuming that's the one you are talking about) was 1 hr 17 minutes long whereas Coco is 1 hr 49 minutes long.

That was also 27 years ago. We're talking about today as time has evolved. Most Disney movies were under 1 hr 30mins at that time. Besides the complaining you would have heard back then would have been in newspapers or word of mouth maybe the nightly news. Nowadays people can express their opinions instantaneously and with people all across the globe quickly.

FWIW my husband was actually looking forward to it and I was neutral about it. But I do get why people were complaining.

So people want less movie? I don't get it.

I think the Frozen short was pretty well publicized and you could either go late or go grab your seat and take one last visit to the bathroom or grab a soda. The amount of whining (in general not on here) was a bit over the top IMO and I think was because it was Frozen
 
So people want less movie? I don't get it.

I think the Frozen short was pretty well publicized and you could either go late or go grab your seat and take one last visit to the bathroom or grab a soda. The amount of whining (in general not on here) was a bit over the top IMO and I think was because it was Frozen
Depends on the movie of course. There was large controversy with how well received the DC movies have been not only for plot but also for length. Justice League for example was prohibited from going over 2 hrs.

I'm not sure that it was that it was Frozen perse. If it was a topic related directly to Coco it may not have been as poorly received. It would have still had complaints about length I'm sure. If it was just added runtime to the movie (so the movie was actually 2hrs 10mins) you may or may not have gotten as many complaints. For an animated movie that is a bit long for the average movie. For a live-action movie 2hrs is probably average. A slap-stick comedy tends to run closer to 1 hr 30-45mins. And animated seems to be between 1 hrs 30-45mins.

If you had no previews period for Coco then you'd just have the people who are annoyed with the length that previews take up it's just this time they are swapping preview time for the Frozen short.

As for well publicized..yeah after the complaints went out it sure was.

As for go late----yeah..sorry that one can be seen as rude to people. I sure as heck am not going to show up late to a movie interrupting other people with trying to find my seat in the dark movie theater just so I could avoid a short. If I had a large issue with it I would choose to see the movie when it was out on DVD and streaming. And Disney would lose out on my money at the theaters. As for going to the bathroom or grabbing a soda..also can be disrupting. I mean sure if you gotta go you gotta go and if you suddenly have a thirst I gotcha. But to do those things just to avoid a short especially when you've already had the previews..YMMV but that's not exactly IMO a solution to avoiding the short.

Besides we're not talking about itsy bitsy tiny population of people who complained..I doubt Disney would care all that much. But it's gotten enough negative and poor attention including from Mexico that Disney cares about it. Coco was also released nearly a month before the U.S. in Mexico and many of their theaters stopped showing the short under 2 weeks after it was released. Part of it I'm sure was the theme didn't match the feature film but also it was the length.
 
I was surprised by it but had no negative feelings. I couldn't believe the amount of hysteria and complaining that ensued. So silly.
I would think people with kids would have been so jazzed to see this Frozen movie. Talk about a bonus!

I didn't care one way or the other. It was just there. Loved Coco, the Frozen short didn't take away anything from it.

I have found that Disney fanatics are some of the most intense and outlandish in the world.
 
For us it was young children have a limited attention span, my six year old son already hates the 20 minutes of commercials and previews and then to tag another 20 minutes onto that is way to much for the children, why doesn't anyone think about the children!!! jk
Plus Olaf is cool enough but I love the non branded shorts so much more, like Lou, Sanjays Super Team, etc. they are amazing.
 
If you're gonna advertise a "short" before a movie, it needs to be at least one of two things:

1. Short
2. Really, really good.

#2 is debatable. I thought it was bad, and I'm a "Frozen" fan. But other people love it, so it's whatever.

But it was really, really long. When I think of a "short", I'm thinking 7-10 minutes, tops. But 21 minutes? AFTER the previews? All the kids around me were squirming. Very little laughter in the theater. AGAIN, I know that's purely subjective. Your experience was different. But if it's not gonna be great, it at least needs to be short. And it wasn't.

Again, I really loved "Frozen". Still do. But this was just way too much, and mis-advertised. It should have been an ABC prime-time special(which would've been a ratings bonanza)....not a "short" before a full-length feature film.
 
So people want less movie? I don't get it.

I think the Frozen short was pretty well publicized and you could either go late or go grab your seat and take one last visit to the bathroom or grab a soda. The amount of whining (in general not on here) was a bit over the top IMO and I think was because it was Frozen

It seems to be a trend in society to want things as efficient as possible / short or shifting attention spans / SQUIRREL!!! .... I know there is tons of talk about speeding up the pace of play in baseball games and that the games are too long (and part of my thinking is: you are a baseball fan and the issue is there is too much baseball?)

I do agree that some of the statements and articles and headlines I have seen on social media are a bit over the top and calling the short horrid and stuff like that.

Personally, from being active on here and other places I knew it was going to be long so it didn't really bother me - and we had some laughing in our audience (at least during like the first half or so ... but we love bad puns and stuff) - but if you aren't a Frozen fan and think you just have to get through a 5 minute short and then it turns out to be 20+ minutes I can see being a bit annoyed (not "grab the pitch forks and storm the castle" annoyed ... but a bit)
 
Sitting through one movie is quite enough for me. I don't want to add an extra half hour of unrelated material at the beginning that I might have no desire to see.
 
I do agree that some of the statements and articles and headlines I have seen on social media are a bit over the top and calling the short horrid and stuff like that.
Totally on that. Media loves their attention-getting headlines. But they are that way with just about everything. Even the silly fluff stuff you find on FB.
 
Sitting through one movie is quite enough for me. I don't want to add an extra half hour of unrelated material at the beginning that I might have no desire to see.

And actually more than that since there are trailers too.

DS went, said multiple families walked out during the short and as far as he saw they never came back. Said it was a full 45 minutes before movie started. If you have plans after, allotted posted movie time plus 15 minutes for trailers ... then realize there is another half hour tacked on you had not planned .......... I could see them complaining and asking for their money back. I'm waiting to go until after the short is gone.

It should have been released straight to DVD like some other sing-a-long etc or put on television. All it said was they were not confident in Coco and therefore thought Olaf could sell it. I think they've played out their Frozen hand.
 
And actually more than that since there are trailers too.

DS went, said multiple families walked out during the short and as far as he saw they never came back. Said it was a full 45 minutes before movie started. If you have plans after, allotted posted movie time plus 15 minutes for trailers ... then realize there is another half hour tacked on you had not planned .......... I could see them complaining and asking for their money back. I'm waiting to go until after the short is gone.

It should have been released straight to DVD like some other sing-a-long etc or put on television. All it said was they were not confident in Coco and therefore thought Olaf could sell it. I think they've played out their Frozen hand.
The movie run time listed on AMC theatres included the frozen short in it just not the time for trailers.
 

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