Court forces movie theater to pay for ‘agony’ of too many ads

It’s a common complaint among cinephiles, but how many of us have sued a movie theater for showing too many trailers?

A man in India has successfully won damages from the country’s biggest movie theater in a consumer court after he complained that having to watch too many advertisements before a movie caused him to miss important work meetings.

In December 2023, Abhishekh M.R., who lives in the city of Bengaluru, paid $10 (826 rupees) for three tickets to see the war drama “Sam Bahadur” at a PVR movie theater, records of the Bangalore Urban Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission showed. 

The movie, which was scheduled to begin at 4:05 p.m and end at 6:30 p.m., was delayed for nearly half an hour because the theater played what Abhishekh called “trailers, advertisements and other fillers,” according to his court ruling.

The delay caused him to miss “other arrangements and appointments” scheduled that day, resulting in losses “which cannot be calculated in terms of money as a compensation,” the moviegoer told the court.

Abhiskekh demanded nearly $570 in compensatory damages and $60 for “mental agony” from the theater giant in January 2024, with a consumer court in the city earlier in the month ruling his favor.

This month, the court said the theater management’s “violation of the guidelines on the cost of viewers is unjust and unfair,” ordering the chain to pay the plaintiff $320 in damages and $1,150 in regulatory fines.

“Many times viewers will rush to the theater in a hurry … only on the reason that they are supposed to sit for watching movie at the time they mentioned in the ticket,” the court ruled.

The movie theater giant also violated regulations by playing lengthy commercials instead of government PSAs, the court said, adding movies must start “as scheduled and mentioned in the ticket.”

Indian films are known for being long, and usually also include an intermission that can be as long as 15 minutes and consist of advertisements.

“No one has the right to gain benefit out of others’ time and money,” the court said in its ruling, adding that 30 minutes is too long “to sit idle in the theatre and watch whatever the theatre telecasts.”