Yielding to pressure, Loews to list films'a ctual starting times
Loews Cineplex, the movie theater behemoth, just blinked.
Facing growing audience rage at the proliferation of product ads in theaters before the start of feature films and trailers, the company has decided to list the actual starting times of the features, in addition to the official times that, increasingly, bear no relation to reality.
According to a company statement released Tuesday, the change will begin in Loews theaters in Connecticut on May 13 and will begin to spread to all of its houses across the country over the next month.
Listings will note that the features will start ''10 to 15 minutes after the published showtime."
The corporate announcement means that for those annoyed by the product ads, relief is on the way. Patrons will now be able to better calibrate their arrival to the start of the movie, although in doing so they risk marginal seating for a popular film.
Ads before movies, which push everything from cars to soft drinks, infuriate many who say they come to movies to escape these kinds of irritants that dominate television. But where TV viewers are armed with remotes to click away commercials, the captive audiences in theaters enjoy no such option.
The Loews Cineplex CEO, Travis Reid, maintained in the statement that the public understands the practice of running house ads. But he allowed, ''Recently, however, some of our customers have suggested that we also publicize the start time of the movie."
A spokesman for the 
