A 2019 ad deal set off a decade-long standoff between theater chains chasing revenue and studios who need people to actually see the trailers.

That slow house-lights fade before a movie starts is not ambience for its own sake. It is borrowed from how rods and cones trade off in your retina, and it happens to be easier on the equipment too.

Traditional and Dome IMAX theaters curve their screens to fight distortion and widen your field of view — but not every IMAX auditorium does.

Everyone repeats the same line about a 2:30 trailer limit. A data analysis of nearly 7,000 trailers going back to 1930 shows the opposite is true.