If you're tired of really long (spoiler-y) movie trailers that harbor on the three-minute mark, that may soon be a thing of the past.
The National Association of Theatre Owners (NATO) — no, not that NATO— released in-theater marketing guidelines Monday calling for shorter trailers and a specific timeline for when movie marketing can occur.
In a nutshell, NATO is calling for two-minute long trailers that can't be shown more than five months ahead of the film's release date.
This isn't the first time NATO has proposed shorter movie trailers. The argument for shorter movie trailers came about last year after theater owners received complaints about trailers being "too long" and giving "away too much of the plot."
Voluntary guidelines currently in place by the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) limit a trailer to two-and-a-half minutes. However, each studio is allowed one movie to exceed that limit per year.
Similarly, these new guidelines aren't being strictly enforced. Instead, they're "voluntary" guidelines that will go into effect starting October 2014.
Basically, while trailers may start to ebb toward a shorter time, there's nothing stopping Peter Jackson from putting out another 3-minute "Hobbit" trailer.
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