Anyway, I still go to the movies a lot. If you show up early to get a good seat you end up watching generic advertising while getting popcorn etc, then in the theater before showtime you get the same generic advertising. Then, at the stated movie start or a little after you get 7-10 minutes of higher quantity advertising, then 5 to 15 minutes of movie previews then the movie.
So, if you show up early enough and you really can watch a full hour of advertising before the movie starts. However, if you don't mind sacrificing a good seat or just go at an off time you can avoid most if not all of that.
And the most annoying part of that generic advertising is the fact that most of it seems to be made with powerpoint (complete with slide "dissolves" and text "slide-ins"), so it's of a very low quality. Even from the likes of McDonald's and Coca Cola...
Luckily, here in Portugal most movies have reserved seats on their most busy schedules and are free-seating on the slow schedules. So you can go by just arriving at the scheduled start time or a few minutes later, seeing only the trailers and 5 minutes of better quality commercials at most.
The solution to this is reserved seating theaters. There are a couple in my area, so my friends and I will reserve seats online a few days before and show up right when the movie "starts."
The opposite here, very few cinemas have reserved seating, certainly though this would present a reason to buy your ticket in advance online for a popular new movie.
Anyway, I still go to the movies a lot. If you show up early to get a good seat you end up watching generic advertising while getting popcorn etc, then in the theater before showtime you get the same generic advertising. Then, at the stated movie start or a little after you get 7-10 minutes of higher quantity advertising, then 5 to 15 minutes of movie previews then the movie.
So, if you show up early enough and you really can watch a full hour of advertising before the movie starts. However, if you don't mind sacrificing a good seat or just go at an off time you can avoid most if not all of that.