How long are the adverts and trailers before a film?

18 October 2026

How long are adverts at the cinema? At the UK chains that publish a figure, adverts and trailers usually run for 15 to 30 minutes before the film starts. That gap is the one stretch of the evening when you can visit the loo and miss nothing of the story.

What each cinema chain says

We only quote a chain’s figure when its own help page states it. Here is what those pages said when we checked them for this guide.

Cineworld says its ads and trailers normally last between 20 and 30 minutes before the film begins. It suggests you arrive 20 minutes before the advertised start time.
Picturehouse says the length varies, but its ads and trailers usually run for 15 to 20 minutes. It adds that its Screen Arts events have reduced pre-show adverts or none at all.
Everyman says it typically plays up to 30 minutes of ads and trailers before each screening. For special events the figure can vary between 15 and 40 minutes.

You will find figures for Odeon and Vue quoted all over the internet. We couldn’t open either chain’s own help page when we wrote this, so we have left them out rather than repeat second-hand numbers. If you need a figure for a particular cinema, ask at the box office. Staff there know their own running order better than any website.

Does the film start at the time on your ticket?

Usually not. Cineworld asks you to be seated at the advertised start time in case the adverts run shorter than usual, so you don’t miss the beginning of the film. Picturehouse asks you to arrive for the advertised start time for the same reason. At those chains, then, the time on your ticket is roughly when the adverts begin, and the film follows them.

That matters if you are planning a toilet trip. The listed time tells you when the screen fills up with adverts, not when the story starts. The chains also say the length varies from one showing to the next, so treat any figure as a guide rather than a timetable.

How long are the trailers before a movie, on their own?

None of the chain pages we read splits the adverts from the trailers. Each gives one figure for the whole pre-show, so nobody publishes a separate answer for the trailers. Watch the screen instead. When the trailers are on, the film is close, and the end of the pre-show is not the moment to start a queue for the loo.

Some screenings skip the pre-show altogether. Everyman’s relaxed screenings, for example, run with no trailers or advertisements, and Picturehouse’s Screen Arts events trim theirs or drop them. Event screenings can run longer, as Everyman’s 15-to-40-minute range for special events shows.

Use the adverts for the loo

If you want one piece of advice from this page, it is this: take your toilet break during the adverts, not halfway through the film. You lose nothing of the story, you climb past a row that isn’t yet watching anything it cares about, and you come back before the film begins.

A few habits make it easy.

Find your seat first. Sit down, put your coat on the seat, and note the row and seat number. Then go. You will walk back knowing where you are heading.
Go early in the pre-show. The chains say its length varies, so the later you leave it, the more likely you are to come back to the opening scene.
Go before a long film. A long film with no interval is a long time to sit. Our guide to long films with no interval covers the rest of the planning.
Think about your drink. A large drink finished before the trailers is a common reason to leave mid-film.

Arrive early or arrive late?

Some people time their arrival to skip the adverts. That works if you know the cinema well and the queue at the kiosk is short. It goes wrong when the pre-show runs short, or when you still have to find your row in the dark after the film has started. If that happens, our guide on what to do when you’ve arrived late to a film covers finding your seat and catching up on the opening.

If you arrive on time, you get the adverts as a buffer. You can buy a drink, find your seat, visit the toilet and settle in before the film begins. For most people that is worth twenty minutes of adverts.

If you have to go during the film anyway

Sometimes the adverts aren’t enough, and you have to step out once the story is under way. Our guide on the best time to go to the toilet during a film looks at which stretches cost you least. The wider guide to a toilet break during a film covers getting out and back without fuss.

When you get back, The Bit You Missed can fill you in on the walk to your seat. You pick your film, drag a dial to roughly how far in you are, and read short lines, one per scene. A line reads something like “Nedry shuts the fences down and drives for the east dock.” See how it works, or read our guide to catching up on a part of a film you missed.

Stepped out mid-film?

Pick your film, drag the dial to roughly how far in you are, and read what you missed. Open the web app