Let’s all go to the lobby: why cinema advertising is still king

The line for Brad Pitt’s new film was snaking around the corner of the block. The crowd, “mostly young men”, as the New York Times noted at the time, were clutching ticket stubs for Meet Joe Black, but they couldn’t give a damn who Joe Black was – they certainly weren’t there to meet him.

The opening weekend screenings of the November 1998 film also happened to be the first time that fans could see the trailer for Star Wars: The Phantom Menace, the first film in the saga for 15 long years.

After the trailer played – all two minutes and ten seconds of it – the crowds left the cinema.