Last week, the National Association of Theater Owners announced that they were requesting that movies trailers be shorter and that marketing campaigns begin no more than four months in advance of a film’s release. This week on The Collision, we talk about trailers, the marketing machine, blitzing the mainstream and luring in the fanboys, and much more.  As always, we finish up with our recommendations.

Click here to listen to the new episode of The Collision, click here for the previous episode (“Popcorn Movies and Fast & Furious 6“), click here to add the podcast to your RSS, and click here to find us on iTunes. To keep up to date with The Collision, you can follow us on Twitter at @MattGoldberg, @AdamChitwood, and @DrClawMD (Dave Trumbore). Hit the jump to check out the trailers for this week’s recommendations.

The National Association of Theater Owners (NATO) are oblivious to the scourge of shitty projection and people texting during movie theaters, but they’re feeling the need to step-up and ask for shorter movie trailers.  According to /Film, NATO is responding to consumer complaints about the trailers being too long and showing too much of the movie.  I’ve actually clocked it, and it takes about 10-15 minutes for all of the trailers to play.  Personally, I don’t mind.  It gives people more time to make it to the movie without interrupting the feature.  What really needs to be killed is shit like Regal Cinemas’ “Firstlook” where we’re informed about the latest garbage on ABC Family.

Hit the jump for what NATO is asking from the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), which also includes a shorter window for marketing campaigns.

Theater owners are none-too-pleased about the decision from Warner Bros., Sony, 20th Century Fox, and Universal to launch a premium VOD service this month.  Exhibitors believe that the service, which will rent movies for thirty dollars 60 days after the film has hit theaters, will significantly cut into theater revenues.  Earlier this month, we learned that Regal Cinemas was making the convincing threat to cut trailers and pull posters for the four studios’ big summer movies.  It was a proportional response designed to let the studios know that the theaters were finally going to fight back–not in anyway that actually benefits the average moviegoer–but in a way that would let the studios know that theaters weren’t going to take this potential revenue cut lying down.

And now that believable threat has been followed by an unbelievable threat: not showing the blockbuster movies of the studios involved in the premium VOD service.  Hit the jump for more. [Updated with a comment from NATO and a denial to the claim that it has instructed theaters not to show movies]