The Cheesy Promotional Gimmick Universal Employed For This Movie

Two-Minute Warning was released during an era when theatre patrons were not forced to vacate auditoriums after each showing. By the same token, patrons could buy a ticket and walk into an auditorium while a movie was already in progress; halfway over or during its last few minutes. As a theatre manager I always scratched my head, trying to understand why anyone would purchase a ticket for the next showing yet think nothing of watching the end of the movie.

My comment above provides context behind Universal's William Castle-like cheesy promotional gimmick for an equally cheesy production. The stunt involved a flashing yellow (construction site) light atop a cardboard standee and placed outside the auditorium entrance. At the appropriate moment, occurring at the start of the movie's two-minute warning, a staff member switched on the flashing light above the standee which read, something to the effect, that no one was permitted to enter the auditorium once the yellow light begins to flash. Presumably, the frenetic flashing of the yellow caution light was meant to instill white-knuckle tension among the ticket holders jamming the lobby; cautioning all present that an extremely dangerous turn of events was now unfolding on the screen.

After a week of these shenanigans no one cared about the damn light and, to this day, I'm convinced my boss, the district manager, swiped the light...before I had the chance.