Because word suggests that they would come after the feature.
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A long time ago, you would just buy a ticket to enter the theater and watch whatever was playing. There weren’t set showtimes so you could just walk in, possibly halfway through a film. After the film, they would feature newsreels, cartoons, and previews for other films (trailers!) before the feature would start over (and you could watch the part you missed) or until the next film started.
Later on, tickets started being sold for specific movies beginning at specific times. More like a play. Since that created a captive audience waiting for the show to begin, it made more sense for theaters to show the ‘trailers’ before the feature, while everyone was stuck waiting to see the thing they paid to see. Hopefully giving them a reason to come back and see something new later on. The term ‘trailers’ had already stuck at this point, they just played before instead of after the film.
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