Discount theaters, also known as dollar theaters, dollar movies, second-run theaters, and sub-run theaters, are

movie theater A movie theater (American English), cinema (British English), or cinema hall ( Indian English), also known as a movie house, picture house, the movies, the pictures, picture theater, the silver screen, the big screen, or simply theater is a ...

s that show

motion pictures A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmosphere ...

for reduced prices after those films depart first-run theaters. Originally, they would receive

release print A release print is a copy of a film that is provided to a movie theater for exhibition. Definitions Release prints are not to be confused with other types of prints used in the photochemical post-production process: * Rush prints, or dailies, ...

s of 35 mm films after those prints had been shown already at first-run theaters. Therefore, the film's quality was significantly lower because the release print was worn out from dozens of showings, and the potential audience for the film would be smaller since it had been already released weeks or months before (meaning that most people who wanted to see the film would already have done so at a first-run theater). Discount theaters were prevalent in the era before

home video Home video is prerecorded media sold or rented for home viewing. The term originates from the VHS and Betamax era, when the predominant medium was videotapes, but has carried over to optical disc formats such as DVD, Blu-ray and streaming me ...

. They were able to remain financially viable for most of the VHS era, since the fuzzy images played back onto relatively small CRT televisions from

videocassette Videotape is magnetic tape used for storing video and usually sound in addition. Information stored can be in the form of either an analog or digital signal. Videotape is used in both video tape recorders (VTRs) and, more commonly, videocassette ...

s simply could not come close to the sharp resolution of images projected inside a movie theater from 35 mm film. Budget-conscious filmgoers with patience could simply wait for a film to hit a second-run theater, rather than pay much more to see the film during its first run. For example, six months after its original theatrical release, ''

Titanic RMS ''Titanic'' was a British passenger liner, operated by the White Star Line, which sank in the North Atlantic Ocean on 15 April 1912 after striking an iceberg during her maiden voyage from Southampton, England, to New York City, United ...

'' was playing in budget theaters in still viable but well-run prints. Many discount theaters have been driven out of business both by an oversupply of new movie screens (in the form of multiplexes), which has allowed films to stay longer in first-run theaters, and a drastically shortened delay between theatrical and home video releases (culminating in

simultaneous release A simultaneous release, also known as a day-and-date release, is the release of a film on multiple platforms—most commonly theatrical and home video—on the exact same day, or in very close proximity to each other. This is in contrast to the in ...

s). In cities like

Portland, Oregon Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers, Portland is the county seat of Multnomah County, the most populous co ...

and

Arlington, Virginia Arlington County is a county in the Commonwealth of Virginia. The county is situated in Northern Virginia on the southwestern bank of the Potomac River directly across from the District of Columbia, of which it was once a part. The county is ...

, older, discount theaters now show second-run movies in an upscale setting, often featuring food and alcohol sales in refurbished moviehouses.

References

External links

"Jefferson Theater stops $3 flix"

"Show will go on after last discount theater closes"
Cinemas and movie theaters in the United States {{theat-stub

See also

References

External links