An independent movie theater (

American English American English, sometimes called United States English or U.S. English, is the set of variety (linguistics), varieties of the English language native to the United States. English is the Languages of the United States, most widely spoken lan ...

) or indie cinema (

British English British English (BrE, en-GB, or BE) is, according to Lexico, Oxford Dictionaries, "English language, English as used in Great Britain, as distinct from that used elsewhere". More narrowly, it can refer specifically to the English language in ...

) is a

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 ...

which screens

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independ ...

art house An art film (or arthouse film) is typically an independent film, aimed at a niche market rather than a mass market audience. It is "intended to be a serious, artistic work, often experimental and not designed for mass appeal", "made primarily f ...

foreign Foreign may refer to: Government * Foreign policy, how a country interacts with other countries * Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in many countries ** Foreign Office, a department of the UK government ** Foreign office and foreign minister * Unit ...

, or other non-mainstream films. It can be contrasted with a mainstream theater (often a

multiplex Multiplex may refer to: * Multiplex (automobile), a former American car make * Multiplex (comics), a DC comic book supervillain * Multiplex (company), a global contracting and development company * Multiplex (assay), a biological assay which measu ...

), which is more likely to screen blockbusters and other popular films. Indie theaters are often characterized by their smaller size and stronger ties to their local communities. Many are also located in historic or nontraditional venues. Unlike mainstream theaters, which almost exclusively draw patrons looking to see a particular film and make no tacit endorsement of the films they screen, indie theaters often work to cultivate a reputation for good taste by curating a selection of high-quality films, thus drawing patrons who might know little about a film before going to see it.

History

In the

silent cinema A silent film is a film with no synchronized recorded sound (or more generally, no audible dialogue). Though silent films convey narrative and emotion visually, various plot elements (such as a setting or era) or key lines of dialogue may, whe ...

era, most movie theaters were independent. In the 1930s, as

talkie A sound film is a motion picture 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, percep ...

s requiring more sophisticated equipment arose, many smaller cinemas were unable to compete with larger chains. The 1948 ''

United States v. Paramount Pictures, Inc. ''United States v. Paramount Pictures, Inc.'', 334 U.S. 131 (1948) (also known as the Hollywood Antitrust Case of 1948, the Paramount Case, or the Paramount Decision), was a landmark United States Supreme Court antitrust case that decided the f ...

'' Supreme Court case, which blocked movie studios from also owning cinemas, led to a resurgence of indie cinemas starting in the 1950s. In the 1980s, loosened

vertical integration In microeconomics, management and international political economy, vertical integration is a term that describes the arrangement in which the supply chain of a company is integrated and owned by that company. Usually each member of the suppl ...

restrictions helped reverse this trend. Like all movie theaters, indie theaters have been financially threatened in the 21st century by the rise of streaming platforms like

Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fil ...

. Some have converted to become

nonprofit A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...

By region

United States

In the United States, the largest indie movie theaters chain is

Landmark Theatres Landmark Theatres is a movie theatre chain in the United States. It was formerly dedicated to exhibiting and marketing independent film, independent and foreign film, foreign films. Since its founding in 1974, Landmark has grown to 35 Indepe ...

. There are some smaller regional chains such as

Laemmle Theatres Laemmle Theatres ( ) is a group of family-run arthouse movie theaters in the Los Angeles area. It was established in 1938Richard Verrier A Hollywood opening for downton cinema October 24, 2009 Los Angeles Times and is owned and operated by Rober ...

in Los Angeles, as well as many stand-alone venues throughout the country in places like New York City.

United Kingdom

Africa

In South Africa, limited independent cinemas exist beside the blockbuster chains

Ster-Kinekor Ster-Kinekor is a South African-based cinema company, and the country's largest movie exhibitor. It represents 60-65% of the market, having 56 cinema complexes consisting of 400 screens and 64,000 seats; 154 of those screens being 3D cinemas. It ...

and

Nu Metro Cinemas Nu Metro Cinemas is a South African cinema company. Its head office is in Dunkeld West, Gauteng. Nu Metro's history dates to when the first Metro Theatre opened in Johannesburg in 1932. The oldest still-operating Nu Metro cineplex is Bedford, w ...

, including The Bioscope in Johannesburg, The Labia in Cape Town, Kings Cinema in Alexandra township, and the non-traditional non-profit organization Sunshine Cinema.

References