An independent movie theater (

American English American English, sometimes called United States English or U.S. English, is the set of varieties of the English language native to the United States. English is the most widely spoken language in the United States and in most circumstances ...

) or indie cinema (

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

) 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 * Independe ...

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 ...

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

talkie A sound film is a motion picture with synchronized sound, or sound technologically coupled to image, as opposed to a silent film. The first known public exhibition of projected sound films took place in Paris in 1900, but decades passed before ...

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 ...

. 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 and foreign films. Since its founding in 1974, Landmark has grown to 35 theaters with 178 screens in 24 marke ...

. There are some smaller regional chains such as Laemmle Theatres 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 and Nu Metro Cinemas, 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