In
cinematic parlance, a
film in its first run has been recently
released. In
North America, new films attract the majority of their theatrical viewers in the first few weeks after their release. In North America, different
movie theatre
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 pay different rates to show films depending on how recently they have been released. In 1946, the
Supreme Court of the United States found major film distributors in violation of antitrust laws when they precluded independent theaters from screening first-run films.
[See Bigelow v. RKO Radio Pictures, Inc., 327 U.S. 251 (1946)]
Some older, smaller, or poorly outfitted
neighborhood or
discount theatres, or those in less desirable locations, specialize in showing films during their
second run. These theatres get to keep a larger share of the ticket fees and often charge a lower ticket price.
See also
*
Direct-to-video
Direct-to-video or straight-to-video refers to the release of a film, TV series, short or special to the public immediately on home video formats rather than an initial theatrical release or television premiere. This distribution strategy wa ...
*
First-run syndication
References
Film and video terminology
{{film-term-stub