How does your local theater get their movies?

You've waited for it and it's finally here. That movie you've been waiting months to see after viewing trailers online and hearing people you know talk about it.  However have you ever wondered about what theaters have to go through just to show you that next blockbuster hit? The answers may actually explain a lot, and give you an understanding why it just cost you nearly $18 for a bucket of Popcorn and a Large Soda.


First things first.  Before you can show a movie at a movie theater there are a few hoops your local cinema must jump through.  It works a little different based on the size of the theater chain, but they are all pretty close to the same in the way they obtain their films.

The larger of the theater chains have a booking department that helps secure movies that will be shown across the nation.  Local theaters may be able to suggest to their head offices which film may be successful at their location but all in all it's more likely that an office located in New York might be deciding which films are played say in Denver Colorado.(Source 2)

Smaller chains and independent theaters have a little more control over the movies that are shown but depending on what direct competition is in their local area, the influence to play certain films over others typically wins out.  Theaters that typically play independent films may have to agree to more restrictive contracts in order to secure a certain movie.

Now that your theater has the rights to play it's movie.  How does it actually get the movie?

THIS is how your theater gets it's movie delivered.  - Peli 1300 Flight Case

User Nutteronabus from /r/movies on Reddit.com showed readers just how a movie gets sent to a local theater but supplying some pictures he took.  The is a Peli 1300 flight case, which is a fancy name for the case that the holds Hard Drives that contain the Digital Cinema Package.  These cases they are shipped in aren't just sent through FedEx either.  They are delivered by courier services that specialize in media delivery.

On the top of the box (shown below) you will see some information listed for the theater to display the actual movie.  Including the aspect ratio, sound format and duration of the film included.

On the inside of this one there is a standard Western Digital hard drive.  It is placed into a Caddy which is placed into a server. The theater then uses software to read the movies off of the hard drive and then loaded into software that is used to determine which screen to play which movies and at what times.

When theaters obtain these film they then have to typically enter alpha/numeric keys into the software that allows access to the movie and "unlocks" it for a certain time frame or number of plays depending on the contract they have with the distribution company.  This also allows for the company to track number of showings by location and now even attendance based on whether the theater allows for that kind of information to be recorded.  It also helps in fighting piracy so that management isn't able to just copy the file onto a flash drive to then distribute someplace online.

When keys are entered it will also ensure movies are not allowed to be played before their set release date.  For example, a movie that is set to be released at Friday at 12am on the East Coast a theater may be able to show it at Thursday at 9pm on the West Coast.  It can then be viewed until the end of the allotted time allowed by the access key given to the theater. In order to get an extended viewing the theater may have to contact the distribution company for another code.

Usually because of how the revenue portion is distributed, the longer a film is in a theater the better off it is for the cinema playing it.

For example, the opening two weeks of, say, Star Wars, might see 100% of box office revenue go to the film distributor, weeks 3-4 might see a 90/10 split (where 90% of revenue goes to the distributor and 10% goes to the theater company) and so on. These percentages are negotiated prior to theater companies securing the presentation rights. Theater companies will accept these extremely restrictive rates of return because they are hoping to recoup their operating costs through the sale of concession items.(Source 2)

This is a big reason you just paid $4.50 for that box of Milk Duds that you could have bought at the local grocery store for the fraction of a price.

This pricing model is also why many theaters play so many trailers before a the start of a movie.  Besides the genre of the movie, age, local demographics, and type of movie (3D or 2D), the production company may choose to play a couple of trailers that are planning to be released by the same production house. Theater chains have reportedly made deals in the past to ensure that a certain trailer would be played before another movie in order to get audiences interested in seeing that film as well.  For example in 2002, Sony gave $100,000 to a theater chain, to ensure that the trailer for The Animal would be shown before The Mummy Returns.(Source 2)

Hopefully this peak behind the curtain may just give you an idea of what goes into showing that movie before the lights even start to dim.  Much has changed since the days of reel to reel projection.




Sources:
1. https://www.reddit.com/r/movies/comments/3tdmhs/this_is_how_movies_are_delivered_to_your_local/
2. http://www.answers.com/Q/How_do_movie_theaters_get_their_movies