Movie theater

A movie theater (American English) or cinema is a location, usually a building, for viewing movies. Colloquial expressions, mostly used for cinemas collectively, include the silver screen and the big screen (contrasted with the "small screen" of television). Generally, theaters are not owned by individuals, but rather operated by corporations and visited by the general public: one can attend the film showing after buying a ticket. The film is projected with a movie projector onto a large projection screen at the front of the auditorium.

Business practice controversies

A recent development in cinema programming has been the inclusion of commercial advertising shorts that have nothing to do with film. Many filmgoers have complained that these advertisements defeat the basic point of the experience of seeing films without this kind of commercialism interfering. Other critics like Roger Ebert have expressed concerns that these advertisement, plus an excessive number of movie trailers could lead to pressure to restrict the preferred length of the feature films themselves to facilitate playing schedules. So far, the theatre companies have typically been highly resistant to these complaints, citing the need for the supplementary income.

Related Topics:
Commercial advertising short - Roger Ebert - Movie trailer

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Another major recent concern is that the dramatic improvements in stereo sound systems have lead to cinemas playing the soundtracks of presented films at unacceptably high volume levels. Usually, the trailers are presented at a very high sound level, presumably to overcome the sounds of a busy crowd. The sound is not adjusted downward for a sparsely occupied theater, and some patrons employ earplugs for the trailer period.

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In recent years cinemas have started to show warnings, before the movie starts, against using cameras and camcorders during the movie. These warnings threaten customers with being removed from the cinema and arrest by the police. This example was shown at cinemas in the United Kingdom:

Related Topics:
Camera - Camcorder - United Kingdom

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: You are not permitted to use any camera or recording equipment in this cinema. This will be treated as an attempt to breach copyright. Any person doing so can be ejected and such articles may be confiscated by the police. We ask the audience to be vigilant against any such activity and report any matters arousing suspicion to cinema staff. Thank you.

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The multiplex offers a great amount of flexibility to a theater operator, enabling multiple theaters to exhibit the same popular production in multiple theaters with staggered starting times.

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The colocation of theaters and the rotation of start times results in a great economy of scale for the sale of so-called "junk food" — sugary soda pop, popcorn, and the like. In addition to poor nutritional values, the foodstuffs sold are also characterised by extremely high markup and the profit from their sales can form the bulk of the gross margin of a theater.

Related Topics:
Junk food - Markup - Gross margin

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