How long movies stay in theaters

Read on to learn more about how long movies stay in theaters and what movies have screened the longest in history. Ever wondered why some movies have a longer run time in theaters? Why does that happen? It starts with movie distribution by a film distributor. The movie distributor is different from the movie producer. While movie producers make sure that a film stays on schedule and within the budget, movie distributors make sure that the movie is marketed well. The movie distributor will draw up a contract with a movie exhibitor, who is usually the owner or operator of a theater.

If it is a big Hollywood movie, the contract to show the movie will usually be for a minimum of two weeks. If it is an independent film, they may run it for a minimum of a week. From the initial minimum number of weeks, a contract may also extend, depending on several factors. The major factor is the number of seats sold during screening.

And if a movie goes beyond a two-week run in the cinemas, it is safe to say that the movie is making a good profit. Both movie distributors and exhibitors will also decide if a movie extends depending on how well a movie performs in relation to other movies that are screening at the moment. If it is a movie that does relatively better than others, then there is a greater chance for it to extend.

On average, big blockbuster movies stay in theaters for about four weeks. So, to know more about how long movies stay in theaters, it is important to look at movie distribution. Movie distribution can go about in two ways: bidding and percentage. Bidding is when a movie distributor and a movie exhibitor agree that the exhibitor pays a fixed amount to show a movie for an agreed amount of time. However, bidding is now rarely used by distributors and exhibitors.

Percentage works basically with the distributor getting a percentage of the box office or ticket sales. The exhibitor states the needed amount of house allowance, which is a set amount that covers the basic expenses of the theater each week.

They set the percentage split for the ticket sales after deducting the house allowance. In addition, they set a time frame for the movie screening, which can be anywhere from 2 to 4 weeks, with the provision to extend if necessary.

Movie distributors get the majority of the profit brought in by the movie. The distributor and exhibitor agree that the distributor gets the set percentage of either the net ticket sales or gross ticket sales, whichever amount is greater. The theater will compute expenses or the house allowance. This amount is deducted from the total ticket sales. With this example, you see that weeks 1 to 3 have a higher gross percentage. It looks like pandemic-era movie theater and streaming service dual-releases will soon be coming to an end.

Disney, Paramount, and now Warner Bros. However, there does seem to be one semi-permanent change from the pre-pandemic world: movies will be shown for a shorter amount of time in theaters before they land online, meaning you can watch new films at home sooner than before.

That day window is much shorter than the traditional 75 to 90 days. Reports had previously surfaced in March that Warner Bros. And the studio made a deal with Regal Cinemas' Cineworld earlier this year to show movies for 45 days in theaters before offering them online.

Its movies planned for , like "The Batman," now will first be released exclusively to theaters before being offered online. Disney said on a May earnings call that it is also transitioning back to exclusive theater releases, albeit with the shorter day window. And Paramount made a similar deal for its tentpole movies like "Mission: Impossible 7" to have day slots.

It all comes down to when the movie would be most successful and stay in theatres the longest. For that reason, these movies will be released towards the back end of the year, as close to awards season as possible, so that the word of mouth will help it stay in theatres. R-rated movies can still be excellent and even act as outliers of the system and perform pretty well, but studios most likely won't greenlight a screenplay unless it's free of any bad language, nudity, sex, or anything else that would usually get a movie an R rating.

If a movie has an R rating, it immediately cuts out millions of potential ticket buyers. The minimum is two weeks and sometimes it is three weeks. People used to go to the movies a lot more frequently before everything eventually became available at the click of a button on streaming platforms like Netflix.

The business is relatively new, although it has been around for the length of time that everyone on earth has been alive. It started in in Paris playhouses.