Aside from distribution, marketing and screen availability (national/city quotas for Hollywood movies) in some countries, until digital distribution started to

Aside from distribution, marketing and screen availability (national/city quotas for Hollywood movies) in some countries, until digital distribution started to roll out in North America, EU, Japan and other countries the biggest limiting factor was the physical film itself. As in the movie was actually distributed on physical film and local overseas distributors did not want to pay for extra copies to be printed, when waiting for a few months (and reducing their own costs of showing the movie), they could obtain the used prints from North America. While a movie would premiere on 1,000-1,500 screens in the US/Canada on its opening weekend, until some of those screens stopped showing and internal US/Canada distribution was done with most of those physical copies of the movie, the movie could not be distributed overseas for a reduced cost, which incidentally increased the studio's profit.