A two hour film, on six or seven reels costs about $75-100 to ship. Larger release films are usually shipped to and from Technicolor, so there are two shipping

A two hour film, on six or seven reels costs about $75-100 to ship. Larger release films are usually shipped to and from Technicolor, so there are two shippings per venue. Smaller release, independent films, the distributor usually has one venue shipping to the next, thereby halving then number of ships. Film today is printed on mylar which isn't very flammable, prior to mylar, acetate was used (also known as safety film) and also wasn't flammable. Nitrate was discontinued in the 30's-40's and that was the scary stuff.