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It's for the same reason that movie distributors don't bypass theaters by selling directly to the public. Your understanding of the history of movie distributi
by erichocean 13y ago
It's for the same reason that movie distributors don't bypass theaters by selling directly to the public.
Your understanding of the history of movie distribution as it relates to theater ownership isn't quite right. You can read up more here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Block_booking http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Block_booking
In a nutshell, distributors (i.e. movie studios) owned the major theater chains until 1948, when the Supreme Court demanded that theater production and distribution be separated from exhibition (i.e. theaters).
- icambron 13y agoThanks. I guess I didn't mean to suggest the history was the same (I know almost nothing about the history of theaters), just the current situation. So sorry for the poor paragraph organization. I will stand by my assessment of the status quo, though. I remember a few years ago, theaters refused to show a Soderbergh movie because it was being released simultaneously on DVD and the theaters. Not a great article, but here's a reference: http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20060118/195200.shtml http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20060118/195200.shtml