Movie theater
The Ptuj City Cinema in Slovenia opened its doors on the 3rd of March 1897 and remains the oldest active movie theater in the world. Before dedicated buildings existed, audiences gathered in existing venues like vaudeville theaters or darkened rooms to see moving images. Étienne-Gaspard Robertson moved his Phantasmagorie show to an abandoned cloister near the Place Vendôme in Paris in 1799. This eerie location with a graveyard and ruins formed an ideal setting for ghoulish spectacles using magic lanterns. The Royal Polytechnic Institution in London opened in 1838 as a popular venue featuring magic lantern shows. Lanternists used six large lanterns running on tracked tables to project finely detailed images onto a 648 square feet screen. Ludwig Döbler presented the earliest known public screening of projected stroboscopic animation at the Josephstadt Theatre in Vienna on the 15th of January 1847. His patented Phantaskop sold out in several European cities during a tour that lasted until spring 1848. Emile Reynaud screened his Pantomimes Lumineuses animated movies from the 28th of October 1892 to March 1900 at the Musée Grévin in Paris. He gave over 12,800 shows to a total of over 500,000 visitors using his Théâtre Optique system. Thomas Edison initially believed film screening would not be commercially viable as a single-viewer apparatus called the Kinetoscope. A few public demonstrations occurred beginning the 9th of May 1893 before a first commercial Kinetoscope parlor opened on the 14th of April 1894 by the Holland Bros. in New York City. This venue had ten machines set up in parallel rows of five showing different movies for twenty-five cents each. The Skladanowsky brothers demonstrated their motion pictures with the Bioscop in July 1895 at the Gasthaus Sello in Pankow Berlin. Their first certain commercial screenings took place at the Wintergarten in Berlin from 1 to the 31st of November 1895. The first commercial public screening of films made with Louis and Auguste Lumière's Cinématographe happened in the basement of Salon Indien du Grand Café in Paris on the 28th of December 1895.
The Elgin Theatre in Ottawa Ontario became the first venue to offer two film programs on different screens in 1957 when Canadian theater-owner Nat Taylor converted it into a dual-screen theater. Stanley Durwood of American Multi-Cinema pioneered the multiplex in 1963 after realizing he could operate several attached auditoriums with the same staff needed for one. Ward Parkway Center in Kansas City Missouri had the first multiplex cinema in the United States. A large multiplex with 20 or more screens is usually called a megaplex. The Kinepolis in Brussels Belgium opened in 1988 with 25 screens and a seating capacity of 7,500 as the first megaplex generally considered. The AMC Grand 24 in Dallas Texas opened in May 1995 as the first theater in the U.S. built from the ground up as a megaplex. Stadium seating dates back to the 1920s with the Princess Theatre in Honolulu Hawaii featuring sharply raked rows extending from in front of the screen back towards the ceiling. Modern stadium seating was utilized in IMAX theaters beginning in the early 1970s. Rows of seats are divided by one or more aisles so that there are seldom more than 20 seats in a row. In older theaters aisle lights were often built into the end seats of each row to help patrons find their way in the dark. Since the advent of stadium theaters with stepped aisles each step may be outlined with small lights to prevent patrons from tripping. Movie theaters also have booster seats for children and other people of short stature to place on the seats for a better view. Many modern theaters have accessible seating areas for patrons in wheelchairs. Drive-in movie theaters are outdoor parking areas with a screen sometimes an inflatable screen at one end and a projection booth at the other. Movies are usually viewed through the car windshield although some people prefer to sit on the bonnet of the car. Sound is either provided through portable loudspeakers located by each parking space or broadcast on an FM radio frequency. About 300 drive-ins remain in the U.S. today after numbering in the thousands.
The RealD company expected 15,000 screens worldwide in 2010 as exhibitors became more interested in 3D film in 2009. The golden era of 3D film began in the early 1950s with the release of Bwana Devil starring Robert Stack Barbara Britton and Nigel Bruce. James Mage premiered his Triorama program in February 1953 with four shorts including Sunday In Stereo Indian Summer American Life and This is Bolex Stereo. Columbia's Man in the Dark and Warner Bros. House of Wax were groundbreaking features in 3D released in 1953. House of Wax was the first 3D feature with stereophonic sound. The IMAX system uses 70 mm film with more than ten times the frame size of a 35 mm film. The first permanent IMAX theater was at Ontario Place in Toronto Canada. Until 2016 visitors to the IMAX theater attached to the National Science and Media Museum in Bradford West Yorkshire England could observe the projection booth via a glass rear wall. The largest permanent IMAX cinema screen measures 26 meters by 40 meters achieved by Traumplast Leonberg in Germany verified on the 6th of December 2022. D-Box Technologies first released its motion seat system to theaters in 2009 with Fast & Furious being the first feature film supporting it. In January 2025 the company stated that it had over 23,000 seat installations at 1,000 screens worldwide. 4DX combines motion seats with other types of practical effects such as fog machines wind and scents. Premium large format auditoriums debuted in the 2010s to refer to spaces with high-end amenities like larger wall-to-wall floor-to-ceiling screens and 4K resolution. Dolby franchises Dolby Cinema which is based on technologies such as Dolby Atmos and Dolby Vision. CJ CGV franchises ScreenX a format that utilizes multiple screens in a 270-degree perspective.
Cineplex Cinemas is by far the largest player in Canada with 161 locations and 1,635 screens. Regal Cinemas operates 7,334 screens in 588 theaters while AMC Theatres has 5,206 screens in 346 theaters. Cinemark Theatres runs 4,457 screens in 334 theaters according to figures from 2015. Wanda Cinemas is the largest exhibitor in China with 2,700 screens in 311 theaters holding 18% of the screens in the country. PVR INOX is the largest cinema chain in India operating 1,744 screens. Indonesia has the 21 Cineplex and Cinépolis chain. In South Africa Ster-Kinekor has the largest market share. Nu Metro Cinemas is another cinema chain in South Africa. Argentine chains include Hoyts Village Cinemas Cinemark and Showcase Cinemas. Brazilian chains include Cinemark and Moviecom. Chilean chains include Hoyts and Cinemark. Colombia Costa Rica Panama and Peru have chains including Cinemark and Cinépolis. Hong Kong has AMC Theatres. South Korea's CJ CGV also has branches in China Indonesia Myanmar Turkey Vietnam and the United States. Japan has Toho and Shochiku chains. Europe is served by AMC Theatres Cineworld Cinemas Vue Cinemas and Odeon Cinemas. Large chains in Oceania include Event Cinemas Village Cinemas Hoyts Cinemas and Palace Cinemas. Cinema United is the largest exhibition trade organization in the world representing almost half of the theater screens in North America among its top four chains.
Movie studios traditionally drive hard bargains entitling them to as much as 100% of the gross ticket revenue during the first weeks before the balance changes in 10% increments favoring exhibitors at intervals that vary from film to film. Box office takings currently account for less than a quarter of total revenues according to Philip Drake in The Contemporary Hollywood Film Industry. In Canada the total operating revenue in the movie theater industry was $1.7 billion in 2012 an 8.4% increase from 2010. Combined box office and concession revenue accounted for 91.9% of total industry operating revenue. The number of tickets sold fell nearly 11% between 2004 and 2013 while box office revenue increased 17% due to increased ticket prices. Movie theaters make an 85% profit at the concessions stand on overpriced soda candy nachos hot dogs and popcorn. Popcorn retail price has been called one of America's biggest rip-offs with a cost nine times what it costs to make. The average price for a movie ticket in the United States was $8.13 in 2013. Tickets for youth students and seniors are typically cheaper. Cinemas in India employ price discrimination where seats closer to the screen cost less while ones farthest from the screen cost more. Some movie theaters sell monthly passes for unlimited entrance to regular showings but restrictions apply such as one viewing per movie in Thailand. Discount theaters show films that have already run for many weeks at regular theaters or films which flopped at the box office.
A Pew Media survey from 2006 found that the relationship between movies watched at home versus at the movie theater was in a five to one ratio. Seventy-five percent of respondents said their preferred way of watching a movie was at home versus 21% who said they preferred to go to a theater. Ticket sales revenue has declined since the mid-2010s not fully recovering from declines during the COVID-19 pandemic when many theaters were closed. This decline is not something recent observed since the 1950s when television became widespread among working-class homes. As years went on home media became more popular and the decline continued until this day. In 2014 it was reported that releasing a film in theaters and via on-demand streaming on the same day led to concerns in the movie theater industry. The rise in popularity of the Netflix streaming service contributed to these concerns. Another source of competition is television which stole cinema's best tricks like good production values and top tier actors bringing them into people's living rooms. Since the 2010s increasing ownership by people of home theater systems displaying high-resolution Blu-ray discs on large flat-screen TVs with 5.1 surround sound and powerful subwoofers for low-pitched sounds has become an increasing source of competition.
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Common questions
When did the Ptuj City Cinema in Slovenia open its doors?
The Ptuj City Cinema in Slovenia opened its doors on the 3rd of March 1897 and remains the oldest active movie theater in the world.
Where was the first commercial public screening of films made with Louis and Auguste Lumière's Cinématographe held?
The first commercial public screening of films made with Louis and Auguste Lumière's Cinématographe happened in the basement of Salon Indien du Grand Café in Paris on the 28th of December 1895.
Which venue became the first to offer two film programs on different screens in 1957?
The Elgin Theatre in Ottawa Ontario became the first venue to offer two film programs on different screens in 1957 when Canadian theater-owner Nat Taylor converted it into a dual-screen theater.
What is the largest permanent IMAX cinema screen size achieved by Traumplast Leonberg in Germany?
The largest permanent IMAX cinema screen measures 26 meters by 40 meters achieved by Traumplast Leonberg in Germany verified on the 6th of December 2022.
How many screens does Wanda Cinemas operate as the largest exhibitor in China?
Wanda Cinemas is the largest exhibitor in China with 2,700 screens in 311 theaters holding 18% of the screens in the country.