A movie theater, cinema, or cinema hall, also known as a movie house, picture house, picture theater or simply theater, is a business that contains auditoria for viewing films for public entertainment. Most are commercial operations catering to the general public, who attend by purchasing tickets.
The Seattle International Film Festival (SIFF) is a film festival held annually in Seattle, Washington, United States since 1976. It usually takes place in late May and/or early June. It is one of the largest festivals in the world, and features a diverse assortment of predominantly independent and foreign films, and a strong contingent of documentaries.
United States v. Paramount Pictures, Inc., 334 U.S. 131 (1948), was a landmark United States Supreme Court antitrust case that decided the fate of film studios owning their own theatres and holding exclusivity rights on which theatres would show their movies. It would also change the way Hollywood movies were produced, distributed, and exhibited. It also opened the door for more foreign and independent films to be shown in U.S. theaters. The Supreme Court affirmed the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York's ruling that the existing distribution scheme was in violation of United States antitrust law, which prohibits certain exclusive dealing arrangements.
A movie palace is any of the large, elaborately decorated movie theaters built between the 1910s and the 1940s. The late 1920s saw the peak of the movie palace, with hundreds opening every year between 1925 and 1930. With the advent of television, movie attendance dropped, while the rising popularity of large multiplex chains in the 1980s and 1990s signaled the obsolescence of single-screen theaters. Many movie palaces were razed or converted into multiple-screen venues or performing arts centers, though some have undergone restoration and reopened to the public as historic buildings.
Landmark Theatres is a movie theatre chain founded in 1974 in the United States. It was formerly dedicated to exhibiting and marketing independent and foreign films. Landmark consists of 34 theatres with 176 screens in 24 markets. It is known for both its historic and newer, more modern theatres. Helmed by its President Kevin Holloway, Landmark Theatres is part of Cohen Media Group.
The Chicago Theatre, originally known as the Balaban and Katz Chicago Theatre, is a landmark theater located on North State Street in the Loop area of Chicago, Illinois. Built in 1921, the Chicago Theatre was the flagship for the Balaban and Katz (B&K) group of theaters run by A. J. Balaban, his brother Barney Balaban and partner Sam Katz. Along with the other B&K theaters, from 1925 to 1945 the Chicago Theatre was a dominant movie theater enterprise. Currently, Madison Square Garden, Inc. owns and operates the Chicago Theatre as a 3600 seat performing arts venue for stage plays, magic shows, comedy, speeches, sporting events and popular music concerts.
The Hollywood Theatre is a historic movie theater in northeast Portland, Oregon, owned by a non-profit organization. It is a central historical landmark of the Hollywood District. The Theatre is located at 4122 NE Sandy Blvd, across the street from the first suburban Fred Meyer store, which is currently occupied by Rite Aid. The Hollywood Theatre was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1983 and is considered to be a gem of Northeast Portland's historic culture and tradition.
The Paramount Theatre is a 2,807-seat performing arts venue located at 9th Avenue and Pine Street in the downtown core of Seattle, Washington, United States. The theater originally opened on March 1, 1928, as the Seattle Theatre, with 3,000 seats. It was placed on the National Register of Historic Places on October 9, 1974, and has also been designated a City of Seattle landmark.
The River Oaks Theatre is a historic movie theater located in the River Oaks Shopping Center in the Neartown community in Houston, Texas, United States, east of the River Oaks community. The theater has three projection screens; one large screen, downstairs, and two smaller screens, upstairs.
A revival house or repertory cinema is a cinema that specializes in showing classic or notable older films. Such venues may include standard repertory cinemas, multi-function theatres that alternate between old movies and live events, and some first-run theatres that show past favorites alongside current independent films.
The Redford Theatre is an atmospheric theatre in the Old Redford neighborhood of Detroit. The theatre opened in January 1928, advertised as "Detroit's most unique suburban theatre," due to its grand design, featuring Japanese and Chinese motifs.
An atmospheric theatre is a type of movie palace design which was popular in the late 1920s. Atmospheric theatres were designed and decorated to evoke the feeling of a particular time and place for patrons, through the use of projectors, architectural elements and ornamentation that evoked a sense of being outdoors. This was intended to make the patron a more active participant in the setting.
The Coliseum Theater, a former cinema in Seattle, Washington, opened January 8, 1916. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1975, and is also an official Seattle city landmark. Designed by B. Marcus Priteca, it was Seattle's first theater built specifically for showing movies, and was one of the first cinemas anywhere to strive for architectural grandeur. When it opened, it was advertised as "the world's largest and finest photoplay palace." In 1931, the Journal of the Royal Institute of Architects called it "the first of the world's movie palaces."
The Paradise Theater, formerly Loew's Paradise Theatre, is a movie palace-type theater located at 2417 Grand Concourse in the Bronx, New York. Constructed in 1929 at the height of grand movie theaters, in the later 20th century the building was used also for live entertainment. It was leased in 2012 for use by the World Changers Church International New York for founding a local congregation.
John Hamrick (1875–1956) was an American entrepreneur in the theater business. He leased and owned a large number of vaudeville and movie theaters in the Northwest from at least the early 1920s until the late 1940s. Hamrick lived in Seattle, Washington and eventually assembled a string of theaters that included the Rex Theatre, which he was in charge of as early as 1913. the Oriental Theatre in Portland, Oregon, the Beverly, several Blue Mouse Theatres, the Music Box Theatre, the Riviera Theatre, and the Roxy Theatre. Hamrick also owned several theaters in Seattle and is generally credited as being the first Seattle theater owner to show "talking pictures."
Wealthy Theatre is an American movie theatre and performance center in Grand Rapids, Michigan. It is currently operated by the Grand Rapids Community Media Center, a non-profit corporation. Wealthy Theatre is a mixed-use facility, capable of hosting live music, film, theatre and dance.
The Neptune Theatre, formerly known as U-Neptune Theatre, is a performing arts venue in the University District neighborhood of Seattle, Washington, United States. Opened in 1921, the 1,000 capacity venue hosts a variety of events, including dance and music performances, film screenings, and arts education. It was primarily used for screening classic films prior to a 2011 renovation. In 2014, the theater and building were designated a Seattle landmark.
An independent movie theater or indie cinema is a movie theater which screens independent, art house, foreign, or other non-mainstream films. It can be contrasted with a mainstream theater, which is more likely to screen blockbusters and other popular films.
Virtual cinema is a video-on-demand streaming service facilitated by independent film distributors and art-house theaters to release new films and share profits. Under the service, part of the admission price supports a physically located theater.
