ABSTRACT
Theatrical release simply means the exhibition of a film in movie theaters where revenue is derived from members of the public buying tickets. The “gate,” or the revenues derived from ticket sales, is what is referred to as “box office.” The amount of money that the distributor keeps from the box office receipts is called “film rentals.” The film Titanic provides another good example in this context, as it posed a dilemma for the distributor and studio having to make high-stakes calls without the benefit of knowing how the audience would react. The reviews before opening were dicey, and the picture was well known in the Hollywood community to be suffering from budget problems. The exhibition environment has come full circle from 50 or more years ago when most of the major studios owned theaters and vertically integrated the production–distribution–exhibition chain by preferentially selling to their own theaters.
