Exhibitor
From ForcaWiki, the simple encyclopedia
| In one sentence | A company that lets an audience actually watch a finished movie, like a movie theater, a streaming service, or a pay television provider. |
|---|---|
| Category | Film and Television |
| Related | Distributor, Box Office Receipts, Release Window |
If a distributor is the delivery truck bringing bread to stores, the exhibitor is the store itself, the actual place where a customer walks in and buys a loaf. Exhibitors are wherever the audience finally gets to enjoy the movie.
An exhibitor is a company that provides access to a finished film for regular people to watch. Movie theaters are the classic example, but streaming services and pay television providers count too, since they are all places an audience goes to actually watch the movie.
Fun facts
- Movie theaters, the oldest kind of exhibitor, keep a share of every ticket sold, which is part of why Box Office Receipts do not all go straight to the studio.
- A single movie is often shown by many different kinds of exhibitors over time, moving from theaters to streaming to television in a sequence called release windows.
- Some companies, like certain streaming services, act as both the Distributor and the exhibitor at once, since they license the movie and also show it directly to their own subscribers.