Overview

The 1,800 movie theater firms in the US provide entertainment venues that exhibit motion pictures or videos. They operate about 40,800 movie screens at over 5,800 cinema sites. Major sources of revenue include ticket sales, concessions, and merchandise resale. Some theaters specialize in a particular genre, such as foreign, art house, and documentary films.

Conversion to Digital

The film industry’s conversion from celluloid to digital projection technology involved considerable costs, and created significant financial obstacles for small, independent theaters.

Demise of Small Theaters

While the total number of movie screens has increased in recent years, smaller theaters continue to struggle.