Movie theater

Modern cinema auditorium in Madrid, Spain
Rodgers Theatre in Poplar Bluff in Missouri. This Art Deco-style theater opened in 1949.
The view from the projectionist's booth at Ultimate Palace Cinema in Oxford. The projector is displaying the 1997–2012 Universal Pictures logo.
Tuschinski Theatre, in Amsterdam considered as one of the most beautiful movie theaters in the world.

A movie theater (American English),[1] cinema (British English),[2] or cinema hall (Indian English),[3] also known as a movie house, picture house, picture theater or simply theater, is a business that contains auditoria for viewing films (also called movies, motion pictures or "flicks") for public entertainment. Most are commercial operations catering to the general public, who attend by purchasing tickets.

The film is projected with a movie projector onto a large projection screen at the front of the auditorium while the dialogue, sounds and music are played through a number of wall-mounted speakers. Since the 1970s, subwoofers have been used for low-pitched sounds. Since the 2010s, the majority of movie theaters have been equipped for digital cinema projection, removing the need to create and transport a physical film print on a heavy reel.

A great variety of films are shown at cinemas, ranging from animated films to blockbusters to documentaries. The smallest movie theaters have a single viewing room with a single screen. In the 2010s, most movie theaters had multiple screens. The largest theater complexes, which are called multiplexes—a concept developed in Canada in the 1950s—have up to thirty screens. The audience members often sit on padded seats, which in most theaters are set on a sloped floor, with the highest part at the rear of the theater. Movie theaters often sell soft drinks, popcorn and candy, and some theaters sell hot fast food. In some jurisdictions, movie theaters can be licensed to sell alcoholic drinks.

  1. ^ "Movie theater definition and meaning – Collins English Dictionary". www.collinsdictionary.com. Archived from the original on 6 November 2020. Retrieved 14 April 2018.
  2. ^ "cinema – Definition of cinema". Oxford Dictionaries – English. Archived from the original on 15 September 2017. Retrieved 14 April 2018.
  3. ^ "cinema hall Meaning in the Cambridge English Dictionary". dictionary.cambridge.org. Archived from the original on 8 March 2021. Retrieved 14 April 2018.