Flikipedia A branching dictionary of the moving image

exhibition

noun

The stage of the film industry concerned with showing motion pictures to paying or public audiences, chiefly in theaters, together with the projection technology that makes such display possible.

Origin From Latin exhibitio “a presenting, a showing,” via the verb exhibēre “to hold forth, present.” The term was applied to the public showing of films from the earliest years of the medium, when operators of storefront theaters were known as exhibitors.

  1. Business The commercial and public presentation of completed films to audiences, forming the third principal stage of the film industry after production and distribution.

  2. Projection The act or process of projecting a film so that it can be viewed on a screen. the exhibition of a 35mm print at a repertory cinema

Definition and scope

Exhibition is the stage of the film industry at which completed motion pictures are shown to audiences. It follows production and distribution: distributors place films with exhibitors, who operate the venues and equipment where audiences view them. The party that runs a theater is called an exhibitor, and the arrangement between distributor and exhibitor typically apportions box-office receipts between them according to contractual terms. While the theater has historically been the primary site of exhibition, the term also encompasses other contexts of organized public or domestic viewing.

Projection

Theatrical exhibition depends on projection, the process of casting a rapid succession of still images onto a screen so that they are perceived as continuous movement. In photochemical exhibition, a projector draws a strip of photographic film intermittently past a light source and lens, holding each frame briefly in a gate while a rotating shutter blocks light during the pull-down, so that only stationary images are illuminated. The standard theatrical projection rate is 24 frames per second, and 35mm has long been the most common exhibition film gauge. From the 2000s onward, digital projection largely displaced film in commercial theaters. Digital cinema uses a server and an electronic projector, commonly built on digital micromirror devices, and conforms to standards published by Digital Cinema Initiatives that specify encrypted, packaged files and defined image resolutions.

Venues and their history

The venues of exhibition have changed markedly over the medium’s history. Early films were shown in vaudeville houses and in dedicated storefront theaters, which in the United States were popularly called nickelodeons after their low admission price. These gave way in the 1910s and 1920s to large, ornately appointed picture palaces, and later to the multiplex, a single facility housing many auditoriums and screening several films at once. The broader arc of these developments is treated under film history. From the mid-twentieth century, television, home video formats, and subsequently internet streaming introduced modes of viewing outside the theater, and distributors increasingly released films across theatrical, home, and digital windows. These later channels altered but did not eliminate theatrical exhibition, which has continued alongside them.

See also

  • film industry— The commercial and economic system through which motion pictures are financed, produced, distributed, and exhibited, together with the companies, labor, and organizations that sustain it.
  • distribution— The business of making a finished film available to audiences: acquiring rights, marketing the title, and releasing it through theatrical, home video, television, and streaming channels over a sequence of windows.
  • film history— The chronological development of the moving image as a medium, from the optical toys that preceded projection through the silent, sound, color, and digital eras.

Sources

  1. David Bordwell and Kristin Thompson, “Film Art: An Introduction”
  2. Douglas Gomery, “Shared Pleasures: A History of Movie Presentation in the United States”
  3. Digital Cinema Initiatives, “DCI Digital Cinema System Specification”

Last revised: September 18, 2026