Why do I have to pay cinemas to show my movie?

[128hoodmario]

That's not how it works in real life is it? Cinemas pay you to show the movie?

[Dremall]

In the early era of film the studios owned their own cinemas and they could show their own movies in network at no cost. If they wanted to go out of network, or were a smaller studio then they'd have to rent screen time.

[Dreamsurfer]

Yes that is how it worked back then.

[128hoodmario]

How did the movies make money then?

[ゲ-で]

Originally posted by 128hoodmario:

How did the movies make money then?

Well you see by selling tickets.

[Blackburn]

Originally posted by 128hoodmario:

How did the movies make money then?

that's the neat part - they don't

[The Mogician]

You don't have to pay your own cinemas, but you have to pay the other studios' cinemas.

[Dreamsurfer]

Most Movies had red numbers. It was the Blockbusters that paid for it all. That is why you see a Marvel Movie every 2 days.

[sam]

This is how theaters used to operate. This changed around the 1940s/50s when the US Supreme Court determined this violated anti-trust laws, because studios could hold complete monopolies on popular movies and theaters. Basically, you could choke out smaller theaters and film studios by refusing to show a popular film there, or choke out a hit film by refusing to show it in your studio's theaters. It's weird by today's standard, but it was a very, very profitable way for studios to make money back in the day and control what people saw, but it's also the reason why there's no such thing as "Warner Brothers Theaters" or "Paramount Cinema."

If you want a modern day example of why this system may be profitable and studios might like it, look at streaming platform exclusivity.