Talk:Movie theater

First Motion Picture Theater

There seem to be an increasing number of "contenders" for the title of first movie theater: New Orleans, Buffalo, NY, Tally's Theater in LA, the Georges Melies Theater in Paris.

Part of this problem revolves around the definition of "theater" and what, exactly, was done first.

The New Orleans Theater May 1896 was modified from a standing building. Tally's theater (1902)was the backroom of another building. The Buffalo Vitascope Theater (October 1896) was a separate theater specially constructed for that purpose in the basement of a larger building.

There ought to be some concensus about this definition.

• Correction: The small theatre Thomas Tally opened in Los Angeles in 1896 was in the back room of his phonograph parlor on Spring Street. His 1902 Electric Theatre on Main Street was in a building built specifically to house a movie theatre. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.248.168.191 (talk) 02:23, 28 October 2007 (UTC)

• Correction: The 1902 movie theater was not a standalone theater. It was, in fact, a storefront in a still-standing building in LA. A photograph of the building sometime taken several years after 1902 has been located and will be included in a publication sometime in 2008-2009.(Movieresearch (talk) 02:12, 23 September 2008 (UTC)).

The New Orleans Theater was a "store-front" theater. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Movieresearch (talk • contribs) 02:08, 23 September 2008 (UTC)

First "Theater" other thoughts

In Cinema Treasures someone raised the issue of the "building." His opinion was that the definition revolves around whether or not the physical buiilding was constructed from the ground up for the purpose of showing motion pictures. This had to do with Tally's Electric Theater in LA 1902.

There were so many public "showings" of motion pictures in 1896 all over the world where a projector was set up in a room and the images projected on a wall, that the issue of what a "theater or theatre" was is an important one.

The issue of "first screening" is easier to separate from the issue of "first theater" than it is to separate "first theater" from "first theater building constructed" or "first theater designed only to show movies." Seems like something worth doing, however.

The Lumiere brothers can only claim to have charged money before anyone else.

What's the point

This is a very large article about movie theatres... is it really necessary? As far as i can tell the only bit worth having is the box-office pricing numbers (70% etc.)

History

Anybody remember intermissions? I thought there might be an bit here on it, and also the girl who would come along and sell ice-cream, and Pearl and Dean. Along with a little line on the death of the local cinema in relation to the multiplexes. (The first of which in the UK was the Warner Bros one in Leicester I think).(Halbared 18:45, 8 June 2006 (UTC))

The last commercially distributed (albeit limited) movie to have an intermission that I remember was Hamlet, with Kenneth Brannagh. Moviegoers would be at the theatre for 6 hours. (The Lake Effect 01:54, 10 June 2006 (UTC))

The History section hgere is horrible, and makes absolutely no sense. It's in desperate need of revision. Could someone who actualy knows about movie theatre history fix it? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 69.159.253.128 (talk) 18:48, 7 July 2008 (UTC)

"Venue" vs. "Building"

In the first sentence, wouldn't "venue" be a better word than "builing," since it would describe both indoor and outdoor theaters?

If you feel it would be better, go ahead and change it. :-) —Frecklefoot 18:19, 8 Sep 2003 (UTC)

---

Food and Berverages policies

Would the banning of outside food and beverages be legal as it is the same as banning someone if they are wearing a Nike shirt? Would it not count as Monopoly.

A movie theater is private property, so as long as they're banning outside food & beverages equally for everyone (as opposed to doing so on some sort of discriminatory basis), they're in the clear. Basically, by entering their property & buying the movie ticket, you agree to play by the theater's rules.

How about the fact that women can hide food/drinks in their purse, and men can't? ;)76.182.144.118 (talk) 13:45, 26 August 2008 (UTC)

If you can find a reference, sure. Binksternet (talk) 14:36, 26 August 2008 (UTC)

So to update your analogy, it's the same as you saying that Nike shirts are not allowed in your house, then telling someone to get out for violating that rule.-Rhrad 16:17, 18 January 2007 (UTC)

Ideas for expansion

Moved this from the article; it belongs here.

some ideas for expansion of this article:

• history of the movie theater
• culture around 'going to the movies'

—Frecklefoot 18:19, 8 Sep 2003 (UTC)

Living with your parents is relevant to movie theaters?

"...privacy in the back-row). This applies in particular for young people who still live with their parents, and these parents tend to monitor and/or forbid certain activities."

I agree with the 'back row' traditionally being associated with privacy, but the point about escaping parental control is surely irrelevant to an article about movie theaters. In its presently unqualified state it is unlikely to reflect movie theater culture worldwide either - is it a US-centric point? I would remove the line, any opinions? --Air 16:40, 18 Jan 2005 (UTC)

added link to new article

to projection screen, Santtus 11:14, 15 July 2005 (UTC)

"Flea Pit" as synonym in British English for Movie theater?

Does anyone have documentation for this alleged usage in British English? It sounds so bizarre that I'm wondering if someone's playing a practical joke (as with the John Seigenthaler episode). --Coolcaesar 23:55, 21 January 2006 (UTC)

The term origionated from the unsanitary nature of smaller cinemas. Watch The Smallest Show on Earth for usage of the term

From Oxford English Dictionary quotations

1937 Daily Herald 3 Feb. 12/4 Even the patrons of these palaces [sc. cinemas] referred to them as ‘*flea-pits’. Ibid., A peaked service cap with the name of the flea pit written on the band in gold braid. 1971 Ink 12 June 14/4 He went to a fleapit cinema.

Usage on BBC Website http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/film/3833683.stm

Spelling

Article previously said:

In the United States, the correct spelling of a theatre showing motion pictures (a "movie theatre") is "theatre". By contbyrast, "theater" is the correct spelling for a live-stage theater building. These spellings were made official by the National Association of Theatre Owners some time ago, yet most Americans do not know of this distinction.

In the United Kingdom the spelling "theatre" can have both meanings, but is rarely used to refer to a cinema.

Correct spelling in English is determined by consensus of usage, not the mandate of trade organizations. A distinction doesn't really exist if nobody even knows about it. It also isn't attested in the American Heritage Dictionary, 4th Edition. I didn't bother looking elsewhere... Go ahead if you'd like. Craigbutz 22:44, 19 March 2006 (UTC)

Changes and reorganization

I did some work to reorganize and rewrite the article, consolidating some of the sections as subsections, etc. I added the "Multiplex and Megaplex" subsection with info from the megaplex article (which I may propose as a merge/delete candidate eventually) and the AMC Theatres article, which can now point to it here.

I generally chose to arrange the existing text into the structural changes instead of rewriting for now, even parts that could probably use some work in the future (the detailed description of how to walk along a row with people standing up or not reads somewhat strangely, for instance). As suggestions for other eager editors, if there is going to be an "Intimacy" section it really should include something about the role drive-ins have played in this regard, and the "Controversies" section could probably include something on the role of movie theater companies in NC-17 debate in the US.

I'm also proposing moving the entire "Major movie theatre companies" section into a separate article with a title such as "List of cinema and movie theatre companies" (which matches the appropriate category name), and leave just a reference to the list article here. David Oberst 09:55, 17 May 2006 (UTC)

One section said that "Arm rests pose a hindrance to intimacy" ... I have changed this to "Arm rests pose a hindrance to intimacy for some people". —Preceding unsigned comment added by 134.117.137.177 (talk) 15:48, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

Matinee Loop

The wikified link from "matinee" under the "pricing and admission" subheading links to the matinee disambiguation page, which links directly back to this page (no where explaining what a matinee is). Someone needs to de-wikify the link from this page, and include an explination for what a matinee is.

Matt 20:00, 28 June 2006 (UTC)

I changed the link to go to the definition at wiktionary- there's only so much you can say about what a matinee is, and why reinvent the wheel, right?

Edits by Oberst

For no apparent reason, User:Oberst copied large portions of the multiplex and megaplex articles into this article without any attempt to summarize them or organize them, in direct violation of the Manual of Style. I am cleaning up the mess right now and raising the issue on the talk page so that other editors can monitor his edits in the future. If Oberst is unable to edit the article in a way that improves it (as opposed to damaging it) he may need to be taken to arbitration. --Coolcaesar 07:17, 30 June 2006 (UTC)

I believe you need to take a mild tranquilizing pill. I had intended to do some more work here, and by not getting back to it I may have left a couple parts of the connected articles in an unfortunate inbetween state, but to call it vandalism is uncalled for. A few notes:

• I took the text from megaplex as part of the starter for the Multiplex/Megaplex section, intending to suggest it be turned into a redirect to movie theatre, as there is not enough text there to justify a main article/subarticle structure, and the entire multiplex/megaplex distinction seems best handled in the full movie theatre article. Given that there is no "multiplex" article, just a disambiguation redirect here, I became uncertain whether a redirect was desirable, since an enlargement of "megaplex" might also have been possible in the future, and forgot to revisit the issue and either put a "merge" suggestion tag on multiplex, or ask for it to be expanded.

• The "bad" text was largely already in place or taken from the AMC Theatres article (as Wikipedia's source of info on multiplex origins), not written by me, and I make no warranties for its quality. I was mainly attempting to organize existing contributions where possible, not completely evaluate and rewrite them, however desirable that might be in the future. Movie theatre is the appropriate place for the origins of the multiplex, which can then be summarized and/or linked to by the AMC and other theatre articles. I actually created a copy of the AMC article to start excising what I transferred here- there were some questions about non-AMC multiplex origins I was trying to track down. I didn't realize I hadn't made any alteration of the source section of the AMC article, which I regret, but that wouldn't have affected what was put in here.

• Since you presumably looked at the edit history, you would have seen a number of other significant edits I made at the same time, including rewriting the intro[1], consolidating existing sections into "Presentation" and adding to the text[2], etc., which were obviously not vandalism, and I would hope a brief look at my contributions would indicate i'm not some sort of rogue article destroyer. If you had a problem with the "Multiplex and Megaplex" section you could have contacted me directly and asked what happened, instead of going off on your little tantrum here.

Regards, - David Oberst 09:19, 30 June 2006 (UTC)

Major movie theatre companies section

From above: I'm also proposing moving the entire "Major movie theatre companies" section into a separate article with a title such as "List of cinema and movie theatre companies" (which matches the appropriate category name), and leave just a reference to the list article here. David Oberst 09:55, 17 May 2006 (UTC)

I think that's a great idea. --Usgnus 23:23, 2 August 2006 (UTC)

Drive-ins

The section on Drive-in's makes the statement "They are now almost extinct". It is certainly true that the number of drive-ins is much, much lower than in their hey-day, they are not at all close to extinction. There are currently 407 drive-ins in the US. The 1990s saw a significant number of reopenings and even some new builds as they transitioned to a new family entertainment model.

General Points

I thought I'd just chip in with a few comments to see what others think. Firstly, the article is pretty USA-centric. For example, the 'History' section is almost exclusively occupied by American the history of the industry in America. Does anyone have a source that could shed light on the first purpose built structure in the world, as opposed to America? As a more general criticism, I think that this section would benefit from being significantly expanded to detail the development of the diverse range of film-exhibiting enterprises throughout the world. Admittedly, much of this is covered in later sections, but it all seems a little disjointed to me.

A further example of the focus on America is in the 'Design' section. The statement:

Traditionally a movie theater, like a stage theater, consists of a single auditorium with rows of comfortable seats, as well as a lobby area containing a box office for buying tickets, a counter and/or selfservice facilities for buying snacks and drinks, and washrooms.

is certainly applicable to more recent, multi-screen venues, but is at odds with the arrangement of many establishments the world over. In France, for example, many (if not most) urban cinemas have only a very small lobby area, with the ticket booth often on the street itself, and without any facilities to purchase food or drink, or indeed, in many cases, any toilet facilities. Such a description also ignores the more informal nature of many cinemas outside more developed areas. From my own personal knowledge I could point to West Africa (especially Nigeria) as a region where many cinemas are either unable or unwilling to maintain an establishment along the lines of the above quotation.

In the section on 'Other venues', I think that the phrasing is a little misleading. It could be taken as meaning that student-run film presentations have only been in existence since the late 1990s.

I think that an extensive list detailing discount pass schemes at a range of multiplex chains is superfluous. It seems to me that it is pretty superfluous information, and the merits of its inclusion are outweighed by its negative impact on the flow of the article and the likely inaccuracies that will go unchecked as corporate policy effects price changes.

Perhaps the article could go to greater lengths to mention innovations in theatre technology outside of the audio-visual realm. A little more information on 3D films might be welcome, in addition to some information on Smell-O-Vision, for example.

I think that this:

It is common for moviegoing teenagers to throw various foodstuffs — most notably popcorn — at each other, though sometimes at other moviegoers.

is an over-exaggeration. Of the hundreds of films I've seen in cinemas in many countries and cities, I've only encountered the throwing of 'various foodstuffs' on a handful of occasions. As an issue of disruption to the film-going experience, it certainly pales in comparison to talking or the ringing of mobile phones. Perhaps a brief section on theatre etiquette could encompass these, and any other similar, points.

There are a number of un-sourced statements, or points made without adequate citation. For example, the anti-piracy warning 'shown at cinemas in the United Kingdom' goes without a reference. I believe it is a FACT (Federation Against Copyright Theft) notice that began showing a couple of years ago, but it might just be the invention of an over-zealous poster as far as the uninformed reader is concerned. I would argue that such a quotation is unwarranted in any case; it does little to flesh out a picture of the issues surrounding film piracy or various actors' approaches to it.

'Reportedly the Islamic Courts of Somalia do not allow cinema.' is another good example of an un-sourced statement.

I think that the lengthy list of cinema operators in different territories is out of place and could be broken off into a separate article, if it is to be retained at all.

The external links sections could be greatly expanded if pages could be found with further details of the development of theatres over time, touching on issues such as architecture, technology, business practice and the relationship between theatres, studios and the films themselves.

Sorry to have gone on at such length, but I think there are the seeds of a pretty good article in here, if some (albeit significant) work was put in to it. I'm interested to hear what other people think on this one. Benwilson528 03:41, 28 December 2006 (UTC)

Cinema vs Theater

I generally use theater to refer to it being in theaters, whereas I use cinema for the establishment itself. 67.188.172.165 01:26, 21 February 2007 (UTC)

a theatre is a place where plays are preformed, movies are played in the cinema. 86.137.16.46 (talk) 20:47, 10 February 2008 (UTC)

Split

It has been proposed that the listing of movie theater and cinema chains be split into a separate article. I support this, but wonder what the name of the new list would be? — WiseKwai 02:44, 19 July 2007 (UTC)

Wisekwai asked me (as the person to put it on in the first place) to comment (which I will gladly do, but to be honest, I am not normally working on cinema articles). I think that - as bland as it may sound, "list of movie theaters and cinema chains" is the appropriate title. We can always make it more interesting than a simple list by making it into a table (see the table included in Museum ships which might have columns for data like "date established", "date closed", "seating number"s and a "comments" row for what makes it special. Cheers Ingolfson 05:42, 19 July 2007 (UTC)

I concur that there should be a split. The list is getting rather large. --Coolcaesar 05:58, 19 July 2007 (UTC)

Holding on the split for now. See move proposal below. If the new name goes through, I guess the list title would be "List of cinemas and cinema chains". — WiseKwai 11:06, 29 August 2007 (UTC)

Split completed. There is now a list of movie theaters and cinema chains. — WiseKwai 08:06, 15 September 2007 (UTC)

Requested Move

The following discussion is an archived discussion of the proposal. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on the talk page. No further edits should be made to this section.

The result of the proposal was no consensus for move. If debate still continues, you might wish to try a compromise article title, as the drawbacks of both "movie theater" and "cinema" are made quite clear here. ProhibitOnions ^(T) 10:48, 9 September 2007 (UTC)

• Support. Read the first sentence of the article. It states that the term cinema is used in most (if not all) English speaking countries, while Movie theater/theatre is only a North American term. Clearly, to represent a worldwide perspective the article should be moved to "cinema". Shaizakopf 10:33, 29 August 2007 (UTC)
• Weak support oppose. Good to see this is being discussed, rather than just unilaterally moved. To me, the word "cinema" refers to the broader subject of the film industry and films in general, and not just a building where you go to watch movies. I guess that's my native usage bias hanging on, which can't be helped. — WiseKwai 11:05, 29 August 2007 (UTC)
  • Comment: On Wikipedia itself, there is the series of Cinema of ... articles about the film industries of various countries, which is what I had in mind when I mentioned the "broader subject" above. Maybe this article could be named "Movie theatre"? ;) — WiseKwai 06:40, 8 September 2007 (UTC)
• Support - Since the term cinema is more widely used around the globe - as stated in the opening paragraph of the article. --DAJF 11:17, 29 August 2007 (UTC)
• Oppose - as mentioned above and seen in Cinema (disambiguation), "cinema" is ambiguous.--Patrick 11:21, 29 August 2007 (UTC)
• Strong Support - "Cinema" is understood internationally but movie theater is too much of an Americanism. Reginmund 17:29, 29 August 2007 (UTC)
• Support - I agree with the nominator. violet/riga (t) 22:03, 29 August 2007 (UTC)
• Oppose - The other side of saying that cinema is the word of preference outside of North America is that it isn't the vernacular of first choice within North America. Thus, it, too, isn't a worldwide term. It's "chiefly British", according to my Oxford Dictionary. Truth is, no noun can be found in this case that will satisfy the vernacular leanings of everyone around the world.
• Support - This is probably the best place to put it because it seems more like an international term. Besides, I live in Pennsylvania where this usage is relatively not uncommon. Parable1991 05:31, 7 September 2007 (UTC)

"Wordwide perspective" thus can't be the determing factor in this case, but clarity.

Movie theater is preferred because cinema can mean both "the art and/or industry of making films" and "the place where films are shown". While it's certainly true that most speakers of non-North American English will more naturally reach for "cinema" in a sentence like "I'm going to the cinema tonight", no speaker of English will misunderstand what one means when one says "movie theatre". Movie theatre means nothing other than "the place where films are exhibited to the public". Cinema requires context before its meaning is clear. Hence: blue links at Cinema (disambiguation) and red links at Movie theater (disambiguation).

Even in French, and Italian, it's an abbreviation for the projector, or cinematograph, itself. Slavic languages take a similar approach, however their word, kino, derivs more specifically from the kinetoscope. So there's ambiguity there too. In any of these places, direct translation of "movie theater", while uncommon in the vernacular, is not "improper" and it makes the meaning clear. CzechOut ☎ | ✍ 23:46, 29 August 2007 (UTC)

• Support. "Cinema" is the most widely-used, widely-recognized term. The reasoning that "cinema" also means film-making isn't particularly relevant, because there is no article about film-making named "cinema", that article is called film, so renaming this article isn't going to affect people looking for that one. Crazysuit 02:57, 30 August 2007 (UTC)
• Strong Oppose - this is exactly why this kind of thing should not be up for a vote. People always vote according to their nationalities. The manual of style is very clear about this: whoever started the article, the language from that country is used. This keeps us from tearing each other's throats out. And, to be honest, I really doubt that the term movie theater is any less well known abroad than cinema is known in the US. The Evil Spartan 04:55, 30 August 2007 (UTC)

• That is a last case scenario and only applies when other avenues have been explored. violet/riga (t) 09:04, 30 August 2007 (UTC)

• Oppose The argument to move is entirely that this is a North American term. If there were some other reason to move, the Anglo-American guideline would not prevent it; but this is the sort of move request that it was written to deprecate. Leave it alone. Septentrionalis PMAnderson 02:21, 31 August 2007 (UTC)
  • Comment: There's a guideline about this sort of thing? Where? — WiseKwai 07:12, 1 September 2007 (UTC)
    • Wikipedia:Manual_of_Style#National_varieties_of_English.--Patrick 11:32, 1 September 2007 (UTC)
• Comment - Cinema isn't exactly ambiguous in the U.S.. This move is for neutrality because "cinema" is acceptable around the world. Reginmund 20:12, 4 September 2007 (UTC)
• Oppose. Cinema is ambiguous, while movie theater is unambiguous. Note nominator moved Cinema to Cinema (disambiguation) when making this nomination. Vegaswikian 21:53, 4 September 2007 (UTC)
  • Note that a similar move for Cinema was made around a June 22 move discussion. Vegaswikian 21:58, 4 September 2007 (UTC)
• Oppose. Cinema is vague and ambiguous in American English (and as a lawyer, I get paid to spot when people are vague and ambiguous and to make that objection, among with many others). Reginmund is clearly unfamiliar with American English. Standing alone, the phrase "the cinema" in American English can refer directly to either the entire art and industry of making motion pictures or a particular movie theater. The phrase always has to be read in context and even then can be very confusing. For example, the sentence "Lisa loves the cinema" can mean that Lisa likes the art of motion pictures in general (that is, she is a fan or aficionado of the art of filmmaking), or that Lisa likes to often visit local movie theaters. These two meanings are clearly distinct because Lisa can enjoy motion pictures while rarely actually visiting a movie theater in person (for example, by making her own home movies or by watching professionally produced movies on TV or cable or satellite or DVD). It's because of this ambiguity that Americans (1) either avoid using the term cinema in casual conversation (it's much more common in writing), or (2) always clarify what they mean, or (3) ask the other speaker what they mean by "cinema" if it's not immediately obvious. --Coolcaesar 05:28, 6 September 2007 (UTC)
• Comment - Reginmund lived in Seattle for three years so don't judge Reginmund if you have no idea who Reginmund is, what Reginmund knows, or where Reginmund's been. Now as for your [ambiguous] sentence "Lisa loves the cinema", is it any less unusual to say "Lisa loves the [movie] theatres" in the U.S.? Yes it is. Americans refer to it as the "movies" and only refer to the establishment as an actual theatre. I called it the cinema when I lived there all the time and nobody even flinched. In fact, the actual room was referred to as the "cinema" (e.g. Cinema 6 or Cinema 8) and seldom the actual establishment. It's not an unusual synonym there. Reginmund 05:42, 6 September 2007 (UTC)
• Response to comment - Well, when Americans refer to the movies, meaning the art and industry as a whole, they are referring to what is already covered by a separate Wikipedia article at film. PLEASE read this article under discussion about "Movie theater" which refers to the actual buildings in which films are shown to the public. If you're arguing for making this an article about cinema in the sense of film, that makes no sense (to have a completely redundant article) and will cause someone else to propose a merge with film. Also, I am aware that there is a minority of local movie chains that use the term cinema, but the vast majority of American exhibition chains (including all the big professional ones like Regal and AMC) use the term theater, and that's why we have the National Association of Theatre Owners---NATO, not NACO. Finally, the reason no one flinched is because they would have heard your accent and shrugged it off as another peculiar Britishism like "lorry" and "saloon car." --Coolcaesar 19:28, 6 September 2007 (UTC)
• Comment - Since when does the "movies" refer to the film industry? I have never heard this expression before. Could you please give me an example of this usage? I never said that we should make this article about cinema in the sense of film. I also never said that the term "cinema" is only used with local chains which is untrue. Carmike Cinemas and Cineplex Odeon are some of the largest cinema chains in the U.S.. You also need not explain why they didn't flinch. I was there, and when I first came to Seattle, I had started using "lorry", "tramp", "underground", "anti-clockwise" and they were dumbfounded. Reginmund 23:43, 6 September 2007 (UTC)

The above discussion is preserved as an archive of the proposal. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on this talk page. No further edits should be made to this section.

Who created the first multiplex? We seem to have a problem here...

We have an incoherent non sequitur in the article that needs to be fixed. It seems to me that a bunch of Canadian editors are pushing a POV that their country had the first multiplex when multiple sources indicate that Stan Durwood of AMC Theatres is the inventor of the multiplex.

I just ran a few searches on the major online databases (public libraries in California subscribe to huge databases like ProQuest and InfoTrac which allow remote proxy access from home) and came up with the following published reliable sources indicating the general position of the American media that Durwood invented the multiplex:

Leonard Klady, "Obituaries: Theater owner Stanley Durwood dies at the age of 78," Variety 375, no. 9 (July 19, 1999): 40.

"Credited with fostering the multiplex era .... The creation of the first two-screen theater has become part of movie mythology. Durwood claimed that in 1962 he was standing in the lobby of his 600-seat Roxy in Kansas City mulling over its poor grosses when he realized he could double his box office by adding a second screen and still operate with the same size staff. A year later, his idea came to life with the Parkway II in a suburban mall."

Anonymous, "Stan Durwood: Multiplex Theater Pioneer," Los Angeles Times, 16 July 1999, A22.

"Stan Durwood, a movie theater entrepreneur credited with inventing the multiplex theaters that now dot nearly every suburban mall, has died .... Durwood came up with the idea of building two small theaters next to each other. They opened in 1963. It was clear he didn't quite have the multiplex figured out yet: Both screens played the same movie, "The Great Escape," ... But the idea was born, and according to AMC, Durwood coined the multiplex name at that time, too."

Diana B. Henriques, "Stanley Durwood, 78, Inventor of Multiplex," New York Times, 16 July 1999, A17.

"Stanley H. Durwood, an entertainment industry executive who is credited with inventing the multiplex movie theater, has died Wednesday night at his Kansas City, Mo., home after a two-year illness."

Nan Robertson, "Multiplexes Add 2,300 Movie Screens in 5 Years," New York Times, 7 November 1983, C13.

"In 1962, along came Stanley H. Durwood, a Kansas City entrepreneur with a homespun accent who is usually acknowledged as the pioneer who pushed the multiplex idea."

Anonymous, "Milestones," Time, 26 July 1999, 17.

"DIED. STAN DURWOOD, 78, ebullient creator of the now ubiquitous multiplex movie theater; of esophageal cancer; in Kansas City, Mo."

Therefore, if no one objects, I'm going to revise this article over the next week to indicate that multiple American sources (referencing everything I just mentioned above) credit Stan Durwood as the inventor of the multiplex, and that this contention is disputed by Canadians. Does that sound fair enough? --Coolcaesar 07:33, 8 September 2007 (UTC)

It may be better to say that Durwood coined the word multiplex and was the first to develop it as a business concept in the 1960s. But it makes no sense to credit him as having "invented" something in 1962/63 which was already in existence in Ottawa years earlier. See Elgin Theatre (Ottawa). --Mathew5000 10:53, 17 September 2007 (UTC)

Therein lies the problem. Did Nat Taylor understand the importance of the multiplex, besides the idea that one could show two different movies at once? What I'm referring to is the idea of staggering start times so that a relatively small team can operate multiple auditoriums at once. That's the real value of the multiplex concept.

Also, the simple fact is that regardless of what Canadians think, the American press, both mainstream and for the motion picture trade, clearly regards Durwood as the inventor of the multiplex. To assert otherwise would be original research in violation of Wikipedia:No original research. Only if, say, a professional investigative reporter or a historian of motion picture exhibition were to delve into this issue and publish original research elsewhere in a reliable source stating that Taylor invented the concept of the multiplex before Durwood, then we could paraphrase that publication and cite it on Wikipedia. --Coolcaesar 07:30, 11 October 2007 (UTC)

Cinema not universal outside North America

Most English speakers outside North America probably live in Britain, and I assume that contibutors here are right in saying that they use the term cinema in preference to movie theatre. This is not universal elswhere. In New Zealand, usage has moved from the older picture theatre towards movie theatre, in ordinary speech anyway. No-one here would talk of "going to the cinema"; we are more likely to "go to a movie" or (sometimes, still) "go to the pictures". However, cinema is universally understood, and is often used in the media. A quick google of the term "picture theatre" turns up a preponderance of New Zealand and Australian web pages. I'd be interested to get some Australian input on this.

One thing about the main divide being between British "cinema" and US "movie theater" is that this talk page doesn't consist of several megabytes of ignorant argument between half-educated Americans and half-educated non-Americans over whether theater or theatre is the "correct" spelling, of the sort that plagues pages on other subjects where the two spelling traditions are different. Koro Neil (talk) 10:34, 22 July 2008 (UTC)

As a Brit, having lived in Australia - I can confirm Australians never say "movie theatre" - it is always "cinema" or more often "cinemas" - referring to a mutiplex complex with multiple screens. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Distant Cousin (talk • contribs) 13:53, 16 October 2008 (UTC)

Category needs renaming

Category:Theatres in Houston, Texas needs to be renamed to Category:Theaters in Houston, Texas - How do I do this? WhisperToMe (talk) 23:05, 21 September 2008 (UTC)

cinima vs Movie theatre (again)

It seems really inconsistent to have this artical as 'Movie Theater' when both Film (instead of Movie) is used and Theatre is used (instead of Theater). Plus there are aticals called Cinema of Canada and Cinema of Australia and Cinema of the United States, these are 3 of 4 major English Speaking countrys, as well as this most countrys have an artical called Cinema of Country. I think these are reasons to consider to moving it from movie theater, while it is mostly based on opinons from were people are from, but having every other artical under the motre used British Version, then having one artcal under the US version. Alexsau1991 (talk) 17:16, 10 January 2009 (UTC)

Quote

Perhaps include this quote:

Why should people go out and pay to see bad movies when they can stay home and see bad television for nothing. -Samuel Goldwyn