Three Moments of Cinema Exhibition

On the face of things, cinema exhibition seems to be completely transformed in the age of the multiplex. Where first-run exhibition once centered in downtown areas, it has now been evacuated to shipping malls on the urban fringes. Films that once played out over months are now gone in a scant few weeks to be released with greater speed on more lucrative platforms. Recent estimates suggest that cinema box office now makes up less than a quarter of a film's total revenues (Ulin, 2010: 161). It is easy to see how exhibition has changed. If, however, we ask questions about the ways in which exhibition has remained the same over an extended period, the answers may reveal the explanatory power of those aspects of exhibition practice that have to do with place: patterns of urban geography, the impact of transport systems, and the effects of cinema clustering.