Limited release is a term in the American motion picture industry for a motion picture that is playing in a select few theaters across the country (typically in cities such as New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco).
A limited release is often used to gauge the appeal of specialty films – especially of documentaries, independent films and art films. A common practice by major film studios is to give highly anticipated and critically acclaimed films a limited release in December in New York and Los Angeles in order to qualify them for an Academy Award nomination, as set out by the rules outlined by the Academy. These films would often receive a wider release later in January or February.
The Rocky Horror Picture Show, which first premiered in 1975, is still shown at limited theaters making it now the longest-running theatrical release in film history.
Yet a new meaning may come to the term Limited Release as an upcoming DVD and Video On Demand experiment will see films released on the these platforms after only a month or so in theaters. This means that the term would refer to the month long theatrical release in Canada and the United States, as opposed to films just released in Los Angeles and New York.
Read more about Limited Release: Platform Release, Other Uses
Famous quotes containing the words limited and/or release:
“The limitless future of childhood shrinks to realistic proportions, to one of limited chances and goals; but, by the same token, the mastery of time and space and the conquest of helplessness afford a hitherto unknown promise of self- realization. This is the human condition of adolescence.”
—Peter Blos (20th century)
“The steel decks rock with the lightning shock, and shake with the
great recoil,
And the sea grows red with the blood of the dead and reaches for his spoil—
But not till the foe has gone below or turns his prow and runs,
Shall the voice of peace bring sweet release to the men behind the
guns!”
—John Jerome Rooney (1866–1934)