Bulk booking, a tactic where theaters are forced to take multiple movies together, has been banned but is still used through creative pricing. The practice was popular in the 1930s and 1940s, allowing studios to invest in smaller films. While banned, some forms of bulk booking still exist, giving small films a chance to be released.
Bulk booking is a movie distribution tactic that involves forcing theaters to take a bunch of movies together, rather than allowing them to choose which movies they want to show. While this practice has officially been banned, many independent cinemas are still forced to do business in bulk through the use of tools such as creative pricing. For example, a theater may be quoted a very high price for booking a major film and a lower price for booking that film with a smaller film, thus essentially forcing the theater to take both.
The 1930s and 1940s saw the heyday of block booking. The studios would force the theaters to take an entire year’s worth of films sight unseen; it was an all or nothing deal. If a theater balked at booking a full year in advance, the studio simply refused to ship anything, putting the theater at a disadvantage as customers clamored for highly anticipated films.
For the studios, bulk booking made perfect financial sense. The studio could afford to invest in smaller, less-anticipated films if it knew those films would be booked anyway, and a number of now well-known films actually got their start in this method. Star Wars, for example, was included in block packs when it first came out, with theaters forced to pick up the film if they wanted a big hit.
As the practice became more widely publicized, attempts were made to rework it. One-year deals were the first thing to be banned, followed by bundled packages. Studios and distributors have been forced to resort to creative means to release small films, such as generating economic incentives for theaters to pick up less desirable films.
While bulk booking is banned today, some forms of the practice are still alive and well. While it could be seen as an illegal and manipulative tactic, the fact that small films have a fighting chance through this type of booking is something many fans stand up for. Studios are more willing to take chances with unknown actors and directors if they are sure enough copies of the film can be released to at least recoup the expenses; without block booking, studios are often more inclined to focus on well-known actors and crew, making the industry even harder to break into than it already is.
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