I do not work for them, but having run a motion picture theater for years I think I can help answer your question. Every time a theater books a movie you enter into a specific contract with the studio over how much your ticket prices will be, how many weeks you will play it, and the more new a picture is the higher the percentage of the theaters box office you have to give back to the studio. It is not unheard of for the studio to take 75-80% of you box office if you play a film the first week it comes out. With each week, as the film gets older, the percentage the theater has to give back to the studio drops and usually settles around 35% after the 4th or 5th week.....but in the public's eyes the film is then ancient. The other factor is that some films that are high quality and Oscar worthy usually come out in limited release. This can be anywhere from 500-900 theaters in America so the studio can slowly build "buzz" around it.
They are a small venue with limited theaters. Often times when there are multiple movies released, they must share theater time amongst the shows. I am certain it is based on sales/popularity as well for determining which movies get most play time.
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