{{Short description|Widespread release of a film through a nation or other countries}} {{Filmmaking sidebar|Distribution}} In the motion picture industry, a '''wide release''' (short for '''nationwide release''') is a film playing at the same time at cinemas in most markets across a country. This is in contrast to the formerly common practice of a roadshow theatrical release in which a film opens at a few theaters in key cities before circulating among theaters around a country, or a limited release in which a film is booked at fewer theaters (such as "art house" venues) in larger cities in anticipation of lesser commercial appeal. It acts as a grand opening for films. In some cases, a film that sells well in limited release will then "go wide". Since 1994, a wide release in the United States and Canada has been defined by Nielsen EDI as a film released in more than 600 theaters.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://variety.com/2002/film/markets-festivals/indie-distrib-premiere-in-need-of-cash-1117873432/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211016153327/https://variety.com/2002/film/markets-festivals/indie-distrib-premiere-in-need-of-cash-1117873432/|archive-date=2021-10-16|title=Indie distrib Premiere in need of cash|date=27 September 2002}}</ref><ref name="Box Office News: Release Patterns">{{cite news|newspaper=Daily Variety|date=January 4, 1994|page=4|title=Box Office News: Release Patterns}}</ref>
The practice emerged as a successful marketing strategy in the 1970s. It became increasingly common in subsequent decades, in parallel with the expansion of the number of screens available at multiplex cinemas. With the switch to digital formats – lowering the added cost of wide release and increasing the opportunity for piracy – "opening wide" has become the default release strategy for big-budget mainstream films, sometimes expanding to include closely spaced wide releases in various countries, or even simultaneous worldwide release.<ref>{{Cite web|date=2014-01-18|title=Paramount stops releasing major movies on film|url=https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/envelope/cotown/la-et-ct-paramount-end-to-film-20140118-story.html|access-date=2020-06-13|website=Los Angeles Times|language=en-US}}</ref>
==History== Prior to the 1980s, most feature films initially opened in major cities such as New York, Los Angeles, Paris, and London, with a small set of prints then circulating as a "roadshow" among cinemas regionally over the course of a few months. The number of prints in circulation would be increased only to accommodate demand for highly popular features, which might be "held over" beyond their originally scheduled run. Many of the most successful major releases during this period were handled this way.<ref name=nat>{{cite magazine|magazine=Daily Variety|date=May 21, 1992|title=Uni/Imagine throw dice 'Far and Away'|page=17|last=Natale|first=Richard}}</ref>
In 1944, MGM opened ''An American Romance'' in the Cincinnati area in multiple theaters but had negative results.<ref name=regional/> In 1946, David O. Selznick's ''Duel in the Sun'' was given a "blitz" release, where it was released simultaneously in a number of theaters in an area or city — as many as 54 theaters in one area<ref name="blitz"/> at the same time. The "blitz" system had been used "for some years" prior to 1947 in Los Angeles, due to that city's geographic sprawl.<ref name="blitz"/> Advantages of the new release approach included economies of scale on advertising costs<ref name="blitz"/> and the fact that "it allows for the old circus technique of 'get out of town before they find out how lousy you are.'"<ref name="blitz">{{cite magazine|magazine=Variety |date=1947-07-16 |title=Goldwyn to Give 'Mitty' Blitz Treatment |pages=5, 18 |url=https://archive.org/details/variety167-1947-07/page/n158 |via=Archive.org}}</ref> The following year, MGM used a "splash" approach on ''The Hucksters'', opening in 350 theaters before expanding to 1,000 theaters a week later.<ref name=blitz/><ref>{{cite magazine|magazine=Variety|date=July 2, 1947|title='Hucksters' Tees Off New Selling for M-G July 17; See 22 During 1947-48|page=4|url=https://archive.org/stream/variety167-1947-07#page/n3/mode/1up|via=Archive.org}}</ref>
By 1949, most film companies had started to move to multiple regional openings on the same day and date in limited areas, known as "saturation booking". Paramount Pictures had it as a long-established policy including on ''Streets of Laredo'' and ''El Paso''. RKO opened ''Mighty Joe Young'' on 358 theaters in New England and upstate New York and ''Roseanna McCoy'' in four states. 20th Century Fox opened ''It Happens Every Spring'' and ''Sand'' in 300 theaters within a week. Universal Pictures tested it for ''The Life of Riley'' and then released ''Calamity Jane and Sam Bass'' via 600 dates in Texas and Oklahoma. Warner Bros. opened ''Colorado Territory'' in 250 theaters in the Rocky Mountain area. United Artists opened ''Black Magic'' in 400 theaters nationwide and Columbia Pictures planned to release ''Anna Lucasta'' in 300 theaters nationwide.<ref name=regional>{{cite magazine|url=https://archive.org/details/variety175-1949-07/page/n62/mode/1up|title=Film Cos. Veering More to Multiple, Regional Openings, Day-and-Date|magazine=Variety|date=July 13, 1949|page=7|access-date=October 30, 2024|via=Internet Archive}}</ref>
In 1952, Terry Turner of RKO, who ran the marketing campaign for ''Mighty Joe Young'', used saturation booking for a reissue of ''King Kong'' (1933) and then expanded this concept with Warner Bros.' ''The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms'' (1953), planning to have most of its bookings in its first two months, opening in New York and Los Angeles before expanding to 1,422 theaters within the first week.<ref>{{cite magazine|magazine=Variety|date=June 17, 1953|title=Play Fast Playoff For WB 'Beast'|page=5|url=https://archive.org/stream/variety190-1953-06#page/n152/mode/1up|via=Archive.org}}</ref><ref name=open3/>
Joseph E. Levine, a distributor/exhibitor based in Boston who had worked on the "blitz" release of ''Duel in the Sun'', hired Turner and adopted a similar approach on the 1958 US release of the Italian film ''Attila'', quickly moving 90 prints through regional distribution hubs, renting them to mostly low-end theaters where he could book short runs with favorable box office terms.<ref>{{cite magazine|magazine=Variety|title=T. Turner Technique For 'Attila the Hun|date=March 12, 1958|page=20|url=https://archive.org/details/variety210-1958-03/page/n98/mode/1up|access-date=October 1, 2021|via=Archive.org}}</ref><ref name=open3>{{cite book|first1=Dade|last1=Hayes|first2=Jonathan|last2=Bing|title=Open Wide: How Hollywood Box Office Became a National Obsession|publisher=Miramax Books|year=2004|isbn=1401352006|url=https://archive.org/details/openwidehowholly00haye|url-access=registration|pages=[https://archive.org/details/openwidehowholly00haye/page/145 145]-150}}</ref> Booking dense concentrations of venues in a region allowed for the effective use of costly local TV and radio spots. Levine was able to generate over $2 million in US box office theatrical rentals with runs averaging only ten days per screen. Warner Bros. then paid him a $300,000 advance to secure the distribution rights to ''Hercules''. Released the following summer with over 600 prints (175 of these played simultaneously in the greater New York City area) with the assistance of Warner's nationwide network of print exchanges, the film secured $4.7 million in rentals.<ref>{{cite magazine|magazine=Variety|date=15 July 1959|title='Hercules' Has 6,000 WB Dates Lined Up|page=32|url=http://www.archive.org/stream/variety215-1959-07#page/n191/mode/1up|access-date=June 13, 2020|via=Archive.org}}</ref><ref name=varobit>{{cite magazine|magazine=Variety|date=August 5, 1987|page=4|last=McCarthy|first=Todd|author-link=Todd McCarthy|title=Joseph E. Levine Dead At 81; Leading Indie Producer Of '60s}}</ref>
In 1974, Tom Laughlin gave ''The Trial of Billy Jack'', a sequel to his independently distributed ''Billy Jack'', one of the widest releases to date, opening in 1,200 theatres in the United States on November 13.<ref name=open2>{{cite book|first1=Dade|last1=Hayes|first2=Jonathan|last2=Bing|title=Open Wide: How Hollywood Box Office Became a National Obsession|publisher=Miramax Books|year=2004|isbn=1401352006|url=https://archive.org/details/openwidehowholly00haye|url-access=registration|pages=[https://archive.org/details/openwidehowholly00haye/page/277 277]-280}}</ref> The following year, ''Breakout'' was the first major studio film to go into wide release in its opening week, with Columbia Pictures distributing 1,325 prints nationwide, combined with a heavy national advertising campaign.<ref name=open2/><ref name=any/> The following month, ''Jaws'' was released in a similar way on 409 screens, expanding to nearly 1,000 by mid-August in conjunction with nationwide advertising. The modest success of ''Breakout'' and the blockbuster success of ''Jaws'' led other distributors to follow suit with other mass-market films. On June 6, 1978, ''Jaws II'' opened in the United States and Canada in 640 theaters the same day that ''Grease'' opened in 862 theaters, with both grossing more than $9 million in the opening weekend, showing to distributors the success that could be achieved with such a release strategy.<ref>{{cite magazine|magazine=Variety|title=Weekend B.O. Highs Redfine Business|date=May 9, 1984|page=5|last=Murphy|first=A.D.}}</ref> In December 1980, ''Any Which Way You Can'' beat the record set by ''Breakout'', opening in a record 1,541 theaters.<ref name=any>{{cite magazine|magazine=Variety|date=December 17, 1980|page=3|last=McCarthy|first=Todd|author-link=Todd McCarthy|title='Any Which Way' But Not Anti-Bid States}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.the-numbers.com/box-office-chart/weekend/1980/12/19|website=The Numbers|title=Weekend Domestic Chart for December 19, 1980|access-date=December 31, 2020}}</ref>
The growth in the number and size of multiplexes since the 1980s, increasing the availability of screens with more flexible scheduling, facilitated this strategy and, together with the reduction in the number of movie palaces, saw an end to the roadshow release strategy.<ref>Wyatt, Justin (1998). "From Roadshowing to Saturation Release: Majors, Independents, and Marketing/Distribution Innovations". In Lewis, Jon. The New American Cinema. Durham, North Carolina: Duke University Press. {{ISBN|0-8223-2115-7}}, p 78</ref><ref name=nat/> In 1984, ''Beverly Hills Cop'' was the first film playing simultaneously on more than 2,000 screens in the United States and Canada, in its third weekend in December.<ref name=bhc>{{cite magazine|magazine=Daily Variety|page=4|date=December 27, 1984|title='Beverly Hills Cop' Top Ticket At National B.O.; 'Pinocchio' Strong|last=Greenberg|first=James}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.boxofficemojo.com/release/rl3880027649/weekend/|website=Box Office Mojo|access-date=June 8, 2020|title=Beverly Hills Cop}}</ref> In 1990, 14 films were shown on 2,000 screens simultaneously, and in 1993 the number had almost doubled to 23.<ref name=96wide/> In 1993, 145 films (41% of films released) received a wide release in the United States and Canada with an average widest point of release of 1,493 engagements with 29% of the films' grosses coming from their opening week.<ref name=ave>{{cite magazine|magazine=Variety|date=January 5, 1998|page=3|title=EDI Box Office News More Shelf Space For Films}}</ref>
In May 1996, ''Mission: Impossible'' was the first film to be released in over 3,000 theaters in the United States and Canada.<ref name="Thomas">{{cite news|last=Thomas|first=Karen|date=May 24, 1996|title='Mission' is successful, breaks Wednesday record|page=1D|work=USA Today|url=https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/USAToday/access/16348281.html?FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121107134257/http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/USAToday/access/16348281.html?FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT|url-status=dead|archive-date=November 7, 2012}}</ref><ref name="Hindes">{{cite magazine|last=Hindes|first=Andrew|date=May 24, 1996|title=''Mission'' Cruises to B.O. Record|magazine=Variety|page=1}}</ref> Meanwhile, ''Showgirls'' (1995) was the first film with an NC-17 rating to have a wide release in the United States, opening in 1,388 theaters.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1995/07/21/movies/first-major-film-with-an-nc-17-rating-is-embraced-by-the-studio.html|title=First Major Film With an NC-17 Rating Is Embraced by the Studio|first=Bernard|last=Weinraub|newspaper=The New York Times|date=21 July 1995}}</ref> In 1996, 67 films were released in the United States and Canada on more than 2,000 screens and by 1997, the average widest point of release for wide release films in the United States and Canada had reached 1,888 engagements with 37% of the films' grosses coming from their opening week.<ref name=96wide>{{cite magazine|magazine=Variety|date=January 6, 1997|page=18|title=EDI Box Office News: Really wide release}}</ref><ref name=ave/> By 2000, 22 films were released on more than 3,000 screens in the year, while the average widest point of release had increased to 2,228.<ref>{{cite magazine|magazine=Variety|title=ACNielsen EDI Box Office News: Screen Trends For 2000|date=March 5, 2001|page=16}}</ref>
In the 1980s and 1990s, the main downside to a wide release was the massive cost of actually creating and shipping release prints to be displayed on all those screens.<ref name="Epstein_Page_36">{{cite book |last1=Epstein |first1=Edward Jay |author1-link=Edward Jay Epstein |title=The Hollywood Economist: The Hidden Financial Reality Behind the Movies |date=2012 |publisher=Melville House |location=Brooklyn |isbn=9781612190501 |page=36 |edition=Release 2.0|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=h8NvDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA36}}</ref> At a typical cost of about $1,500 per release print, a wide release that opened on 4,000 screens would cost about $6 million.<ref name="Epstein_Page_36" /> This is why after the turn of the 21st century, film studios started to encourage movie theaters to begin the transition from traditional film projection to digital cinema, thereby relieving studios of the burden of making all those prints.<ref name="Epstein_Page_36" />
By 2002, opening globally on the same day became more commonplace, with ''Spider-Man'' being released on 7,500 screens at 3,615 theaters in the United States and Canada<ref name="Lyman2002">{{cite web|last=Lyman|first=Rick|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2002/05/07/business/in-a-weekend-spider-man-jump-starts-the-summer.html|title=In a Weekend, 'Spider-Man' Jump-Starts The Summer|work=The New York Times|date=May 7, 2002|access-date=April 5, 2017}}</ref> and 838 prints in 18 other countries.<ref>{{cite magazine|magazine=Variety|date=May 13, 2002|page=12|title=Day-and-date strategy spins 'Spidey' success|last=Groves|first=Don}}</ref> The same month, ''Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones'' opened in 3,161 theaters in the United States and Canada, and in 73 other countries on 5,854 screens.<ref>{{cite magazine|magazine=Variety|date=May 27, 2002|page=9|title='Clones' racks up top overseas sesh|url=https://variety.com/2002/film/news/clones-racks-up-top-overseas-sesh-1117867605/|access-date=June 8, 2020|last=Groves|first=Don}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.boxofficemojo.com/release/rl2809366017/|website=Box Office Mojo|access-date=June 8, 2020|title=Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones}}</ref> In 2003, 20th Century Fox released ''X2'', the second installment of the X-Men film series, in 3,741 theaters in the United States and Canada, and in 93 markets on 7,316 screens overseas.<ref>{{cite magazine|magazine=Variety|date=May 12, 2003|page=14|title='X2' leads B.O. to second-highest sesh|url=https://variety.com/2003/film/box-office/x2-leads-b-o-to-second-highest-sesh-1117885901/|access-date=June 8, 2020|last=Groves|first=Don}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.boxofficemojo.com/release/rl1736082945/?ref_=bo_tt_gr_1|website=Box Office Mojo|access-date=June 8, 2020|title=X2: X-Men United}}</ref> Later that year, Warner Bros. released the third Matrix film, ''The Matrix Revolutions'', simultaneously in 108 territories on November 5, 2003, at 1400 Greenwich Mean Time on around 18,000 screens with 10,013 prints overseas<ref>{{cite book|first1=Dade|last1=Hayes|first2=Jonathan|last2=Bing|title=Open Wide: How Hollywood Box Office Became a National Obsession|publisher=Miramax Books|year=2004|isbn=1401352006|url=https://archive.org/details/openwidehowholly00haye|url-access=registration|pages=[https://archive.org/details/openwidehowholly00haye/page/372 372]}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine|magazine=Variety|date=November 17, 2003|page=17|title='The Matrix' Takes Over the World|url=https://variety.com/2003/film/box-office/the-matrix-takes-over-the-world-1117895724/|access-date=June 8, 2020|last=Groves|first=Don}}</ref> and in 3,502 theaters in the United States and Canada.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.boxofficemojo.com/release/rl4234380801/?ref_=bo_gr_rls|website=Box Office Mojo|access-date=June 8, 2020|title=The Matrix Revolutions}}</ref>
In 2004, ''Shrek 2'' became the first film to open in over 4,000 theaters in the United States and Canada.<ref name=shrek2>{{cite web|title=News, May 21: "Shrek 2" Hits Record Number of Theaters, Vincent Gallo's "Bunny" Comes to U.S., Online Bets Taken on Celeb Poker Players, More...|url=http://www.hollywood.com/news/brief/1753696/news-may-21-shrek-2-hits-record-number-of-theaters-vincent-gallo-s-bunny-comes-to-u-s-online-bets-taken-on-celeb-poker-players-more|publisher=Hollywood.com|access-date=March 31, 2014|date=May 11, 2009|archive-date=March 31, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140331133624/http://www.hollywood.com/news/brief/1753696/news-may-21-shrek-2-hits-record-number-of-theaters-vincent-gallo-s-bunny-comes-to-u-s-online-bets-taken-on-celeb-poker-players-more|url-status=dead}}</ref> By 2005, 55 films were released on more than 3,000 screens in the year, while the average opening theater count was 2,591.<ref>{{cite magazine|magazine=The Hollywood Reporter|date=January 3, 2006|page=84|title=trends at a glance}}</ref> In 2016, 142 films were released in more than 2,000 theaters in the United States and Canada.<ref name=hr26/> In 2019, ''The Lion King'' set the record for the widest opening in the United States and Canada, being released in 4,725 theaters before expanding two weeks later to 4,802 theaters.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.boxofficemojo.com/release/rl3321923073/weekend/?ref_=bo_rl_tab#tabs|website=Box Office Mojo|access-date=May 24, 2020|title=The Lion King}}</ref><ref name=rec>{{cite web|url=https://www.boxofficemojo.com/charts/misc/?ref_=bo_nb_cso_secondarytab|website=Box Office Mojo|access-date=May 24, 2020|title=All Time Charts: Miscellaneous Records}}</ref> In 2019, 120 films released in the United States and Canada played in 2,000 theaters or more however, following the COVID-19 pandemic, the number reduced to 34 in 2020.<ref>{{cite magazine|magazine=The Hollywood Reporter|date=December 15, 2023|page=13|last=McClintock|first=Pamela|title=See You in 2025? Box Office Might Take $2B Hit Amid Delays}}</ref> The number had increased to 112 by 2025.<ref name=hr26>{{cite magazine|magazine=The Hollywood Reporter|date=January 2, 2026|pages=6-7|title=Domestic Box Office: No Margin for Error}}</ref> ===Films released in the United States and Canada=== {| class="wikitable" ! Year|| Number of releases<ref>{{cite web|website=Box Office Mojo|url=https://www.boxofficemojo.com/year/?ref_=bo_nb_di_secondarytab|title=Domestic Yearly Box Office}}</ref> || In 2,000 theaters or more<ref name=hr26/>||Milestone |- |1984 |169 |1 |''Beverly Hills Cop'' first film shown in 2,000 theaters simultaneously<ref name=bhc/> |- |1985 |191 |1<ref name=93wide>{{cite news|newspaper=Daily Variety|date=April 12, 1994|page=21|title=Box Office News: Release patterns}}</ref> | |- |1986 |201 |2<ref name=93wide/> | |- |1987 |226 |1<ref name=93wide/> | |- |1988 |239 |3<ref name=93wide/> | |- |1989 |235 |6<ref name=93wide/> | |- |1990 |236 |14<ref name=96wide/> | |- |1991 |253 |12<ref name=93wide/> | |- |1992 |247 |17<ref name=96wide/> | |- |1993 |267 |23<ref name=96wide/> | |- |1994 |259 |33<ref name=96wide/> | |- |1995 |291 |43<ref name=96wide/> | |- |1996 |306 |67<ref name=96wide/> |''Mission: Impossible'' first film to be released in over 3,000 theaters<ref name="Thomas"/> |- |2004 |700 |TBD |''Shrek 2'' first film to open in over 4,000 theaters<ref name=shrek2/> |- |2010 |651 |121 | |- |2011 |731 |126 | |- |2012 |807 |124 | |- |2013 |826 |119 | |- |2014 |849 |112 | |- |2015 |845 |119 | |- |2016 |855 |142 | |- |2017 |854 |126 | |- |2018 |993 |117 | |- |2019 |910 |120 |''The Lion King'' released in record 4,725 theaters later expanding to record 4,802 theaters<ref name=rec/> |- |2020 |457 |34 | |- |2021 |442 |72 | |- |2022 |502 |77 | |- |2023 |592 |101 | |- |2024 |677 |94 | |- |2025 |667 |112 | |- |}
==Classification== Since 1994, a wide release in the United States and Canada has been defined by EDI as a film released in more than 600 theaters.<ref name="Box Office News: Release Patterns"/> In 1996, ''Variety'' considered a wide release as a film with 700 or more playdates or a film in the top 50 markets with at least 500 playdates. New Line distribution president Mitch Goldman called the term a misnomer as he claimed that a film needed to open in more than 800 theaters to be considered a wide release but that such a film might not even play the top cities and that a film could open in the top 50 markets with just 600 prints and be in wide release.<ref>{{cite magazine|magazine=Variety|date=January 8, 1996|page=13|last=Klady|first=Leonard|title=Pictures go wide for B.O. touchdown}}</ref>
==See also== * Art film * Film release
==References== {{Reflist}}
==Further reading== * Dade Hayes and Jonathan Bing, ''Open Wide: How Hollywood Box Office Became a National Obsession'', Miramax Books, 2004. ({{ISBN|1401352006}}) {{Filmmaking}}
Category:Films by type