Roadshow theatrical release
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- For the media company in Hong Kong, see RoadShow.
The roadshow theatrical release (also commonly known as reserved seat engagement) is a practice whereas a film opens in a special limited number of theaters in large cities like Los Angeles, New York, and San Francisco for a specific period of time before it spreads to nationwide release (also known as general release and wide release).
Unlike the common modern-day limited release, roadshow films were run only once or twice a day, and were shown to audiences who had had to reserve their seats and were given or able to purchase program books, as they did with live theater productions. Road show films were nearly always shown with an intermission either halfway or two-thirds of the way into the film. Most films shown in this format were movies that were two-and-a-half hours or longer in length, and admission prices were more expensive than those films shown as regular attractions. Many of the films given roadshow releases were subsequently distributed to regular theater houses, akin to the modern standard of the limited release.
Contents |
[edit] History
[edit] Road shows from the Golden Age of Hollywood
The road show format has been used since the days of silent films, but it especially took hold between 1955 and 1972. Films shown in road show format before 1955 included the 1929 part-talkie version of Show Boat (based not on the stage musical but on Edna Ferber's original novel), the 1929 versions of The Desert Song and Rio Rita, Cecil B. DeMille's The Sign of the Cross (1932), and the classic films Gone with the Wind (1939), Fantasia (1940), and The Song of Bernadette (1943).
Large-scale epic films would open in larger cities in an engagement much like a theatrical play or musical, with components such as an Overture, the First Act, the Intermission, the Entr'acte, the Second Act, and the Exit Music, and special reserved seat admission charges. (The Overture should not be confused with the Main Title Music. The Overture was always played before the beginning of the film, while the lights were still up and the curtains were still closed. As the lights dimmed, the Overture ended, the curtains opened, and the film began with its Main Title Music and opening credits.) An early example of this was 1939's Gone with the Wind. Running almost four hours in length, the film was divided into the above components, so that the film patron can experience the film as if they were seeing an actual play in a theater. The original theatrical release of Walt Disney's Fantasia , which never did contain an Overture, Intermission Music, or Exit Music, also was released this way, and was originally presented without on-screen credits to perpetuate a concert-going experience (the lobby program presented the film's credits).
[edit] Road shows from the 1950s to the 1970s
During the 1950s and continuing through the 1970s, with the rise of television and the closing of some movie palaces, studios came up with ways to bring movie audiences back to theatres by making widescreen epics, again using the "roadshow" formula. As a result, there was an avalanche of roadshow films, among them Oklahoma! (1955), War and Peace (1956), Around the World in 80 Days (1956), The Ten Commandments (1956), The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957), Ben-Hur (1959), El Cid (1961), King of Kings (1961), Lawrence of Arabia (1962), Cleopatra (1963), My Fair Lady (1964), The Sound of Music (1965), Doctor Zhivago (1965), Camelot (film) (1967), Fiddler on the Roof (film) (1971), The Andromeda Strain (film) (1971), The Towering Inferno (1974), and many others. Nearly all of these films were shown in six-track stereophonic sound, a then-non-standard feature of motion pictures.
It was common practice in the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s, however, for studios to re-edit some of these epics for general release in order for theaters to book more showings a day and present the film at reduced "popular prices". Sometimes this was done to a successful film, but more often to one that had been a notable flop. As a result, some of these films have not been seen in their entirety since their first release, as the original edited footage is either missing or no longer exists. With the work of film preservation and restoration, such films as A Midsummer Night's Dream (1935 film), Fantasia, For Whom the Bell Tolls (film), the 1948 version of Joan of Arc (with no overture, intermission, or exit music), Lawrence of Arabia, and Around the World in Eighty Days have been restored in recent years to match the filmmakers' original intent. However, several extremely popular long films, such as Gone With the Wind and The Ten Commandments, have never been released in edited form.
[edit] The rise of the limited release
The practice began dying out in the 1970s. Francis Ford Coppola's Oscar-winning epics The Godfather (1972) and The Godfather Part II (1974), for instance, were shown without intermissions despite their extreme length. Many films made in the various widescreen processes, such as Cinerama and Todd-AO, were given road show presentations. For over three decades, the last film release to officially receive a "roadshow/reserved seat engagement" was the 1972 film version of Man of La Mancha, although it was made to be shown without an intermission.
By the 1980s the practice had largely been abandoned, as the rise of the multiplex and competition from cable TV and home video began forcing changes in the nature of film industry. The 1984 film Amadeus, for example, although nearly three hours long, was not shown in a road show format, while 1982's Gandhi was. The latest film to be shown with an intermission was Kenneth Branagh's four-hour 70mm version of the complete Hamlet (1996), but it was not shown in a strict road show format - performances were not limited to two per day, and seats were not reserved. In 2006, the film adaptation of the Broadway musical Dreamgirls was given a three-theater road show release, which followed the practices of the traditional roadshow releases, save for the structure of the film itself (i.e. there was no overture or exit music, no intermission, etc.)
Today, a similar theatrical release practice of first premiering a film in larger cities is more common, mainly towards the end of the year, in order to qualify for film award consideration, including the Academy Awards. In many cases, such releases will have a better chance at being nominated for the Oscar. Such recent films that have gone the limited release route include 2004's Million Dollar Baby and The Aviator, which eventually opened wide.
