Film distribution now would look alien to a cinema owner from the seventies. Back then, you'd start off with a new release in a handful of screens, with success there leading to the distributor rolling it out to more and more locations. The first movie to go against this rule was Jaws, which opened in over 450 screens across the US, but it was Star Wars (despite originally only opening in 43 screens) that popularised it. The film was so immediately popular that Fox opened it in other cinemas as fast as it could make prints for them, creating the idea that big movies would get an instant wide release. There's obviously some good for the consumer here, meaning viewers all over the world get to experience a film at the same time, but it also got rid of a key proponent of film distribution; the film having to be good. In the past, a film's financial success would depend heavily on its quality, with word of mouth one of the key marketing tools. When everything is out everywhere immediately, it can be weeks before the general public know the latest big hit is actually c**p, much too late to stop a box office success. Sure, there's critic reviews, but how many of the general audience trust critics? With tat films like After Earth now buried on opening weekend, thanks in no small part to overwhelmingly negative press on Twitter, it does now look like things are taking a bit of a turn back (The Grand Budapest Hotel is a prime example of modern slow-burn release), but there's still a lot of work to be done.
