Wide release is a term in the American motion picture industry for a motion picture that is playing nationally (as opposed to a few cinemas in cities such as New York and Los Angeles). Specifically, a movie is considered to be in wide release when it is on 600 screens or more in the United States and Canada.^[1]

In the US films holding an NC-17 rating almost never have a wide release with Showgirls being the only such film to do so.

The term is sometimes used informally in relative terms. For example, a documentary or art film promoter might speak of a film expanding from a few New York and Los Angeles screens to cinemas in major cities across the U.S. as moving into "wide release" even though it might be playing on single screens in as few as 15 or 20 major cities.

[edit] See also

• Film release
• Limited release
• Art film

[edit] References

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