# Information on how many THEATERS a movie is playing in?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/information-on-how-many-theaters-a-movie-is-playing-in/565715>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [December 29, 2010, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/information-on-how-many-theaters-a-movie-is-playing-in/565715 "2010-12-29T17:07:25Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![obfusciatrist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/4af34b/32.png) [@obfusciatrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/obfusciatrist)\
**Post date:** [December 29, 2010, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/information-on-how-many-theaters-a-movie-is-playing-in/565715/1 "2010-12-29T17:07:25Z")

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I know where I can find information on how many screens a movie is playing on, but in this day of multiplexes and projecting the same movie in multiples theaters that generally represents a much small number of movie theaters.

Does anybody know if there is anywhere I can find out how many actual theaters a movie is playing in?

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**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\
**Post date:** [December 29, 2010, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/information-on-how-many-theaters-a-movie-is-playing-in/565715/2 "2010-12-29T17:20:48Z")

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[www.the-numbers.com](http://www.the-numbers.com/features/TCountAll.php) has a theater count on all their stats. I assume they don’t mean screens.

Great site for us movie nerds.

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**Author:** ![obfusciatrist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/4af34b/32.png) [@obfusciatrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/obfusciatrist)\
**Post date:** [December 29, 2010, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/information-on-how-many-theaters-a-movie-is-playing-in/565715/3 "2010-12-29T17:28:11Z")

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No, that’s screens (though they do label it theaters).

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**Author:** ![obfusciatrist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/4af34b/32.png) [@obfusciatrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/obfusciatrist)\
**Post date:** [December 29, 2010, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/information-on-how-many-theaters-a-movie-is-playing-in/565715/4 "2010-12-29T17:29:15Z")

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Though maybe I’m wrong, and when Box Office Mojo says TRON is on 3,451 screens (the same number as at [the-numbers.com](http://the-numbers.com)) they mean theaters ignoring whether a “theater” is actually showing it on 5 screens or just one.

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**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\
**Post date:** [December 29, 2010, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/information-on-how-many-theaters-a-movie-is-playing-in/565715/5 "2010-12-29T17:50:36Z")

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I think it’s theaters because the [National Association of Theater Owners](http://www.natoonline.org/statisticsscreens.htm) list over 38,000 screens at the end of 2009, far more than the number of active theaters listed at the-numbers.

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**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\
**Post date:** [December 29, 2010, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/information-on-how-many-theaters-a-movie-is-playing-in/565715/6 "2010-12-29T17:56:37Z")

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Although now on that site I see there are only 5,500 [cinema sites in the US](http://www.natoonline.org/statisticssites.htm).