Discount theater

Therefore, the film's quality was significantly lower because the release print was worn out from dozens of showings, and the potential audience for the film would be smaller since it had been already released weeks or months before (meaning that most people who wanted to see the film would already have done so at a first-run theater).

Discount theaters were prevalent in the era before home video.

They were able to remain financially viable for most of the VHS era, since the fuzzy images played back onto relatively small CRT televisions from videocassettes simply could not come close to the sharp resolution of images projected inside a movie theater from 35 mm film.

For example, six months after its original theatrical release, Titanic was playing in budget theaters in still viable but well-run prints.

Many discount theaters have been driven out of business by an oversupply of new movie screens (in the form of multiplexes), which has allowed films to stay longer in first-run theaters; a drastically shortened delay between theatrical and home video releases (culminating in simultaneous releases); and dramatic improvements in home video and television technology resulting in much sharper and larger images.