As its name suggests, the site shies away from new releases in favor of retrospective looks at older, lesser-known films.
Since 2009, Not Coming to a Theater Near You has put on public screenings of select films at 92YTribeca in New York City.
In 2010, Film Comment, the Film Society of Lincoln Center's official journal, counted Not Coming to a Theater Near You as being among the top film criticism sites (alongside Moving Image Source, indieWIRE, Ain't It Cool News, and others), calling it "an ambitious online resource for reevaluations of forgotten and fringe cinema.
"[3] David Hudson, writing for Mubi's The Auteurs Daily, included the site on a similar best-of list.
Examples include: In a contributors' poll on the best films of the 2000s, five films received five or more votes (from a total of 14 contributors): Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, In the Mood for Love, Mulholland Drive, There Will Be Blood, and Zodiac.