Movies Are Spending Less Time in Theaters

Christopher Nolan’s deal with Universal for “Oppenheimer” included this: The studio, a leader in early release of films to home platforms, would need to make a very big exception.

At 122 days, “Oppenheimer” had the longest theatrical window of 2023. Compared to the year’s 84 other wide releases, it was more than triple the industry average of 37 days. Universal’s second-longest window belonged to “The Super Mario Bros. Movie,” which was a bigger hit than Nolan’s film but lost theatrical exclusivity after 41 days.

Studios aren’t interested in specifics around theatrical windows — or, in offering PVOD data beyond top 10 lists that offer neither financial context nor independent verification. This is our attempt to provide a full-year view of theatrical windows, after prior surveys revealed a 30-day average for the first four months of 2023 and 40 days for early summer.

Seasonal differences can be stark; all five of this January’s releases are now on PVOD, and the month’s window average is just 22 days. And while 37 days is the 2023 average, there are significant nuances between distributors that didn’t exist pre-Covid. Today, there is no “normal.”

Below, we list nine distributors with at least two releases that opened in 1,500 theaters sorted by average window length (longest to shortest). We exclude initial limited releases; these deserve their own analysis in an overview of the specialized market, which will come…