I hate the phrase "only in theaters"
Every time you see it its paired with a date: "Only In Theaters September 9th". Why would they advertise that their movie is only in theaters for one day? I understand FOMO but that seems really intense.
I realize that the text is actually saying that it is running exclusively in theaters for awhile and that theater time starts on September 9th but the wording simply isn't there...
12 replies
That's not what that means. They're just specifying when it starts showing in theaters. The "only" part is to clue in the clueless that where it will not be is on TV, streaming, nor (depending on where in history we are) at your local video rental store.
Yeah I do realize that. I understand that they are saying that it is showing exclusively in theaters STARTING on that day but I only know that because I know movies and theaters and how that stuff works.
The wording is vague enough that it could easily but read the other way if you don't have preexisting context.
Not an actual complaint by any means but it was something I thought about in the shower enough that it felt worth posting.
I think you're just young and don't understand it from prior experience. Before, things pretty much only ever released exclusively in theaters. Rarely was a lower budget movie that was straight to VHS or DVD advertised even, so it was obvious that bigger better movies started their lives in theaters already. Follow up ads (or commercials rather) might be shown 4-6 months later letting anyone know who missed the theatrical release it's coming to a retailer near you in physical media form (again, VHS, DVD, and really even Blu Ray) so you could enjoy it at home. Other "subscription" services existed too in the form of premium TV channels like Home Box Office (obviously HBO) for movies, and Showtime for, well, shows...
When Netflix started to make streaming a thing, it was limited to non-new release movies (because their mail-out service was like a Blockbuster rental subscription), they rarely did TV shows, any online stuff couldn't support "Full HD" (1080p content like BD discs), and only stereo audio, to name a few.
These are some of the reasons I still mainly rely on physical media formats. I'm a sucker for quality, media preservation, and accessibility. Not worried about rights or contracts expiring and my physical discs going POOF! It's probably also why last year before I got priced out, I expanded to almost 200TB for my media server. ALL my DVDs, Blu Rays, UHD BDs, and most 3D movies and shows are copied there and then stored in the basement for safe keeping.
To clarify, I am not young. I have an extensive physical media collection, and a jellyfish setup.
This post is purely a comment on how the presentation of having "only in theaters" right before a single date could be confusing.
I didn't expect people to get upset with my silly observation of a potential miscommunication within the english language.
What do you propose as an alternate?
I think the easiest option would be to separate them from eachother. "Only in theaters" and "September 9th" as 2 separate statements would remove the ability to combine them into a single sentence.
Alternatively, adding the word "starting" between them would work or adding the word "releasing" before everything. Both would imply that the movie will be in theaters exclusively and also that itll be longer than one day.
While this whole post was intended as silly, I do think that this would help differentiate theaters runs vs the special 1 day screenings that have gotten more and more popular in recent years.
"Only in theaters" is a separate statement from "September 9th." One is stating where the movie can be seen, and the other if stating when the movie will be released. Neither is stating when or if the movie will no longer be available.
I feel like, back in the day, they used to say "in theaters September 9th," which basically meant "[this movie will be] in theaters [starting on] September 9th." But then with the rise of streaming they wanted to make clear that the movie would not be released on streaming initially, so they awkwardly tagged an "only" to the beginning of the statement. You're right that the "only" was meant to modify "in theaters," and not the date, but I don't remember that construction independently before streaming.
FOMO and hype. You go on the 9th if you want to say you saw it on release and likely to avoid spoilers. It’s not my cup of tea to do that, but those are some of the big reasons people do.
It's implied
Because of the implication
Because after that first day, pirates will have bootlegs available in places other than the theatre. 😌