The movie is in theaters/theater?

[Mobin Shabani]

Hi everyone,

I am looking for a word which is used to talk about the stage a film is in. The films are usually released at different stages (at least where I come from). So, first they are watched at the movies, then streaming platforms (in the past they were sold on DVDs). My question is how do we talk about this first stage?

Do we say something like the film is still in theaters/in theater?

 

[emsr2d2]

In the UK, we'd say a film was "on general release". That means it's being shown in multiple cinemas (note that we don't use "movie theatre" for a cinema).

Some films might be released to just one cinema franchise, in which case it's "on limited release".

Your final question includes the word "still", suggesting you want to know if it's still possible to see the film at a cinema. The answer to that would depend on the film and the cinema chain. You'd be likely to ask someone this if you're planning to go and see a film, in which case you've probably got one cinema in mind. If that's the case, you'd ask "Is [name of film] still on at [name of cinema]?"

 

[probus]

In AmE we'd use "in theaters", never "in theater".

 

[Skrej]

In AmE you could ask something like "Is [Movie Name] still in theaters?" Another, slightly more natural version would be something like "Is [Movie Name] still showing (in theaters)?"

You might hear (and I think I've even said this) "Is [Movie Name] still in theaters/the theater?"