Film Distribution

Having produced a film you need to get it into cinemas.A film distributor is company or individual responsible for releasing films to the public either theatrically or for home viewing. If a distributor is working with a theatrical exhibitor, the distributor secures a written contract stipulating the amount of the gross ticket sales to be paid to the distributor by the exhibitor. The distributor must also ensure that enough film prints are struck to service all contracted exhibitors on the contract-based opening day, ensure their physical delivery to the theater by the opening day, monitor exhibitors to make sure the film is in fact shown in the particular theatre with the minimum number of seats and show times, and ensure the prints' return to the distributor's office or other storage resource also on the contract-based return date. the distributor is responsible for ensuring a full line of film advertising material is available on each film which it believes will help the exhibitor attract the largest possible audience.
There's recently been much talk about the film release, motherhood, that has broken records for being the largest film flop ever within the film industry. this has been argued that it could have been done purposely, creating media uproar, making people want to go see it, to see whats really that bad, or it could simply be due to bad distribution. the filmw as released on one screen, in one cinema in london, the film was released the same day as the DVD release and there was  very little PR done to advertise the film.