A roadshow theatrical release or reserved-seat engagement is the practice of opening a film in a limited number of theaters in major cities for a specific period of time before or after the wide release of the film. Roadshows would generally mimic a live theatre production, with an upscale atmosphere, as well as somewhat higher prices than during a wide release. They were commonly used to promote major films from the 1920s–60s and build excitement.
Roadshows had a number of features that distinguished them from normal releases. An intermission was used between the two "acts" of the film, with the first act usually somewhat longer than the second. Films selected for roadshow treatment were typically longer than the usual motion picture, lasting from slightly more than two hours to four hours or more, counting the intermission. No short subjects accompanied the film, with rarely any promotional trailers. Screenings were limited to one or two a day, sold on a reserved-seat basis, and admission prices were higher than those of regular screenings. Souvenir programs containing photos from the film, photos and biographies of its cast and principal crew, and information on the film's production would be sold, occasionally along with other merchandise. Similar to touring theater productions, films would be presented in a city for a limited number of weeks before the physical filmstock was moved to another city. Finally, while not every roadshow was intended for this, roadshows sometimes acted as a predecessor to modern focus groups to measure audience reception. When this was done, audience members were encouraged to write their thoughts and feedback on cards, and producers would use the feedback and monitoring the audience to gauge which parts of the "long" version of a film should be cut for shorter runtimes during the wide release.
Roadshows were profitable and effective in the early years of cinema, when films spread by word of mouth and releases were more gradual. Societal changes in the 1960s and '70s dulled the prestige of the "event" style, however. Fewer ornate theaters in the style of movie palaces existed by the 1970s, with more movie theaters adjusting for efficient but unromantic buildings unsuitable for fancy events. Roadshows evolved into limited releases after the 1970s, as the faux live theatre appeal began to wear off and more films opted for a "blockbuster" approach of opening to as many theatres simultaneously as possible.
U.S. releases The roadshow format had been used since the days of silent films, but the rise of widescreen and stereophonic sound in the 1950s made it especially attractive to studio executives, who hoped to lure audiences away from television by presenting films in a way that an audience at that time could never hope to see at home. Possibly, the first film ever shown in a roadshow engagement was the French film Les Amours de la reine Elisabeth in America in 1912, a 53-minute motion picture, which starred stage actress Sarah Bernhardt.
Films shown in a roadshow format before 1951 included:
The Birth of a Nation (1915) Intolerance (1916) The Covered Wagon (1923) The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1923) The Ten Commandments (1923) Ben-Hur (1925) The Big Parade (1925) Wings (1927), the first Best Picture Academy Award winner The Jazz Singer (1927), the first feature length part-talkie Chicago (1927), the silent film based on the play that inspired the Kander and Ebb Broadway musical and Oscar-winning film The Broadway Melody (1929) Show Boat (1929), a part-talkie based not on the 1927 stage musical but on Edna Ferber's original novel from which the musical was adapted Hollywood Revue (1929) The Desert Song (1929) Rio Rita (1929) Paris (1929) Sally (1929) Howard Hughes' Hell's Angels (1930) The Big Trail (1930) The first starring role for John Wayne Grand Hotel (1932), winner of the Academy Award for Best Picture Strange Interlude (1932) The Kid from Spain (1932) The Sign of the Cross (1932) A Farewell to Arms (1932) Cavalcade (1933) A Midsummer Night's Dream (1935) The Great Ziegfeld (1936) In Old Chicago (1937) Lost Horizon (1937) Gone with the Wind (1939) Fantasia (1940) Best Foot Forward (1943) For Whom the Bell Tolls (1943) The Song of Bernadette (1943) This Is the Army (1943) (shown only in roadshow format on initial release) Since You Went Away (1944) Spellbound (1945) The Best Years of Our Lives (1946) Duel in the Sun (1946) Mourning Becomes Electra (1947) Joan of Arc (1948) Samson and Delilah (1949) Quo Vadis (1951). However, the theatre exhibitors of Quo Vadis took the unusual step of opening the film in two New York theatres simultaneously, where it was shown in roadshow format in one theatre, while the other one ran the nearly three-hour film in the more conventional, "continuous performances" manner.
Selected notable British releases British films that were shown as roadshow attractions in the US included: Henry V (1944 in England and 1946 in the U.S.) Hamlet (1948) The Red Shoes (1948)
Distinguishing features In a roadshow release, a large-scale epic film would open in larger cities in an engagement much like a theatrical musical, often with components such as an overture, first act, intermission, entr'acte, second act, and exit music. The overture, distinguished from the main title music, was played before the beginning of the film, while the lights were still up and the curtains were still closed. As the lights dimmed, the overture ended, the curtains opened, and the film began with its main title music and opening credits. The exit music was played after the film had ended, following the closing credits, while the auditorium lights were on and the curtains were closed. Many movie theaters until the 1980s had curtains that covered the screen, and which would open when the show actually began and close when it ended.
Some roadshow scheduling mimicked the performance schedule of live theatre such as Broadway theatre. Wednesdays, Saturdays, and Sundays would have two screenings, while during the rest of the week, the films would be shown only once a day.
Examples An early example of this form of presentation was used for Gone with the Wind (1939). Running almost four hours in length, the film was divided into the above components.
The original theatrical release of Walt Disney's Fantasia, presented in Fantasound in selected large cities in the United States, never had an overture, entr'acte, or exit music. Still, Fantasia was first released in the roadshow format, included an intermission in its first run, and was originally presented without on-screen credits to perpetuate a concert-going experience—the printed souvenir program, given out to patrons as they entered the theater, presented the film's credits.
The original New York run of the English-language film Cyrano de Bergerac (1950), starring Jose Ferrer and based on Edmond Rostand's 1897 French play, was likewise presented in a roadshow format (that is, one or two performances a day), although the film is only two hours long, was not produced on a large budget, and does not contain an intermission.
The color version of Show Boat (1951) was also shown in a roadshow format in some theaters, despite being less than two hours long, and not having an overture, intermission, entr'acte, or exit music.
1950s to 1970s From around 1952 to the early 1970s, with audiences switching to television, studios tried to entice movie audiences back to theaters by making widescreen epics and using the "roadshow" means of presentation and promotion. Films shot in three dimensions were sometimes also shown in a roadshow format with intermission, regardless of actual length, as well as many films shot in widescreen processes, such as CinemaScope, Todd-AO, MGM Camera 65, and Super Panavision 70, and films that were blown up to 70 from the 35 mm negative. As a result, an avalanche of roadshow films occurred during those decades, often more than one in a year.
Among them were:
This Is Cinerama (1952) The Robe (1953) Hondo (1953) House of Wax (1953) A Star is Born (1954) Dial M for Murder (1954) Oklahoma! (1955) Richard III (1955) East of Eden (1955) Guys and Dolls (1955) Cinerama Holiday (1955) High Society (1956) Helen of Troy (1956) War and Peace (1956) Around the World in 80 Days (1956) The Ten Commandments (1956) Seven Wonders of the World (1956) Giant (1956) (without intermission) The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957) Raintree County (1957) Search for Paradise (1957) Windjammer (1958) South Pacific (1958) South Seas Adventure (1958) The Big Country (1958) Porgy and Bess (1959) The Diary of Anne Frank (1959) Ben-Hur (1959) Sleeping Beauty (1959) (without intermission) The Alamo (1960) Spartacus (1960) Exodus (1960) Can-Can (1960) Scent of Mystery (1961) West Side Story (1961) Judgment at Nuremberg (1961) El Cid (1961) Barabbas (1961) King of Kings (1961) Lawrence of Arabia (1962) Mutiny on the Bounty (1962) The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm (1962) How the West Was Won (1962) The Longest Day (1962) It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963) The Cardinal (1963) Cleopatra (1963) 55 Days at Peking (1963) Hamlet (1964) Becket (1964) Cheyenne Autumn (1964) The Carpetbaggers (1964) Circus World (1964) My Fair Lady (1964) The Fall of the Roman Empire (1964) Mary Poppins (1964) The Sound of Music (1965) The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965) Othello (1965) Doctor Zhivago (1965) The Great Race (1965) Those Magnificent Men in their Flying Machines (1965) The Agony and the Ecstasy (1965) Battle of the Bulge (1965) Khartoum (1966) Cinerama's Russian Adventure (1966) Hawaii (1966) Is Paris Burning? (1966) The Bible: In the Beginning... (1966) The Blue Max (1966) The Sand Pebbles (1966) Grand Prix (1966) Half a Sixpence (1967) Camelot (1967) Doctor Dolittle (1967) Far from the Madding Crowd (1967) The Happiest Millionaire (1967) Thoroughly Modern Millie (1967) Ice Station Zebra (1968) The Lion in Winter (1968) 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) Oliver! (1968) Romeo and Juliet (1968) Finian's Rainbow (1968) Where Eagles Dare (1968) Star! (1968) Funny Girl (1968) The Shoes of the Fisherman (1968) Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (1968) Paint Your Wagon (1969) Sweet Charity (1969) Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1969) Hello, Dolly! (1969) Krakatoa, East of Java (1969) Marooned (1969) The Adventurers (1970) Patton (1970) Song of Norway (1970) Darling Lili (1970) Tora! Tora! Tora! (1970) Scrooge (1970) Ryan's Daughter (1970) Bedknobs and Broomsticks (1971) Fiddler on the Roof (1971) Nicholas and Alexandra (1971) Mary, Queen of Scots (1971) The Cowboys (1972) Young Winston (1972) The Great Waltz (1972) 1776 (1972) (on Laserdisc only) Man of La Mancha (1972) Jeremiah Johnson (1972) Last Tango in Paris (1973) Tom Sawyer (1973) Lost Horizon (1973) Funny Lady (1975)
Not all of these post-1951 roadshow releases were hits. Several of them, especially the musicals, were box-office flops that lost money for the studios, even if they had previously been hits as stage shows.
Some of the films, such as the Olivier Othello or the Burton Hamlet, were not intended to be box-office hits, but were created as a means to bring these productions to a wider public than could have seen them onstage, much as American Film Theatre would do in the mid-1970s.
Many of these roadshow releases, including Disney's Sleeping Beauty, were shown in six-track stereophonic sound, a then non-standard feature of motion pictures. West Side Story, although shown in 70mm and six track stereophonic sound, was shown with an intermission with all 70mm prints as well as its 70mm re-releases, but was, in most areas, shown without one in order to increase the tension in the plot—an idea recommended by the filmmakers themselves.
Some films like The Guns of Navarone (1961) were often occasionally shown as roadshows for international releases, even if they weren't intended as roadshows for domestic release.