system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
ELI5: How do theaters determine how long movies are played? Do they decide on a percentage? Do they talk with distribution companies before hand? What if the movie doesn't meet its expectations in terms of occupancy/ticket sales?
gpt
Theaters make agreements with the distributors which lay out the percentages each will get, a guaranteed number of weeks played, and if there are theaters close together there can be some bidding on exclusivity. During that agreement phase they would have to agree on what happens if a movie tanks and how bad before they can back out on the guaranteed number of weeks.