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Schism213 t1_iybemjw wrote

Fathom Events is a scourge. Now that they have this locked up in an exclusive agreement for a few years, local single screen theatres can't book this classic. The single screen I'm at always has this play Saturday and Sunday morning on Thanksgiving weekend. Not this year though. A Christmas Story will also be locked into an exclusive agreement soon as well.

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JLDZYV t1_iybhyqz wrote

You sure? IAWL actually fell into the public domain decades ago because the studio forget to renew the copyright. Then because it was public domain, TV stations started playing it every year, bringing it back from obscurity and making it a popular classic.

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Schism213 t1_iybiiqs wrote

We’ve always booked through Paramount and this year was told we had access through November 14 as it was being pulled that day.

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kpt_graubrot t1_iyco574 wrote

Wasn't it then discovered that the short story the movie was based on was still under copyright?

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crystalistwo t1_iycrun2 wrote

If I remember, I think Universal discovered they owned music in the movie that's still under copyright, so the movie's not public domain anymore. It'll be public domain in 19 years.

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MovieNachos t1_iyf3lpu wrote

Ohhh so this is why I can't find it playing anywhere. My wife and I would see this every Christmas at our local small theater and suddenly it's impossible to find showtimes anywhere other than these two dates.

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georgeststgeegland t1_iyf649l wrote

This is one of TCM's classics on the big screens. They've done To Kill a Mockingbird, Casablanca, In the Heat of the Night, Smoky and the Bandit...and others I can't remember in the past year. At least we have a national release for any classic movie. They are few and far between. If you don't have an arthouse theatre in your city this is your only chance to see a classic in a theatre.

No idea if fathom is evil or if this means they have an exclusive agreement.

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