block booking

American  

noun

1. a practice among motion-picture distributors of contracting with an exhibitor to show a predetermined series of films.

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Etymology

Origin of block booking

First recorded in 1920–25

Example Sentences

And when a major venue announces its next block booking, what do we call it?

From New York Times • Aug. 17, 2022

The Supreme Court outlawed block booking in 1948’s United States v.

From Slate • Jul. 14, 2017

Cinema’s biggest names are coming and, as they do every year, they’re block booking all the rooms.

From The Guardian • Jun. 6, 2016

Now he has a price list which includes hourly rates and a discount for block booking.

From BBC • Jan. 5, 2014

Three months ago, as chairman of the Motion Picture Research Council, President Emeritus Abbott Lawrence Lowell of Harvard signed a petition to President Roosevelt asking that the cinema code include restrictions on block booking.

From Time Magazine Archive