Double feature

This article is about film programming. For Susan Stroman's 2004 ballet, seeDouble Feature (ballet).For the American Horror Story season, seeAmerican Horror Story: Double Feature.

A poster advertisingAmerican International Pictures' double feature ofDie, Monster, Die!andPlanet of the Vampires.

Thedouble featureis amotion pictureindustry phenomenon in which theatres would exhibit two films for the price of one, supplanting an earlier format in which the presentation of one feature film would be followed by various short subject reels.

Opera use

Opera houses staged two operas together for the sake of providing long performance for the audience. This was related to one-act or two-act short operas that were otherwise commercially hard to stage alone. A prominent example is the double-bill ofPagliacciwithCavalleria rusticanafirst staged on 22 December 1893 by theMet.The two operas have since been frequently performed as a double-bill, a pairing referred to in the operatic world colloquially as "Cav and Pag".

Origin and format

The double feature originated in the later 1930s.Though the dominant presentation model, consisting of all or some of the following, continued well into the 1940s:

• One or more live acts
• Ananimated cartoonshort subject
• One or more live-action comedy shorts
• One or more novelty shorts
• Anewsreel
• The mainfeature film

With the widespread arrival of sound film in American theaters in 1929, many independent exhibitors began dropping the then-dominant presentation model.Movie theaterssuffered a downturn in business in the early years of theGreat Depression.

Theater owners decided they could both attract more customers and save on costs if they offered two movies for the price of one. The tactic worked; audiences considered the cost of a theater ticket good value for several hours of escapist and varied entertainment and the practice became a standard pattern of programming.

In the typical 1930s double bill, the screening began with a variety program consisting oftrailers,anewsreel,a cartoon and/or a short film preceding a low-budget second feature (theB movie), followed by a short interlude. Lastly, the high-budget main feature (the A movie) ran.

Aneighborhood theatrerunning a double feature won out over a higher-priced first-run theatre with only one feature film. The major studios took note of this, and began making their own B features using the technicians and sets of the studio and featuring stars on their way up or on their way down. The major studios also madefilm seriesfeaturing recurring characters.

Although the double feature put many short comedy producers out of business, it was the primary source of revenue for smaller Hollywood studios, such asRepublicandMonogram,that specialized in B movie production.

In 1910, double features were banned in France. The ban was lifted in 1953 but with one of the features having to be more than 10 years old.

Decline

TheAstor TheatreinMelbourne,Australia has shown double features since its opening in 1936

The double feature arose partly because of a studio practice known as "block booking,"a form oftying,in which major Hollywood studios required theaters to buyB-moviesalong with the more desirable A-movies. In 1948, theU.S. Supreme Courtdecided that the practice was illegal inUnited States v. Paramount Pictures, Inc.,contributing to the end of thestudio system.

Without block booking, the studios no longer had an incentive to make their own B-features. But audiences at first-runmovie palaces,neighborhood theatres,anddrive-in theatres,still expected a program of two features. In 1948, nearly two-thirds of the movie houses in the United States were advertising double features.

Following the Supreme Court ruling of 1948, known as the Paramount Consent Decree, the source for the second feature changed.The second feature could be:

• a major studio re-release of an older feature,
• an older feature re-released from firms that specialised in acquiring and re-releasing older films such asRealartandAstor Pictures,
• a low-budget feature contracted from a smaller studio.

James H. NicholsonandSamuel Z. ArkoffformedAmerican International Picturesin the mid-1950s to produce and distribute low-budget features. They discovered exhibitors were only interested in buying their pictures as supporting features (aB-movie) at a flat rate. Once Nicholson and Arkoff combined two features into a program, sold as a double bill, with each picture given equal billing in the advertising and backed up with an explosive advertising campaign, theaters were willing to exhibit them on a percentage basis.The exhibitors may have kept a larger share of the box office than the major distributors demanded,but AIP's share of the box office was enough to keep it from going out of business.

The double bill was sold on a percentage basis and each feature was given equal billing in newspaper advertisements and promotional materials. Since the trailers and advertising promoted the two titles, exhibitors were discouraged from separating the features in the package. To distributors and exhibitors, it was a substantially different policy than the standard double feature in that it was not a top-billed A feature combined with a minor-billed support feature sold at a flat rate (aB movie).

By the mid-1960s, double features had been mostly abandoned in non–drive-ins in favor of the modern single-feature screening, in which only one feature film is exhibited. However, double bills of popular series that had previously been run as a single feature, such as theJames BondandMatt Helmseries in thesuperspygenre, and theMan with No NameandThe Strangerspaghetti Westernswere re-released together by the main studios.

The end of the first-run double feature also saw the end of continuous screenings, an exhibition policy where a theater opened at 10:30 or 11:00 AM and ran the program without breaks until 12:00 midnight. Customers bought tickets and entered the theater at any time during the program.

The Rocky Horror Picture Show,and its 1973 stage predecessorThe Rocky Horror Show,reference the practice in their opening song "Science Fiction/Double Feature" and are largely inspired by B movies presented in these showings. The movie itself was and still is often shown as a double feature withShock Treatment,a loose follow-up by the same directors.

While most cinemas have long discontinued the practice of showing the double feature, it has nostalgic appeal. TheAstor TheatreinSt. Kilda,Melbourne,Australia,established in 1936, continues the tradition of the double feature to this day. Manyrepertoryhouses continue to show two films, usually related in some way, back to back.

Short films still occasionally precede the feature presentation (Pixarfilms generally feature a short, for example), but the double feature is now effectively extinct in first-run movie theaters in the U.S.

Following the success ofWho Framed Roger Rabbit,threeRoger Rabbitcartoon shorts were created to be shown as preludes to other Disney films, in an effort to revive the viewing of cartoon shorts before major films. Only three were made and the scheme failed.

During the 1990s, manyVHScassettes that contained two films on the same tape (with the second often a sequel to the first) were described as "double features," a practice that was later extended toDVDs.

In the 21st century

The Aquariusduplextheater in Palo Alto, California, presented simultaneous viewings ofOppenheimerandBarbieon its two screens

In 2007, filmmakersQuentin TarantinoandRobert Rodriguezreleased their individual filmsPlanet TerrorandDeath Proofas a double feature under the titleGrindhouse,edited together with fakeexploitation filmtrailers and 1970s-erasnipesin order to replicate the experience of viewing a double feature in agrindhousetheater. AlthoughGrindhousereceived critical acclaim, it was a complete financial flop in the United States. The films were screened individually in international markets and on DVD.

Another recent double feature was the Duel Project, when Japanese directorsRyuhei KitamuraandYukihiko Tsutsumicreated competing films to be shown and voted on by the premier audience.

One of theMarvel Animated Features,a direct-to-video series featuresHulk vs.which is a double feature, hasHulk vs. WolverineandHulk vs. Thor.

More recently, double features of re-released popular films hit the big screen. The first was of the re-release ofToy StoryandToy Story 2that started on October 2, 2009, before the release ofToy Story 3the following year. Both films were distributed inDisney Digital 3Din select theaters.The next double feature was a re-release ofTwilightandThe Twilight Saga: New Moonon June 29, 2010, shortly before the midnight screening ofThe Twilight Saga: Eclipsein select theaters.In February 2011, it was announced that the 14thPokémonmovieVictini and the Black Hero: Zekrom and Victini and the White Hero: Reshiram,due in July, would be released as a double feature, though both films are actually "versions" of each other, with differences related to plot points and character designs varying between the version being watched.

In 2022, Russian cinema launched double features with American and Russian movies. The first film is a Hollywood blockbuster, it designated as "free pre-feature service". The second film, designated as main feature, is Russian patriotic propaganda movie orshort film(tickets are sold for it).

In 2023, many theaters began offering double features forBarbieandOppenheimeras part of the "Barbenheimer"phenomenon. The two films – which were noted for their tonal and genre contrast – were released on July 21 in the United States and several other countries.