To gain access to popular movies, early theater owners and exhibitors had to agree to rent untested or marginal films with unknown actors.This distribution technique was called

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The distribution technique described in the question - where theater owners and exhibitors had to agree to rent untested or marginal films with unknown actors in order to gain access to popular movies - is known as block booking. Block booking was widely used by movie studios during the Golden Age of Hollywood as a way to ensure that their less popular films would still be shown in theaters alongside their more popular releases. This allowed studios to profit from more films and gave theaters a steady stream of content to show.

To Gain Access to Popular Movies, Early Theater Owners and Exhibitors