Limited Movie Theaters

nossmf

A couple months ago, my wife saw a preview for a movie which intrigued her. It said release date would be Halloween weekend. As the weekend approached, we made plans to go on a date night to see the movie.

However, the day of release came, and when we went online to find out showtimes, we discovered the movie was being released in less than half the states in the U.S., and only a handful of theaters in those states. The nearest theater showing the movie was more than an hour away from us. We decided to not go, will catch the movie when it's released to DVD and/or streaming, but I found the entire situation bizarre. I've heard of movies being released in a limited number of theaters, but always before it was to a sample audience a week before the advertised big premiere. To have this movie released in a similar manner without mentioning in the preview that viewing would be limited, how odd and disappointing to not be told in advance we may not be able to see it.

Anybody ever have a similar experience?