First and Second Run Theaters: Definition for Fixed Tax Purposes

No date supplied BIR RULING NO. 004-70 First and Second Run Theaters: Definition for Fixed Tax Purposes Under Section 182(A)(3)(h) of the Tax Code, as amended by Republic Act No. 6110, operators, proprietors or lessees of theaters and cinema houses are liable for the payment of the fixed tax of P500.00 for first run and P200.00 for second run. "First run" is the first showing of a motion picture. William Goldman Theaters vs. Loew's, Inc., C.C.A. Pa., 150 F. 2d 738, 741. "First runs" of a moving picture are the first exhibitions of the picture in a certain area. Fanchen & Marco v. Paramount Pictures, D.C. Cal., 100 F. Supp 84, 89. Runs are successive exhibitions of a feature in a given area, "First run" being the first exhibition in that area, second run being the next subsequent, and so on. Theatre Enterprises, Inc. v. Paramount Film Distributing Corp., Md., 74 S. Ct. 257, 259, 346 U.S. 537, 98 L. Ed. 273. (See Words and Phrases, Perm. Ed. Vol. 17, 1958 Cumulative Annual Pocket Part p. 21). cdtech Under the foregoing definition, it follows that "a first run theatre is one in which a picture is first exhibited in any given locality. A subsequent-run theatre is one in which there is a subsequent exhibition of the same picture in the same locality." (Interstate Circuit v. United States Tax., 59 S. Ct. 467, 475, 306 U.S. 208, 83 L. Ed.) In other words, the question as to whether a theatre is a first run or a second run theatre depends on whether or not pictures are first exhibited in it in the locality where the theatre is located. Thus, a first-run theatre in a certain locality is one which first exhibits pictures in the said locality. A second run theatre in the said locality is one which subsequently exhibits the same pictures already exhibited by the first run theatre in the same locality. If the same pictures already exhibited in the said locality are thereafter first exhibited by a theatre in another locality said theatre in the latter locality is nevertheless, considered a first run theatre therein.