A movie theater or movie theatre (also called a cinema, movie house, film house, film theater or picture house) is a venue, usually a building, for viewing movies (films), for entertainment.

Most but not all movie theaters are commercial operations catering to the general public, who attend by purchasing aticket. The movie is projected with a movie projector onto a large projection screen at the front of the auditorium. Most movie theaters are now equipped for digital cinema projection, removing the need to create and transport a physical film print.

In the US, theater has long been the preferred spelling, while in the UK and elsewhere it is theatre.