In order to make a profit on movies they release, movie studios usually engage in a sometimes expensive marketing campaign to ensure that people will actually attend the movie.

Several different techniques serve this end. Trailers - assemblies of excerpts from the movie - screen prior to other movie showings. Advertisements in newspapers, on television, and movie-oriented websites can also help. More questionable practices include movie junkets, reliance on so-called quote whores and (allegedly) fake movie fan websites.

As of the year 2000, the movie industry spent around $2 billion yearly in movie marketing.