Originally, film posters were produced for the exclusive use by the theaters exhibiting the film poster was created for and the copies of the posters were required to be returned to the distributor after the film left the theater. In the United States, film posters were usually returned to a nationwide operation called the National Screen Service (NSS) which printed and distributed most of the film posters for the studios between 1940 and 1984. As an economy measure, the NSS regularly recycled posters that were returned, sending them back out to be used again at another theater. During this time, a film could stay in circulation for several years and so many old film posters were badly worn before being retired into storage at an NSS warehouse. Those posters which were not returned were often thrown away by the theater owner, but some found their way into the hands of collectors.
Beginning in the 1980's the American film studios began taking over direct production and distribution of their posters from the NSS and the process of making and distributing film posters became decentralized in that country.
