Why is the year in which a film is made credited in Roman numerals?

Answer 1

Wikipedia had the best answer to your question - it reads as follows:
"The film industry has used them (Roman numerals) perhaps since its inception to denote the year a film was made, so that it could be redistributed later, either locally or to a foreign country, without making it immediately clear to viewers what the actual date was. This became more useful when films were broadcast on television to partially conceal the age of films. From this came the policy of the broadcasting industry, including the BBC, to use them to denote the year in which a television program was made. (The Australian Broadcasting Corporation has largely stopped this practice, but still occasionally lapses.)"

I'm glad you posted this question - it's one of those things you think about but never really stop to take the time to figure out. Thanks!

Answer 2

Cinecitta Studios in Rome, Italy
were the first to put the year of
the movie in Roman Numerals
and the industry just follow them

Answer 3

I think that is done to make it difficult for the viewer to figure out when it was made! Well that is easy to do now. Just go to the Internet Movie Database www.imdb.com and plug in the name of the movie in quesiton. The date of release is right there. Many movies are in production a good two years prior to release.

Answer 4

A throwback to earlier times when we were still under European influences....I like it though; challenges me to remember my childhood studies; Didn't you have to learn your Roman numerals?