This literally happened for me with the movie(s) Wicked. I didn’t watch the first part just to have it end half way through the story and be told to wait until next year. Then the second half comes out, and after the opening weekend where a couple downtown theatres had busy double feature special events, Part 1 was playing in theatres literally nowhere in my city. And no way I’m signing my life away for Bezos BS just to watch this. (Does a stream even earn the movie studio anything significant? The theatres get nothing…)

I only bought a ticket to watch Part 2 because I viewed Part 1 by other means. The theatres missed out on an opportunity for me to watch the first one in succession with the second. And if I didn’t watch the first, then I wouldn’t have watched it at all and the theatres and publishers would have missed out on a sale.

If the copyright industry calls missed sales “stealing”, the theatres and publishing licensors steal from themselves by making it difficult to view the full story.