Difference between "movie", "film" and "motion picture"

Solution 1:

Movies is probably more common in AE and films more common in BE, pictures is common in a lot of BE dialects.

"Film" (singular) is often used in a more 'high-brow' sense, in the same way "literature" might be used instead of "books". So an arts student might study 'film' rather than 'movies'

Solution 2:

They are all synonyms, with different derivations.

Movie is short for moving picture (or motion picture which I have not heard too much), and can refer both to a single show and to the film industry (when in the plural form, the movies).

Film obviously derives from the fact that the images were/are impressed on a roll film (not for digital cameras of course).

From the OED:

movie

= moving picture; also, a moving-picture show; a cinema; pl. (freq. the movies), motion pictures as an industry, an art-form, or a form of entertainment; a cinema or a cinema-show.

film

A cinematographic representation of a story, drama, episode, event, etc.; a cinema performance; pl. the cinema, the ‘pictures’, the movies.

motion picture

motion picture}, a ‘moving picture’; a cinema film;

Solution 3:

Maybe a bit idiosyncratic (reminiscent of "A woman is only a woman, but a good cigar is a smoke"), but I must admit that whereas mostly I just think of movie as a slightly downmarket American synonym for film, I do sometimes say...

Now that's a movie!

as distinct from a "mere" film, to describe a well-made blockbuster that I fully expect to be given the maximum 4 stars in Halliwell's Film Guide. For me this usage doesn't necessarily imply that I personally liked it better than anything I'd simply call a film - just that I think it would be more highly-rated by others in general (and probably had a huge production budget).

In terms of actual usage, here's movie premiere and film premiere over the last century, showing movie only became the more common form a decade or so ago.

Zooming in on the last 50 years of American usage... ...still shows that recent shift, whereas the same period of British usage... ...suggests Brits aren't really behind this usage yet. But we'll get there, I've no doubt.

Finally, I would just say motion picture is hopelessly dated today, on both sides of the Atlantic.

Solution 4:

What is the difference between movie, film and motion picture? In school I learned that a movie is played in a cinema, but film is also used to describe this.

The words mean the same thing. The difference, is in the use of them.

Movie/movies is an American word. Film/films is an English word, used by by British people.

However, in very recent years, the word "movie" has slowly started to be used here in the UK, as well. It is not widespread but, is used by some British people (mainly radio and TV presenters).

This thread is related and provides some more information: "Movies" vs. "Cinema" vs. "Theater" -- what's the difference?