Why is Apple changing iMovie Theater?

Hi, Edward,

I have no idea why Apple decided to remove the share-to-Theater feature. As far as I know, Apple has not provided a reason. Since the rules of this forum prohibit us from speculating on Apple's motives or reasons for its decisions, I guess we will just have to leave it at that.

However, your previously shared movies to Theater remain safe and intact. From the iMovie menu, click on Window/Go to Theater, and you will see all of your past movies that you saved to Theater. You can play them there or drag them out to your hard drive. Your other options remain as well. As you have learned, future movies can no longer be saved to Theater. While you may, if you wish, store your future movies in iCloud Photos, you needn"t do so if you would rather not. Other options would be to store them in folders on your hard drive or external drive, store them in the Photos app, or store them in You Tube or other website app or storage facility. I personally store all of my shared out movies on duplicate external drives so they are backed up.

-- Rich

You may want to check out the preview of the next version of MacOS - macOS 10.15 Catalina.

macOS Catalina - Apple

It features a new application TV, that will be the new home for all movies, as Apple says:

The Apple TV app for Mac is the new home for all your favorite movies, shows, premium channels, and — coming soon — Apple TV+. Watch everything directly in the app while you discover the best of what’s on in the Watch Now tab. You can even pick up where you left off on any screen, across all your devices. And for the first time, 4K2 and Dolby Atmos3–supported movies are available on Mac.

We will know more next fall, when Catalina will be released officially.

For the time being I would move the videos to iCloud Photos, as recommended in the iMovie help. iCloud Photos can also store videos in iCloud and iMovie can access your Photos Library.

Your old movies are exactly where they were before -- in theater. You just can't add more. Your new videos will go wherever you send them, other than Theater.

-- Rich