movie theater vs theater

movie theater and theater both are nouns.

Word	Noun	Adjective	Verb	Adverb
movie theater	Yes	No	No	No
theater	Yes	No	No	No

As nouns, theater is a hypernym of movie theater; that is, theater is a word with a broader meaning than movie theater:

movie theater: a theater where films are shown
theater: a building where theatrical performances or motion-picture shows can be presented

Other hypernyms of movie theater include house, theatre.

movie theater (noun)	theater (noun)
a theater where films are shown	a building where theatrical performances or motion-picture shows can be presented
	the art of writing and producing plays
	a region in which active military operations are in progress