Working with Movie Clips and Buttons > Using actions and methods to control movie clips > Loading and unloading additional movies |  |

Loading and unloading additional movies

To play additional movies without closing the Flash Player, or to switch movies without loading another HTML page, you can use the `loadMovie` action or method. You can also use `loadMovie` to send variables to a CGI script, which generates a SWF file as its CGI output. When you load a movie, you can specify a level or movie clip target into which the movie will load. If you load a movie into a target, the loaded movie inherits the properties of the targeted movie clip. Once the movie is loaded, you can change those properties.

The `unloadMovie` action and method remove a movie previously loaded by `loadMovie`. Explicitly unloading movies with `unloadMovi`e ensures a smooth transition between movies and may decrease the memory required by the Flash Player.

Use the `loadMovie` action to do any of the following:

| Play a sequence of banner ads that are SWF files by placing a `loadMovie` action at the end of each SWF file to load the next movie.
| Develop a branching interface that lets the user choose among several different SWF files.
| Build a navigation interface with navigation controls in level 0 that load other levels. Loading levels produces smoother transitions than loading new HTML pages in a browser.