What does it take to open a small movie theater?
ysamluvsfi asked:
We just moved to a developing community that is far away from the city and about 30 minutes from the nearest movie theater. The subject came up about the demand for a movie theater in the area. How realistic is the prospect of opening a movie theater? It doesn’t need to be huge. Just a few screens. If there is anyone who has opened their own theater, how much does it cost to do something like this?
I said it doesn’t have to be huge, meaning not a megaplex. I didn’t say it had to be small. There are plenty of smaller profitable theaters in other areas that are similar to ours.
We just moved to a developing community that is far away from the city and about 30 minutes from the nearest movie theater. The subject came up about the demand for a movie theater in the area. How realistic is the prospect of opening a movie theater? It doesn’t need to be huge. Just a few screens. If there is anyone who has opened their own theater, how much does it cost to do something like this?
I said it doesn’t have to be huge, meaning not a megaplex. I didn’t say it had to be small. There are plenty of smaller profitable theaters in other areas that are similar to ours.
Posted on July 11th, 2008 by admin
Filed under: Small Business
Small Movies? Hope you have a sense of humor.
I’ve attached a source of books on the subject.
Perhaps you could make it like a sports bar with food, as that is where is money is. Perhaps, several rooms of various sizes with tables and allow the patrons to pause and rewind the picture at will.
You’d have a selection of perhaps a few dozen current films for your customers to select from. So at say 7pm, you’d see how many wanted to watch each film. If a film was popular tonight it might be shown in several rooms while other films are not be shown at all. You’d have to keep careful track of the attendance for each film as you need to pay per person for the right to show it.
Go to your County Clerk and see if there’s any properties that were repossessed. It’s cheaper than going thru a real estate agent because all the county wants is the taxes owed on the property. But you also have to go there to register with county too. Check with Department of Health in case you’re going to be serving refreshments and see what permit(s) you’ll need.
Also go to State Comptroller’s office to register with state.
You will also need to have County Fire Marshal inspect the building for fire escapes and placement of fire extinguishers,and fire exits for the public.