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i just came up with a business plan yesterday, and i would like to know if this is something i could do and if so how would i go about doing it, i.e the laws required.
i would like to own a place that serves concessions and shows children's movies. they would not be new releases but movies that have already gone to dvd, especially Disney pictures on a large screen where there would be an open floor space with pillows, etc.. for the children to watch the movie. it would be concessions and a movie. having hotdog stand, popcorn station, cotton candy machine, grilled cheese, pretzels, corndogs, etc. and maybe cost $10 for 5 food tickets and the movie. I would give a half hour for eats before entering the theatre part for a screening of Cinderella, etc... So, is it lawful for me to show disney movies for profit? how about if I say I am selling the food, but the movie is free entertainment? thank you for your help with this. brandi

In a word...no. Any public performance for a film under any circumstances is subject to film rental charges. In your case, you will need to rent the film on DVD from a non-theatrical distributor, and pay for it, before you may show it.

The other word is Disney. When it comes to their classic titles for theatrical or non-theatrical, only select titles are available. And you would have to pay for a movie licensing agreement. Even by just playing a DVD that is available from the store does not give you rights to show it to the public with or without admission. Disney has sued and won many times for showings and just pictures/paintings of their copywrited works.

i figured so. what do you think about satellite television on a big screen then, and run noggin and other cartoons, movies that happen to be airing. do you think that would be a good business? i know all the sports bars and restaraunts who run tv's. just a bigger screen.

http://www.mpaa.org/piracy_other.asp

Go to the above link, it has a lot of answers to your questions. Pay attention to the "Public Performance" section for an answer to your last question above.

http://www.movlic.com/k12/schools.html

This site has a lot of info for schools and licensing.


[This message has been edited by sevstar (edited August 09, 2006).]

awesome, thank you very much!!!!

Go to the above link, it has a lot of answers to your questions. Pay attention to the "Public Performance" section for an answer to your last question above.[/B][/quote]

Directv has licensing for business/retail locations. That license allows you to play their music audio channels, and I believe certain video channels. Go to their website for futher info. I don't think that you can show movie channels.

[This message has been edited by MovieGuy (edited August 10, 2006).]

When they have those big cable pay preview events on HBO, Showtime... . The cable company here in NYC sends people around to bars and clubs to see if they are presenting the event and charging and to see if the location has a public license. No license they pull the plug.

In the bit of looking around for some answers to the Original Poster's question. MPAA for movies ASCAP and BMI for audio were easy finds for a central answer. But I never really did find a central place for Television public performance licensing.

I was in a major chain megaplex yesterday. I found it very interesting they were showing HARRY POTTER 3 in the lobby on monitors. I curiously asked the supervisor if they had paid for the rights to play that in the lobby. He said, "it's not film, it's a DVD." I suggested he look into the legality of playing movies in the lobby. Granted, most patrons don't hang out in the lobby for long periods of time, but they have tables and chairs in there.

Thoughts on that?

Unless the theatre has a video store in the lobby, my hunch would be that the chain's head office doesn't know what the manager's doing.

Most of the larger theatres around here have lobby monitors. They're all hawking current & upcoming releases and their snack bars. I've never seen them play anything else. Doesn't seem like there would be anything to gain by playing an old film in there, except maybe to alleviate staff boredom.?

www.swank.com can answer subtheatrical questions you may have. be careful of disney however. you MUST limit your sales to 250 tickest per show. disney is a real PAIN to deal with subtheatrically, i know, i've done it.

good luck