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Hi. I was just wondering what exactly makes up a competitive zone and how it is determined--distance, number of people, etc.

It usually means two theatre complexes, owned by separate companies, within 5 miles of each other, competing for the same product. The distance can vary, but we have theatres as near as 8 miles that run the same films.

Although we run Art Films and all of the other theatres run commercial films, we are still in a competitive zone and must play by the rules. We are open generally the same hours as the competition. We also must follow the same rules as to when to split product. But as an Art house we frequently clear the entire county. This means if we have the film, then nobody else has the film.

Theatres that aren't in a competitive zone can sometimes get better film deals are run product for a shorter time. Also if you aren't in a competitive zone, you can run films later than the opening dates and still make money.

On average,the 5 mile number is good,but population density is very important.In heavily populated areas,3 or more theatres may play day and date,even within a five mile radius.In more sparsely populated areas,theatres 10-12 miles apart may be considered competitive.This is often negotiable,and your booker can work with distribution to determine a theatres competitive status.

So in the end, with the bookers working with the film distributors in a competitive situation, who decides what theater will get a film that they are both wanting to show?

The distributor will make the ultimate decision.If the competing theatres are comparable(gross wise,relationship-wise,etc)the guy who doesn't get the picture will usually get that distrib's next comparable title.They usually allocate in groups of 4 to six pictures,and hopefully everyone is happy.Not always tho!