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My wife and I are dreaming about opening up a theater that closed in '91. To set us apart from the other cinemas in town we are approaching it from a "family friendly" viewpoint. The other theaters in town are either hard to get to with children, impossible for teenagers to get to on a bicycle, or just plain rough with mobs of kids (teenagers up to 30 year olds) hanging out in the parking lot causing trouble.

One idea we had was to have a room in the back of the theater where a customer with a crying baby could see the movie without disturbing the other patrons. Similar to the glass room at the back of some curches. If we go with 35mm projectors we will have to use a window to allow the mother to see the screen, but if we went with digital projectors I assume we could pull a video feed and send it to a small "home theater" type of projector for a small screen in the quiet room. The second option would cut the cost in half as I could share a quiet room between 2 screens just by switching the video input on the small projector.

Im sure there will be some contractual impediments designed to cut down on piracy, and some mechanical problems as i dont know if some digital projectors offer a "video out" port which I can hook to a smaller projector.

Can anyone shed some light or offer any advice in this area?

Thanks in advance,
Bipolarbear

"Cryrooms" used to be a fairly common practice in single screen theatres. The front (facing the screen) was usually polished plate glass with speakers inside the room and frequently a changing table and crib or two. A good idea even today especially considering your target audience. I'd skip the idea of putting a small video screen in the room as people can sit home and watch a small screen. At this point digital projectors made for theatrical use may be cost prohibitive for you and really aren't necessary. There's a ton of good used/reconditioned 35mm equipment available that will last for many years and film will be with us for many years to come. If you're planning a "family friendly" cinema be sure what you put on the screen is family friendly. In what state are you located?

We are in Louisiana, New Orleans. Thinking about cutting a single screen / 800 seat theater into 3 or 4 screen 200+ seat per screen. I'm eager to get my architect into the building to see what is possible.