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My town has about 5,000 people and 24,000 people in the county with no theater. My idea is to have 3 screens, one room can fit 117 people and 2 rooms can fit 63 people. Initially I want to show movies 12 times from Wednesday thru Saturday.

The lobby area would be about 700 square foot.

Anyone in the business, does this sound good? Are the theaters large enough to handle the crowds?

The closest theater to us is a 35-40 minute drive away North or South. One theater is a 4-plex and one is a 5-plex.

Sounds fine thats a low number for population to support a 3 screen . Will make a little money for a big investment. You must be digital.

It is a marginal enterprise with that population. This must be an owner operated business and cannot succeed unless you are the operator. I would try for a 4th screen even if it had 15 seats. Will you be digital or 35 MM?

I have a question for y'all. If you can find an existing property that will work, what's wrong with a one-screen in a town like this? After all, 3 screens = 3 digital projectors, 3 times the studio requirements, etc. Please note that I used the words "existing property."

I'm assuming this would be first-run, which may or may not be the case, but would studios expect an operator to be open 7 days a week when he/she plays something on the break?

I know a lot of folks out there don't like one-screen theaters, and I know why. But...what do y'all say?

JPRM wrote:
You KNOW I favor a single-screener. I know of one in my state that runs a double first run program. They will run one in the evening then one for a matinee. They then reverse the showings for the next day. I guess that way both pics get a seven day run. I'd suggest he try some of my previously mentioned ideas too which I won't mention again as there is one guy on this site that loves to mock me for those ideas but he can look back at other posts.

How much does it cost to run a movie theater?


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