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Is this suicide or possible. A friend of mine had wanted to do this and now the time has come that the resources are there to get this going. But with all the talk of small town theatres disappearing is this the rite thing to do.
His town has about 7,000 people with about 15,000 for the county. There is also a college and the closest theatre is about 45 minutes away. There is one theatre in town but it is a playhouse which sometimes plays a classic film.
There is a shopping center and across the street is a vacant commercial piece of land for sale. Were interested in building a 4 screen and of course go digital and have stadium seating!
With those population numbers what would be good numbers for the auditoriums! Also would 4 screens be to much! There is a 1,2 or 4 acre lot!
What would be a ball park figure for this?

Jacker,

I do not care for those population numbers. Based on theaters that I have looked at, that population would generate about $200-250,000 in ticket sales on average. A brand new theater that size could easily run you $1 million not including digital equipment.

I like the 45 mins to competition. Look for populations a min. of 25,000 for a 4 screen and up and I would not even consider building a new theater with fewer than 4 screens.