How to Start Your Own Movie Theater | SkillsAndTech

While home theatre systems and movie streaming are convenient, they still can’t match the experience of seeing a film in a commercial theater, where the screens are bigger and the aroma of fresh popcorn fills the room. A movie theatre business can draw a variety of different customers, from couples out on a date to lone film buffs to groups such as friends or family. If you’re starting a movie theater, your business and financing plans must account for advancements in technology, legal issues, and the demands of your patrons.

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Finding and Upgrading Theaters

Building a theatre from scratch takes lots of time and money, so you might want to find an existing or old theater. Even then, you’ll likely have to modernize, especially because of the transition away from 35mm films to digital projection. The Independent Filmmaker Project reports on its website that, as of October 2012, 77% of screens in the U.S. had systems that could exhibit a digital copy. According to the IFP, a digital system at the time cost about $150,000. While digital movies have clearer sounds and visuals than their 35mm counterparts, IndieWire advises that you will need to have computer-savvy technicians on hand to deal with technical issues that come up.

Finding Movies to Show

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Find a distributor who delivers the films and, in some cases, the posters, cardboard cut-outs, and other displays that advertise the showings. Distributors hold licenses, or permissions, from the movie producers that allow you to show movies. Without a license, you may violate copyright laws and face civil penalties between $750 and $300,000, possible jail time, and criminal fines. To protect you and your patrons against bad deals in getting movies, states such as West Virginia and North Carolina prohibit distributors from forcing you to bid on movies you haven’t been given the chance to first screen. Join distributors’ mailing lists to be notified about new releases. You can also subscribe to a theatre or film trade magazine to stay abreast of releases.

To establish a specialty market

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Distributors are the traffic controllers of the movie industry—they decide when and where movies are released. Thus, your theatre may have difficulty competing with the multi-screen, larger cinemas that can attract larger crowds for first-run movies—especially those produced by the major studios and with advanced media fanfare. If you intend to compete against the multiplexes, establish yourself as the hub for second-runs, independently-produced, artistic or foreign films. You might even offer documentaries or movies that appeal to niche groups.

Pricing for Tickets and Snacks

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The Stanford Graduate School of Business suggests that you don’t shy away from high concession prices in your business plan. Lost in customer complaints about $5 popcorn or $4 candy bars is the theater’s ability to keep ticket prices relatively low. In other words, consider pricing the main product—the admission to the movie—low and the secondary products—the food and drink—high. This way, you can earn higher margins on the secondary products to help offset lower margins on the ticket price. Stanford’s graduate business school reports that movie theatres get 40 percent of their profits from concessions but only 20 percent of the gross revenues from them. Theater owners share ticket proceeds with the distributors but keep all of the concession sales.

The franchise option

Like fast food restaurants, some theatre companies grant franchises. You get to use the parent company’s name, designs, advertising resources, and price guidelines for tickets, concessions, and movies. However, starting a theatre franchise can cost north of $1 million and may require you to join an investor group. As reported by the website of the International Franchise Association, the franchise, or entry, fee for Alamo Drafthouse Cinemas is $75,000 as of 2014. Add the costs of buying land and building a theater, and the start-up price could run over $2 million.