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This topic comprises 4 pages: 1 2 3 4
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Topic: How do you buy a movie theater and get into business on your own?
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Michael Riley
Film Handler
Posts: 52
From: New Jersey
Registered: Apr 2010
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posted 11-22-2010 11:13 AM
Movie theaters inside of malls are a huge money pit, and I don't think I've ever seen one that was able to successfully turn a profit. A few factors that contribute to this:
The rent on mall space tends to be very high even for a small retail store, but for a movie theater, you're talking astronomical, in the range of six figures a month. This alone is a deep enough hole that even the big chains can't dig out of.
Mall landlords are amongst the worst I've ever delt with. They have no problem at all telling you how to run your business, but whenever they cause problems for you, they will drag their feet for months.
Most malls have food courts, soda machines, and dollar stores with candy that will kill your concession stand. People will bring in outside food and drink, and there won't be much you can do to stop it.
The clientele at malls are the worst kind for theater business. Mostly rowdy kids that get dropped off by their parents, and only have enough money for their one movie that they don't even want to see and will spend the entire show talking, texting, or disturbing other people that actually want to watch the film. This in turn drive away the customers that actually have money to spend, but don't want to go to your theater and deal with the riff raff. This assumes that the kids even have money to buy a ticket in the first place. Many of them don't, and will spend the evening loitering in your lobby, trying to sneak in, and / or causing property damage. This in turn will force you to higher off duty cops for security at around $45/hr further eroding your bottom line.
Maybe I am over generalizing, but mall theaters are the pits, which is likely why the big chains stick to stand alone or strip mall buildings now.
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Bobby Henderson
"Ask me about Trajan."
Posts: 10973
From: Lawton, OK, USA
Registered: Apr 2001
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posted 11-22-2010 03:42 PM
I don't like the two interior shopping mall theaters we have in our area (the Showplex Central Mall 12 in Lawton and the Carmike Sikes 10 in Wichita Falls).
The Central Mall 12 theater has a list of problems in its structural design and equipment choices, but the teen crowd is the biggest deal breaker there.
The Sikes 10 in Wichita Falls previously had 6 screens and then was renovated in 1997. The two largest, new theaters (THX certified at the time) had practically no slope in the auditorium. The sound systems didn't sound very good either (loud but harsh and mid-rangy). The smaller auditoriums have fixed aspect ratio screens. Anything in 'scope will be missing substantial parts of the left and right ends of the image. If they did common width to fit the entire image on the screen the 'scope image would not seem much bigger than a lot of HDTV sets. With an image that tiny why bother going to the theater?
To throw in my 2¢ about alternative programming, particularly faith based movies, the Carmike location here shows such movies from time to time. Unfortunately they do not do well at all unless some sort of grass roots marketing effort takes place at local churches and elsewhere in the community. Even then, sell outs and hold-over engagements are going to be rare. Typically, those movies play 1 or 2 weeks and quietly leave.
I'm pretty sure the most successful faith oriented movie our local theaters have shown in recent decades was The Passion of the Christ. And that's one of the most gory, unsettling movies I've ever seen.
I don't agree with the notion the mass media shapes the morals of society. Real morals and more important than that: real honor is taught and instilled in the home. If the parents aren't doing their jobs well enough then others in the child's personal life will apply their influence, good or bad. Mass media only puts out what it believes the public wants to see.
We as a society ALWAYS blame our problems on external factors rather than ever own up to our own accountability for contributing to the problems and making changes to lessen the impact of those problems.
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