This is topic What Does a Movie Theatre Cost? in forum Film Handlers' Forum at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.


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Posted by Ian Price (Member # 14) on 02-24-2000, 02:25 AM:
 
So Mike writes, "ithink you are the guy on the forum that is an independent theatre owner, right? if so, about how much does it cost to start a theatre, from scratch?
obviously there are different factors at work, such as land, rent etc. i am
interested in opening one here in Arizona, and right now im doing my
preliminary work trying to figure out costs. any help would be much
appreiciated."

I thought I would tell you all how much it cost. You have to tell your landlord, banker, broker, and all the film companies how much money you have and how you plan to spend it. I thought we might as well print up flyers and hand them out to the public as they buy tickets. Perhaps that will shut them up about "Tightwad Tuesday", apparently an institution in this town, that we will not be following.

Opening a movie theatre seems to be a capital-intensive business. We
gathered money from our friends and family to get in to this enterprise.

We spent.

$2,000 for research before we found our theatre.
$5,000 to professionally clean the theatre before we opened.
$15,000 for professional services before we opened. Lawyers, Publicity,
Graphic Designer, Professional advice.
$20,000 to the former operator for the concession stand.
$100,000 to the former operator for the booth equipment, seats, screens,
masking, and other fittings and fixtures.
$30,000 to repair the projection equipment.
$50,000 for future projection equipment upgrades.
$50,000 to keep on hand for film advances and the like.

$222,000 Total.

We raised $160,000 to start with. We then got a line of credit with the bank
for another $100,000. We spend a little more than $11,000 per month for our
Lease. And yes we expect to turn a profit.

I figured it out yesterday, that we are paying ourselves the equivalent of
$6.78 per hour. We work 7 days per week for 12 hours per day.

You will want to read the Rich Peterson Papers on the Delphi forum.
http://www.delphi.com/exhibitor/messages/?ctx=1&msg=505%2E1

I hope this helps one way or the other.

Ian


 


Posted by Mark Gulbrandsen (Member # 72) on 02-24-2000, 11:01 AM:
 
Ian,
This is for how many screens????????
Wow! Who is your equipment dealer????? If this was only for 1 or 2 screens he must be driving a new Caddy!
Mark
 
Posted by Ian Price (Member # 14) on 02-24-2000, 02:23 PM:
 
Thanks for asking Mark. We have a fabulous Five-Plex.

We had budgeted $5,000 per screen for fix-up. It ran a little higher because they hadn't taken care of the place for a while.
 


Posted by Ian Price (Member # 14) on 02-24-2000, 04:30 PM:
 
sometimes there are unexpected expenses when opening a new business. The Ian Green Egg is no more. Today I totaled my car. Don't worry, I am alright. No one was hurt.

I was traveling East on State 12 and looking at the houses on the side of the road. I guess I didn't see a red light. The fellow in the opposite turn lane, turned in front of me and I hit him in the right rear tire. I must have been going 45 or 50 MPH. Everything from the rear of the car ended up in the front of the car. The hood was smashed in like a pug dog's face. I don't even know if I hit the brakes.

When I bought the car, Consumer Reports gave it a high crash test rating, which I thought I wouldn't test. I was always unhappy about the seatbelts because they didn't fit very well. I can tell you that Consumer Reports was right and the seatbelts worked as advertised. I got a great wallop to the chest but that was all.

So now I am living in a strange city, homeless and in need of a new car. I hope that is all. The good news is that my Colorado Auto Insurance hadn't lapsed yet. I don't have collision but at least I don't have to buy the other fellow and his lawyer a new car.

The Plymouth Colt Vista was the perfect car for me for 8 years. It was small enough, cheap enough, got good gas mileage and never gave me much trouble. I only got 85,000 miles out of it, I was going for 100,000.

Now I am looking for a V6, with cruse control and obstacle avoidance, and it has to cost around $5,000. Meanwhile I think I will get the bicycle out of storage.

Once again, I am fine. There are no injuries. Just to my pride, self respect, insurance rating and my faithful car.

Ian


 


Posted by Jason Burroughs (Member # 68) on 02-24-2000, 08:28 PM:
 
Ian,

Glad to hear you're OK. Good luck on finding new tranportation.
 






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