Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: How much does it cost to outfit a booth?

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Posted by Randy Stankey (Member # 64) on 04-13-2004, 04:42 PM:

I got a call from a guy I know. He is thinking about opening a theater. He has an empty building. It can either be a 2-screen or a 4-screen, depending on how it's remodeled. The main factor in deciding on 2-screen or 4-screen is how much it costs to outfit the booth.

I figure it's going to be around $45,000 to outfit a booth with all new equipment. If he wants to go with used and/or cheaper stuff, he can get away with, maybe $20,000 per booth.

How close do you think I am on these numbers?

Posted by Richard Fowler (Member # 893) on 04-13-2004, 06:04 PM:

Numbers are numbers...how big is the image...size of room. At least you are in the right direction. I recently talked to someone with a budget in the low teens for a triple [Roll Eyes]

Posted by Bill Enos (Member # 440) on 04-13-2004, 06:23 PM:

A friend in '93 bought a Brenkert projector with sound head & solar cell, flat & scope lenses, a platter brand of which has yet to be determined and an ancient xenon with used but serviceable bulb and pedestal for $1000. He told the dealer he wanted the cheapest things that would get him on the screen. The guarantee was that it would work at the moment installation was complete. The whole rig operated perfectly for more than a year and a half. He closed the theater and sold the equipment for exactly what he paid. It was a miracle, but proves that it can be done. Amps were home stereo and speakers were stuff that was abandoned by a band that had practiced there before it was evicted. Nothing was great but it was at least acceptable.

Posted by Mark Gulbrandsen (Member # 72) on 04-13-2004, 06:39 PM:

Bill,
Your entire statement is certainly a prime example of WHY theatres don't make it!!! It takes quality to sell tickets and to keep em comming back.

Mark

Posted by John Walsh (Member # 168) on 04-13-2004, 08:26 PM:

I agree with Mark completely. While most of us can appreciate a 'classic' piece of equipment that is still running after years and years, if there isn't a good picture and sound, that equipment must be fixed or removed. And 'good picture and sound' is defined by acceptable industry standards, not what some cheap owner thinks he's getting away with. I have been in theaters (that charged full price) where there was a Radio Shack amplifier and home speakers.

Randy, to answer your question you are in the right area. Our last job came to about $50,000 per screen, not including labor. This was all Kinoton PK60D's Dolby 650D's, QSC amps and JBL speakers. Don't forget though, the walls need to be designed for isolation, which is expensive, so factor that in.

Posted by Scott Norwood (Member # 30) on 04-13-2004, 09:34 PM:

Don't forget that some items (rewind bench, splicer(s), reels, MUT, etc.) can be shared among booths, so the cost per screen isn't necessary linear.

He could probably get by with used equipment and mono sound for under $5k per screen (assuming reasonable screen/auditorium sizes), particularly if he doesn't care about having identical equipment in each house, but, as others here have mentioned, that's not really a good business decision. It's sort of like building a house of cards--it will work for a while, but eventually something will fail in a catastrophic manner. No one should base a business on flaky equipment.

Posted by Mark Gulbrandsen (Member # 72) on 04-13-2004, 09:54 PM:

John,
Its funny that you should mention home speakers being used in a theatre. causes me to think back to the old days in Chicago back in the 70's's and 80's when M&R Theatres used to use Pioneer bookshelf speakers in plex's located at major sites [Eek!]

.

Chicago use to be full of old crappy projection equipment...just about everywhere. I'd want to say that either old Brenkerts held Chicago together...or that Chicago held old Brenkerts together.... perhaps both might apply there. Even some of the big old downtown theatres literally ran junk equipment. Most of those are all gone now or have been converted into live theatres or torn down.....

Mark

Posted by Randy Stankey (Member # 64) on 04-13-2004, 10:14 PM:

My idea is to build the 4-screen.

Give the "biggest" house digital surround and all the trimmings.
Give the rest analog stereo surround.
If necessary, give the smaller house(s) stereo w/o surround or even mono but still pull all the wires so that more speakers can be added later.

I don't know the full layout of the (proposed) building but it may have to have two booths on different levels. I was suggesting that, if the booth can't be all on one level, a seperate "film room" might be a good idea so that trailers and features can be spliced up for transfer to the platters. I did suggest that an investment in a couple of Show Shipper reels and a compliment of good film clamps would be a good idea.
I also suggested it might be a good idea to to have one booth with a two projector setup:

1) For one-offs and short features or even the occasional film fest.

2) To have a machine to cannibalize parts from if something blows up.

So, I guess all that will add another $10,000 - $15,000?

Posted by Darryl Spicer (Member # 711) on 04-13-2004, 10:48 PM:

If room allows I would probably make two houses one size and the other two another size. I would probably try and get a five deck platter system for two of the houses if the spread was not to far and there was nothing conflicting with the film paths. I would do dolby digital so you know you will have digital reguardless in that one house. Most likely the one you would want to run a festival in too. I would get a double mutt system with large capacity reels for running festival prints if two projector opperation was not possable do to budget. I would try to budget in for stereo in all auditoriums with possability of digital in the future.

Posted by Bill Enos (Member # 440) on 04-14-2004, 12:33 AM:

Mark, your comment after my last post is absolutely correct. The old Brenkert did OK but the sound was terrible, thick and muddled coming thru instrument speakers stacked behind the screen. Most of the customers were one timers.

Posted by Zach McQuaid (Member # 613) on 04-14-2004, 05:32 PM:

Awwww, come on Randy! You know that you and I could CUSTOM build this guys booth for him for a lot cheaper than that!!
Remember: Why buy one when you can buy two for twice the price?
How eleborate does he need?