Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Re-opening an OMNI DOME CINEMA

This is topic Re-opening an OMNI DOME CINEMA in forum Large Format Forum at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.

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Posted by Paul Trimboli (Member # 1509) on 12-13-2002, 08:33 AM:

Hello

This is my first post so I will tell you a little about my self. I am 17 years old and live in Perth Western Australia. I worked at the IMAX Theatre in PERTH which closed in JUNE after being open for around a year and a half and cost 9.5million to build and set up, it went up for a couple of autions and no one bought it. Since then I have been looking into opening the OMNI dome cinema to show 35mm films. The cinema closed a month before IMAX opened and used to show 35mm films as well as 15/70 films. The sound system is still all in place, seats and most things I will need to re open it. I will be setting up the computer system for ticketing and candy bar if anything comes of my plan. I have been looking around for an older projector that I will either re build or if it is in good working order us it as is. I would be running with a MUT becuase a platter would be way too expensive. What kind of costs should I be looking at? I would be working on a fairly small budget and would be doing both managment and projection ( not at the same time) and have mangers, staff and projectinst who would be ready to work. What are your thought on my idea?

Posted by Steve Kraus (Member # 476) on 12-13-2002, 09:32 AM:

Welcome to Film-Tech.

My thinking is that if a mere platter presents a budgetary problem then it seems doubtful you are in a position to do this at all.

Posted by Joe Beres (Member # 678) on 12-13-2002, 09:39 AM:

Welcome, Paul!

What kind of theater do you plan on running? First run? How many shows a day? Of the same film?

I must agree with Steve, though. If a platter seems too far out of reach, I think that you will hit many more financial brick walls. I think your idea could have some potential, and I wish you the best of luck. Please tell us more! I think you'll find a lot of help on this website.

Posted by Adam Fraser (Member # 1074) on 12-13-2002, 09:44 AM:

9.5 million is a huge capital investment for a single person. If you are truly serious about this, it might be time to stop thinking about asthetics and little things like ticketing systems and begin making up a business plan and start doing feasibility studies. My suggestion is to find a nice little theatre that you can get a reasonable lease on, maybe with an option to buy. Over here in the U.S. you can own a decent single for under $250,000, and nicer singles or small multi's for 500,000-1,000,000 including property, plant, and equipment and usually with other businesses on the property that you will own also.

BTW: These prices are my guesses for outright purchase, leasing nothing.

Posted by Paul Cassidy (Member # 951) on 12-13-2002, 08:15 PM:

I tend to agree with the others on this , as we in Auckland lost our IMAX and with the Backing of 2 of the largest Film Operators in NZ running (Village Force and Hoyts )the Complex ,it still was not profitable and they were not able to stand the losses , start with a single or Twinn I'm sure you'll learn alot and have more fun and remember even if you had the money to buy the business outright , you still have to consider the over Heads.

Posted by Gordon McLeod (Member # 33) on 12-13-2002, 09:29 PM:

35mm on a dome usually looks pretty bad

Posted by Paul Trimboli (Member # 1509) on 12-14-2002, 01:16 AM:

Thanks for your reply. While a platter would be in easy reach of the budget I thought it may be an idea to steer clear of it and spend more money on other things. I would be a second run house showing and say opening at around 1.00pm and showing say 4 sessions a day except on weekends. I belive in having good equipment but in the end providing the picture and sound is good the public does not care. I plan on re opening the OMNI dome, NOT THE IMAX theatre! The rent at the OMNI dome is around AU $80 000 per year. I do not plan on showing 15/70 films although at some stage money allowing installing a 8/70mm projector is an idea. Gordon the picture is accpetable, I find that becuase everyone is a projectionist pretty much here that they care a great deal about distortion ect.. I belive the public don't, OMNI used to show 35mm films as well as 15/70 films and people loved it! I guess my reason for posting is to get help with writing up a bussiness plan, what kind of things I need to look out for? Do I need a years rent to start, or say half and get the rest durring the first year?

Posted by Sean McKinnon (Member # 612) on 12-14-2002, 02:05 AM:

Hi Paul,

I would suggest that you start with page one of these forums and read each and every thread that will give you the most insight. I think one common thing you will notice is that the concesus here is that wether the public cares or not you should provide the best presentation possible. Couldnt you build a flat screen in front of the dome?

Posted by Paul Trimboli (Member # 1509) on 12-14-2002, 07:14 AM:

I am all for providing the best possible presentation, the reason I said that was because I do not see that having the newest equipment will provide that. I am going to start with an older porjector and see how things go, well at least that is what I had been thinking. There was a descusion on Dome screen projection somewhere and it said that while there are focus problems it is acceptable. I had thought of hanging a flat screen in front of the dome.

Posted by Scott Norwood (Member # 30) on 12-14-2002, 09:58 AM:

Equipment costs should be minor, compared with the other costs of getting into this business. Plan on spending plenty on advertising, film guarantees, and any necessary repairs/modifications to the building. By comparison, a platter or second projector/soundhead/lamphouse (or, preferably, both) should be very cheap. If they used to show 35mm there, isn't the equipment still in place, anyway?

I've never seen 35mm projected onto a dome, but I assume that it wouldn't work very well (among other issues: how would you mask the screen for the various formats?). Consider finding a "normal" single-screen or small multiplex which is either closed or underperforming and make an offer on that instead. The Omni dome sounds like an expensive way to get into the exhibition business.

Posted by Adam Fraser (Member # 1074) on 12-14-2002, 10:21 AM:

How many people do you expect to get per year? Most single screen theatres have attendance between 35,000-100,000 depending on the market and how many shows you run per year. Then figure out ticket prices. Then assume a per-cap of about $2.00 per person. Labor costs should about $60,000 or more per year including your salary.

Here is a basic example off the top of my head if your theatre does average for a single.

Attendance 50,000 * $5.00 Ticket price -50% avg. film rental
Gross Ticket Sales= $250,000 -125,000 = $125,00 Net Ticket Sales
Gross Concession Sales= $80,000 -30% Cost= $56,000 Net Concession
Salaries And Wage Expense= ($60,000)
Maintainence Expense Yearly= ($20,000)
Rent Expense= ($80,000)
Other Expenses= ($10,000)

Start out with a rough sketch something like this by calling bookers and other theatres to find out average attendance and prices. By the end single screens wont make you rich but you will have fun. Just be careful, I think you can get into an old single or small multi for less than $80,000/yr.

these figures are in American Dollars.

Posted by Gordon McLeod (Member # 33) on 12-14-2002, 04:38 PM:

Last time I saw a 35mm film projected on a dome I walked out after 5 minuets it was sooo distorted and poorly focused

Posted by Mark Gulbrandsen (Member # 72) on 12-14-2002, 07:06 PM:

I've never seen anything on any dome system that I thought was worth the price I paid for the ticket. I try to stay away from ANY dome system! If I remember correctly there was only one 15/70 film that was "made" for the dome. Everything else also looks distorted except for the occasional fisheye shot in films dome normally.
Flat screens seem to prevail, and the real reason for dome systems in the first place is lack of space to build a flat screen, and cost considerations.
Mark @ CLACO
P.S. Heck, if they do reopen it I'd gladly loan them my Chevy demo dome film from the 1956 Auto Show!

Posted by Paul G. Thompson (Member # 655) on 12-14-2002, 08:07 PM:

I don't want to be a party pooper, but I would not touch that thing with a 12 meter pole, even if I were a billionaire. Maybe I missed something, but WHY was it closed, and WHY did it not sell?

In addition to what some of the others mentioned, I'll mention something else:

You stand a chance of losing your butt in a very short period of time.

Posted by Stephen Jones (Member # 16) on 12-14-2002, 10:37 PM:

I agree with Paul on this.You would be best looking for a more suitable site, as understand from industry people in the west that this site is to be redeveloped.I feel that you should work in the industry for sometime longer to get more experience in all areas and to get to know the industry warts and all,because these days in exhibition it is very easy to get your fingers burnt and end up broke.Some theatres in the west are struggleing.So dont be in a rush to make a commmitment at such a young age,if in a few years you still want own a cinema then look at the idea again and do your homework as it is a cutthroat industry and there are some hard players out there believe me.
Steve [Wink]

Posted by David Favel (Member # 1125) on 12-15-2002, 12:14 AM:

While some of the info in the following link will not apply, the overall concept applies to cinemas the world over. I have just used it as an add-on to my finance application. Hope it works!

http://www.bfi.org.uk/showing/development/cinemanearyou/atacinemanearyou.pdf

Posted by Brad Haven (Member # 954) on 12-15-2002, 05:45 AM:

Hi Paul T , glad to see you signed up with film-tech.

I remember seeing BASIC INSTINCT on this very screen, not a great experience, very distorted and very small in size on the large dome screen. Big sound is the only thing that this place had going for it.
This omni cinema did very poorly in the last couple of years of its era, it was the impending arrival of IMAX that forced it to close it's doors.
Paul T, keep in mind the PICADILLY cinema in the city centre (a few km's away), they do very well with second run films at extremely cheap prices, they would be hard competition!

Keep reading film-tech, i've learnt sooo much here [thumbsup]

Posted by Dennis Atkinson (Member # 345) on 12-15-2002, 07:39 AM:

The only thing I have ever seen look good on a dome is a lazer light show.

Dennis

Posted by Paul Trimboli (Member # 1509) on 12-16-2002, 07:18 AM:

Thank you everyone for your replies. First things first, the reason it closed was because it showed IMAX 15/70 films and some 35mm films. It opened in 1987 and closed in November 2000 just before its new rival was about to open, the flat screen IMAX where I worked, while IMAX could have worked in Perth a lack of advertising closed it down and so now both are closed, the IMAX theatre still has everything inside ready to go. The OMNI theatre does not have its 35mm set up nor does it have it's IMAX DOME set up anymore except for the sound system. OMNI did not go up for sale, it just went and that was the end of it, no other cinema has thought of showing 35mm films there only. It belongs to a big complex with a science centre, a large shop called Harvey Norman and some other things there which it did not have when OMNI were open so it gets many more people through the complex and past the entrance to the OMNI theatre! Brad Haven was the movie you saw at the dome cinema scope or normal wide screen? The Piccadilly is a great theatre and I would not want to be there competition and I feel both could co exist. IMAX was much much closer to the Piccadilly the OMNI is, IMAX was just over the train station and you were there. There are lens available for showing 35mm film on a dome with little distortion, well that is what I read on the 15/70 forum, also they said there were projectors that have air jets to bend the film in the gate so it is distorted before it hits the screen. What is wrong with hanging a flat screen inside the dome? Let me say I have never had the idea that by getting into such a business to become rich! I just have always wanted to own a cinema and this is really the only chance as there are very few cinema that have closed that are still there, most have been turned into other things. The OMNI dome is a very modern looking building that can be seen from a long way away and is a big landmark that everyone knows what it is (a lot of people think it is still open) the top of the OMNI part of the building has a dome made of a metal frame with lights that do all special effects and can be seen from a long way away. Here is a picture, scroll down until you get to Perth Western Australia- http://www.cinematour.com/location/australia/wa/locwa.htm

Posted by Paul Trimboli (Member # 1509) on 12-16-2002, 07:30 AM:

Hmm just reading back over everyones posts, costs are high. The reason I posted was to get an idea on what people thought, it is just an idea and ntohing has really be done other then just talking to people and learning all I can, so my guess is nothing will come of my idea, while I would love it too, it probably won't, well at least not for a good while!

Posted by Gordon McLeod (Member # 33) on 12-16-2002, 03:06 PM:

Never heard of any sucessfull lens for reducing the distortion on a dome. Also never heard of airjets for correction of distortion

Posted by Paul Trimboli (Member # 1509) on 12-17-2002, 07:03 AM:

As I keep asking, what is wrong with hanging a normal flat screen inside the dome? I know there would be keystone distortion, but can't that be fixed?