Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Survey/Auditorium Rental Cost

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Posted by Joshua Lott (Member # 240) on 03-05-2003, 10:54 AM:

I am curious as to the various rental costs for auditoriums.

I am looking at about a 100 seat house. Special screening rented out to a local group. Price needs to include build up, screening, and tear town. Standard 35mm.

Thanks

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 03-05-2003, 11:59 AM:

When we do this, it's usually for a "flat" rate film. I usually take the film rental cost and triple it, and that's my rate. I'm always willing to negotiate, but most groups pay it without flinching. (If the film rental is over $200, I'll usually double it rather than tripling.)

If the group wants a private showing of a regular scheduled movie (a midnight show, or a special matinee) we just charge them the regular ticket prices, with a minimum of 30 adult tickets.

Posted by Scott Norwood (Member # 30) on 03-05-2003, 01:39 PM:

GCC used to charge the distributors $400-600 or so for rental for advance screenings, depending on the size of the auditorium. These were usually done on Saturday mornings when nothing else was running (usually 10am-12pm) or on slow nights (Tues/Wed). Obviously there was no film rental involved since the distributor was the one renting the auditorium. No idea what independents charge.

Posted by Frank Angel (Member # 248) on 03-08-2003, 01:51 AM:

We charge the distributors $700 when they want to use the theatre for sneak previews. That gets them a house crew, a projectionist and a stagehand. That's for one screening, additional screenings (with more than a half hour between), an additional $340. If they want to charge admission, we print the tickets and use an additional ticket-taker, it costs more.

Frank

Posted by Thomas Procyk (Member # 1170) on 03-08-2003, 12:42 PM:

Joshua Lott said:

quote:
I am looking at about a 100 seat house. Special screening rented out to a local group. Price needs to include build up, screening, and tear town. Standard 35mm.

Scott Norwood said:

quote:
GCC used to charge the distributors $400-600 or so for rental for advance screenings, depending on the size of the auditorium.

Frank Angel said:

quote:
We charge the distributors $700 when they want to use the theatre for sneak previews.

I'm confused! Are we talking about renting out an auditorium to a "local group" that wants a screening of a movie you are playing, a print they are providing, or a print they want to rent? Or, are we talking about renting out ("four-walling"?) a screen for a distributor's sneak preview?

=TMP=

Posted by Scott Norwood (Member # 30) on 03-08-2003, 02:58 PM:

I don't know about the others, but I was referring to a four-wall arrangement, where passes would be provided to the customers by the film distributor (usually through radio contests and other promotions) and all the theatre had to do was show the film (and keep whatever profit it made off of concession sales). This was in a multiplex environment, so there was no extra charge for projectionist and other staff, since all of those employees would be there anyway (with the exception of Saturday morning shows).

Posted by Joshua Lott (Member # 240) on 03-08-2003, 03:19 PM:

This was to a local non profit group who wanted to rent a single screen theatre for a few shows. The cost would have included the rental of a film as well.

They wanted to watch a shakespeare movie.

Posted by Joe Morris (Member # 1553) on 03-08-2003, 04:16 PM:

At our theatre, we usually try to charge what the theatre would make if it sold out for that show...if it's for 2 showings...double...so take your number of seats times admission or whatever price you wanna charge...and add $30 for make up...it usually works

Posted by Daryl C. W. O'Shea (Member # 1303) on 03-08-2003, 06:39 PM:

quote:
so take your number of seats times admission or whatever price you wanna charge...and add $30 for make up

Two seperate theatres and screens that we often rent out...

238 seats x $9.50 + $30 = $2311
508 seats x $6.00 + $30 = $3078

Yikes! I don't think anybody would pay that! Do you actually have people rent your theatres at that rate? We usually aim for about $500 or $2 / head.

Posted by Scott Norwood (Member # 30) on 03-08-2003, 07:09 PM:

I'd bill separately for film rental/shipping and theatre rental. Better yet, let the group handle film rental on its own and have them make sure that the print gets shipped to your theatre.

Theatre rental should probably depend on when the group wants to watch their film. For hours when the theatre wouldn't normally be open, $100-200 for the auditorium plus the cost of staff for the length of the show plus 1/2 hour before and after is probably reasonable. For a distributor-sponsored screening, you can probably charge more; for a church or school group, you might want to charge less (especially if you think that many will buy concession items). If they want to rent out the theatre for 7-9pm on a Saturday night, the rental would obviously be much higher, as the theatre would be giving up ticket and concession revenue from the regular show. If you will be providing a followspot, video projector, or other "non-standard" equipment (other than 35mm film projector(s), slide projector, and microphone), then you can probably charge more and add the cost of an operator.

Posted by Adam Fraser (Member # 1074) on 03-09-2003, 11:22 PM:

We usually charge $250-500 depending on the group and the movie chosen (almost always flat rate). They also pay shipping and any incidentals that may arise.

Posted by Tony Ratcliff (Member # 1196) on 03-10-2003, 05:05 PM:

We charge a minimum of $195 per auditorium ( we have two ) for 2 hours. Each additional hour is $100.

If they want to watch our current movie, we charge the minimum above OR $2 adult and $1 child, whichever is greater.

If they want to watch a movie of their choice ( assuming it is available ), we charge $195 plus all costs associated with the film - rental, shipping, buildup/teardown wage cost, etc.

We do about 10 or so rentals a year - mostly to school classes.
Comparatively it is cheap treat for the schools to give the students.

Tony R.