Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: film rental rates

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Posted by Ramin Hashemi (Member # 2694) on 06-27-2005, 05:22 PM:

How do y'all do your film rental negotiations. What is a good average rental rate for a triplex for say 2004. How much negotiations is there to be had?

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 06-27-2005, 06:54 PM:

Our booker handles that for us.

As for negotiation room: Big blockbuster movie = Almost none.

Flop movie = Some.

In my experience you'll find more flexibility in the length of your required play-time than you will in percentage terms. But this IS a different part of the country than you're in, so your mileage may vary.

Posted by Randy Stankey (Member # 64) on 06-27-2005, 09:31 PM:

Are you talking about current First-Run?

In the educational/non-profit market where films are rarely available until the First-Run is over (Right before the DVD comes out, usually) you should expect to pay about $500. Sometimes more. Sometimes less. Then you split any profits above that first $500 with the distributor. (Usually 50-50.)

If you are not talking about educational/non-profit, start at about double that and go on up.

Your mileage may vary... See official rules for full details... Void where taxed, regulated or prohibited... You must be 18 years old to play...

Posted by Adam Fraser (Member # 1074) on 06-28-2005, 12:10 AM:

Film rentals for a first run theatre average out around 50-60 % over the entire year. That includes the 70-80+% of the first week of a big film, down to 35% when a film is all but dead. It just depends on the product you decide to play and how far off break it is.

Posted by Barry Floyd (Member # 385) on 06-28-2005, 09:24 AM:

We're averaging about the same as Adam posted above, and we're a single screen drive-in in Tennessee.

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 06-28-2005, 12:18 PM:

Same here.

Posted by Ramin Hashemi (Member # 2694) on 06-28-2005, 02:34 PM:

Thanks for all the replies.

We are a triplex showing first runs only. Typically we keep movies for 2 weeks, except for the big ones, 4 weeks. We also pay the 70/60/50/30 or 60/40/40 rates. I was told that annual averages should be between 50% and 53%. Keeping in mind that 1 or 2% does make a big difference, is 50-53% a reasonable goal?

thanks

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 06-28-2005, 03:11 PM:

Small places like yours (and mine) lose the advantage of milking the movies in those fading weeks when you only pay 35%. Course, there aren't many people coming then either.

What makes up for it is when a movie becomes an unexpected big hit, then we can play it in week #4, pay a lower film rental and do really well. This last happened with "The Pacifier."

One advantage my type of theatre (a single screen) has: We don't have to play too much of the crap and can focus on the good stuff. (Well, the stuff that sells.) So for us it's "Slump? What slump?" If there's only one big hit out there, chances are that's what we're playing! [Smile]

Posted by Ramin Hashemi (Member # 2694) on 06-28-2005, 04:47 PM:

ok Mike, but how can you handle Star Wars for 4 weeks and survive the fourth week. what is your population?

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 06-28-2005, 06:51 PM:

First, we only ran SW-III for 3 weeks. The last week was about 3/4 of our average, but the first two weeks were outstanding, so it worked out OK.

We have only run a handful of movies for 3 weeks -- the last two LOTR movies, Titanic, and SW-III. Everything else we play on the break runs for two weeks, and most other movies just run for one week. We don't play every movie on the break -- just the super-hyped-blockbusters. Sometimes, as with Pacifier and Madagascar, a little delay (for word of mouth to build) helps us.

Our local town's population is about 2000 but we have a few smaller towns around us that we draw from, so our total drawing area is about 10,000.

Posted by Mike Spaeth (Member # 524) on 06-28-2005, 10:42 PM:

Our aggregate film-rental last year was 46.2%

This is quite a bit lower than industry standard for a few reasons:

14 screens, we play quite a few weeks at 35%.

Urban theatre - the film rental on pictures like Honeymooners, etc. are much lower than the norm. These are the movies that do well ... so we pay high rental on low grosses, and low rental on high grosses.

Posted by Matt Fields (Member # 3211) on 07-09-2005, 12:39 PM:

I have four screens, play first run, and paying 50.1% for the year. In my town basically everything is dead after two weeks, maybe three for a Star Wars or Longest Yard.

Posted by Ramin Hashemi (Member # 2694) on 07-17-2005, 09:58 PM:

Matt, was this a typical year for you. 50.1 is pretty good. We did this 2 years ago, but not last year.

Can booking agents be held accountable for a level of %s?

Posted by Matt Fields (Member # 3211) on 07-20-2005, 08:06 AM:

Ramin-
That is typical for my situation. I often get what my booker calls "The Small Town" deal. For example, a studio will make a two week deal at 60/40. Alot of times, I'll play the picture the third week (at 35) and get the aggregate below 50% on a new picture. In the fall when the releases aren't quite as big, I play some off the break.

A trend I have been noticing is that more and more studios are offering aggregate deals (paying the same percentage every week, for example 55%). If I think the movie is heavy up front with little legs (Harry Potter for example), I'll take that over paying 70/60/50/35.

If you don't have a booker, get one. They have inside info, can save you time, and have at least a tiny bit of bargaining power. I do believe they will pay for themselves in lower film rental, especially with the companies that still settle product after the fact.