I’m in northwest Illinois. We have a historic downtown that is just about empty. The only older movie house type theater was torn down about 20 yrs ago. My thinking on the size is I would rather have a smaller theater that is sold out than have more empty seats than people. I have really just begun to think about location so I am still open to any ideas.
How big of a space would you guys suggest looking for. I’m thinking between 100 and 200 seats, probably closer to 100. There is an older church for sale in a good location that would be really cool to utilize. As far as I can tell it has a 44' sanctuary, but it looks a lot longer than that to me. This sounds kind of small to me, but then again I really have no clue. I would also like to thank those of you who are offering words of encouragement, it is greatly appreciated.
Mpol, You are pretty much on my wavelength. For the 40 crowd I was thinking those movies and making it an event of sorts. I would save those for Fridays. Maybe run a Sat night double feature starting at 10 or so and have the headline movie start at midnight. Something like The Night of the Living Dead/Texas Chainsaw Massacre double feature. My main concern is how hard is it to secure these types of movie for a showing? If it’s next to impossible I’ll stop dreaming right now, but if it would be easy I’ll start looking for a location soon! I was also thinking of adding an arcade full of classic games and a pinball room. Make it all a throwback to easier times!
Our town has a population of around 26,000. The most popular thing to do is to go to the movies. I’m kind of looking to aim for the pot smoking crowd for the midnight shows, more family friendly shows during the day and filling in the middle with some good classic cinema. I think my town has the right mix of people to make this idea possible. I would keep the ticket prices low and hope for a larger crowd. I know if we had a theater that does this, I would be there. Also our theater does run midnight shows for the new releases and are always sold out, many times on multiple screens.
I’m in northwest Illinois. We have a historic downtown that is just about empty. The only older movie house type theater was torn down about 20 yrs ago. My thinking on the size is I would rather have a smaller theater that is sold out than have more empty seats than people. I have really just begun to think about location so I am still open to any ideas.
How big of a space would you guys suggest looking for. I’m thinking between 100 and 200 seats, probably closer to 100. There is an older church for sale in a good location that would be really cool to utilize. As far as I can tell it has a 44' sanctuary, but it looks a lot longer than that to me. This sounds kind of small to me, but then again I really have no clue. I would also like to thank those of you who are offering words of encouragement, it is greatly appreciated.
Mpol, You are pretty much on my wavelength. For the 40 crowd I was thinking those movies and making it an event of sorts. I would save those for Fridays. Maybe run a Sat night double feature starting at 10 or so and have the headline movie start at midnight. Something like The Night of the Living Dead/Texas Chainsaw Massacre double feature. My main concern is how hard is it to secure these types of movie for a showing? If it’s next to impossible I’ll stop dreaming right now, but if it would be easy I’ll start looking for a location soon! I was also thinking of adding an arcade full of classic games and a pinball room. Make it all a throwback to easier times!
Our town has a population of around 26,000. The most popular thing to do is to go to the movies. I’m kind of looking to aim for the pot smoking crowd for the midnight shows, more family friendly shows during the day and filling in the middle with some good classic cinema. I think my town has the right mix of people to make this idea possible. I would keep the ticket prices low and hope for a larger crowd. I know if we had a theater that does this, I would be there. Also our theater does run midnight shows for the new releases and are always sold out, many times on multiple screens.