How to ACTUALLY open a movie theater

Keeping the Movies Downtown
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"Regardless of the trends, smaller cities and towns still feature viable downtown theatres that provide gathering places and centers of affordable entertainment for all ages. These theatres range from long-running single-screen theatres and newer multiplexes, to non-profit or cooperative theatres and even city-run movie houses. Below are examples of successful theatres in small city downtowns employing a variety of strategies to keep the movie house lights on."

A lot of people end up at this site because they are interested in opening movie theaters in their town and want some guidance about how to get started. Well, I've been writing this blog for a long time and I figured it was about time that I actuall did some of the research (alluded to in the title) and found out some of what the people want. While I was reading through the archives of the great community over at bigscreenbiz.com I found a great post that covers basic ideas for how a "normal" individual can generate enough capital to get a theater off the ground. The possibilities/suggestions range from. The ideas that are covered range from strategies on just plain saving money to the more nuanced ideas about leasing to own vs buying theater properties outright, or trying to use historical site provisions or community support in aiding your cause.

And then I ran into an even more incredible resource. A University of Wisconsin graduate student working on a collaborative project involving "downtown" businesses developed a toolkit that outlines how one might assess the viability of a downtown theater in a specific area. So if you're interested in building a movie theater in your town, all you need to do is do the research, plug in your findings and you're halfway to a business plan!

If you want to open a movie theater, here is where you should start