We rely on revenues from mainstream films to fund our charitable programs. But this presents a dilemma. Film studios dictate how long we must keep a film on our screen and often prevent us from scheduling any other activity in our theatre during the film’s run. The run could last 3-4 weeks, which is an unworkable timeframe.
Here’s why:
Mission
Stringencies from large studios mean disrupting our regularly scheduled diverse programming like our Thursday night art and independent films and restrict our ability to offer community rentals. We have to make a difficult choice between the revenues we rely on from the big films vs the demand for independent titles and other charitable programming.
Money
If a long run film does not do well in the box office, our net revenue suffers greatly, because we can’t show anything else during this time. Despite careful spending for the last three years, we have run an operating deficit and expect that to continue until we can add more spaces.
Dividing our auditorium into three theatre spaces solves the problem. It gives us the means to simultaneously screen mainstream and independent films and live community events, ensuring we deliver on both mission and money.