I do believe that this could work as a business
And I'm sure that it's execatly the type of thing that all of us would love to do. However, what you shouldn't do is underestimate the amount of effort that would be required for this. Also, as sandettie light vessel automatic kind-of said, the majority of people in their drab, dreary lives won't be too interested (unless you can do something to turn that round), and so you're probably dealing with quite a limited audience and market.

So, what does this deally mean?

Making Money:
The cinema itself is probably not going to take huge amounts of money in. On the assumption that you can't charge too premium prices (or people won't come) and/or that you don't want to fleece the customers, this means that you have to have multiple revenue streams if this is going to survive. We've spoken about things like hosting meetings, food and drink, and other things. All of this will have to be modelled in detail to understand how it will work. What's the break even point, how many bums on seats do you need, what's the margin on every piece of food and drink, how much can you afford to pay people (and yourself).

Operations:
You are going to have to know how to RUN a cinema - acquiring and booking films, showing them, booking speakers, working with suppliers, fixing projectors, getting licenses...
If you've going to be doing things like hosting meetings, parties, etc., then the business is likely to be running 12-18 hours a day, potentially 7 days a week!

Marketing:
Who's the target market and how are you going to get to them - do you know who they are? How are you going to guage the level of interest so that you don't sink your savings into this on the assumption of a certain level of demand and having it close down 3 months later?
How will you promote the business - it's essentially local, so while a web presence will be needed, you don't need the world class type of site - something charmingly local might work well!
Can you get onto local televisions, build a relationship with the local paper so that whenever they have a slow news day/week, they can come to you for a good few stories?
How WILL you get the punters through the doors - leafleting will largely be ignored, but you put a stand in the local shopping centres, libraries, etc..

People:
You'll need quite a few people to run this. Who will they be? How will you recruit them, train them and pay them? Can you fire someone if you have to? What about uniforms?

These are just a very few thoughts on the practicality of this (I'd like to expand on it, but need to go do some real work!) - and I stress that I DO think it can work. But don't underestimate the amount of time and effort you will need to put into this.

Disclaimer - I am a management consultant, and I have an MBA. Please don't hold that or some of the consultanty language above against me!
( Fireflier La la la la, not listening on, Tue 18 Aug 2009, 14:16, 2 replies, latest was 16 years ago)

i agree
youre spot on. I wouldnt undersestimate this and it would probably take over my life. But at the moment that would be a good thing, need a good project.
( I have run out of coke is a little sweaty, Tue 18 Aug 2009, 14:40, Reply)

For hiring people
is there a local film school (or does the local college/uni offer film studies), where you could get students from, to work as ushers/box office/popcorn distributors? You could offer them a free cinema pass (monthly, not for one show) in return for a certain number of volunteer shifts. For marketing - would there be students who'd be happy to work for free, in exchange for getting really good work experience and references?

EDIT - this was meant to be a reply to Coke, sorry!
(The Empress it seems you CAN polish a turd!, Tue 18 Aug 2009, 16:51, Reply)