Private shows

[Mike Blakesley]

After a lot of thought, we have started doing private shows for family groups. We've always done this, but we haven't really promoted it before so it didn't happen very often. Just a quick ad on Facebook and it's taken off nicely. We've had three groups so far and we have five more booked over the holidays. The best part of it, I've found, is that people are SO excited because it makes them feel special to have the theatre all to themselves.... plus we do things like ask them if there are any trailers they want to see, and tell them they can request the volume louder or softer...anything we can do to make them feel pampered, along with feeling "safer" in this pandemic mess, not having to worry about the distancing thing.

So, anyone who hasn't done the private show thing, and if you have the time to pull it off, I'd say it's a good idea and a nice way for you to make a little money you might not otherwise make.

[Marcel Birgelen]

I guess private shows in smaller theaters will become more of the norm in the future. I don't think it will be very profitable for those stuck with huge auditoriums, as costs for cooling/heating and running the equipment will be considerable.

I don't know if you want to publicly share it, but I guess it would be interesting discussion.
What's your pricing models for private shows? And what kind of content do you offer?

[Leo Enticknap]

I'm told that Regal is doing it in these parts: $99 gets you an auditorium and the movie of your choice (assuming that it's possible to license it) for up to 20 people. I'm guessing that pricing assumes that they will make quite a bit on concessions, but it still sounds like a pretty good deal.

[Martin McCaffery]

AMC has been doing $99 rentals for awhile, also. It is my understanding, which could be wrong, that it is just for the movies they are showing, so licensing is not a problem, and I assume they still have to report their grosses to the distributor. Given the grosses I've seen locally, one or two rentals a week would shoot the film pretty close to the top of their films.

I've seen some theatres advertise "bring your own dvd- or choose from our collection." Not sure how legal that is, but I'm not going to rat anyone else under the current conditions, but I wouldn't do it without express permission from the distributors.

[Marcel Birgelen]

I've seen some theatres advertise "bring your own dvd- or choose from our collection." Not sure how legal that is, but I'm not going to rat anyone else under the current conditions, but I wouldn't do it without express permission from the distributors.

That's a pretty difficult one and a bit of a slippery slope.

Besides current COVID-19 restrictions, it's usually perfectly legal to invite a bunch of friends and watch a DVD/Blu-Ray or even streaming show or movie together. I don't think that there is any such law that specifically indicates how large this bunch of friends can be, but you generally don't invite 100 people to such an event.

Now, if one would be asking money for such an invitation, the whole thing would become a bit more slippery. I think in my current jurisdiction, this would be borderline illegal. Maybe it's not illegal if I just ask to share the costs, but if I would do this for a profit, then this would most certainly be illegal, without proper licensing of the movie to be shown.

So, now let's project this to some kind of random venue that isn't a cinema. If I would rent, let's say, a banquet hall at a local hotel and invite people there and I would play a movie during this gathering, then I guess it's still mostly legal. The hotel can just say that they simply facilitated the venue and that what happens during the actual event is the organizers responsibility. So, the burdens of the legality of showing the content would fall on me as the organizer.

But now I move this same event to a movie theater and the tone shifts automatically. A movie theater's business is showing movies. Those movies need to be licensed. So if I rent a room at a movie theater and show a bunch of people the content I've brought with me, the situation becomes somewhat different. Although the movie theater can still claim "innocence", since they just facilitated the room and the technical equipment, the slope would be much more slippery, especially if this would turn into a common business strategy.

[Leo Enticknap]

I'm pretty sure that these would count as non-theatrical screenings, as distinct from domestic viewings. For most Hollywood titles, this would mean buying a one-time, fixed price screening license from Swank (in the USA). However, it may be that Regal and AMC are large enough players to have negotiated a separate deal with the studios to enable these micro-rental screenings of all the major titles in their catalogs, such that if a customer shows up with their DVD or BD, the chances are high that this title will be covered by one of these deals.

[Bob Piechota]

Theaters cannot book thru swank, How Regal AMC etc can offer such a wide selection is beyond me, other wise 100 to 300 for a 1 shot deal using a DVD for 100.00 does not add up

[Sean Falk]

We've been doing rentals of our 20 seat theater for $100 for anything we currently have, usually 3-4 movies, and ~$250 and at least a weeks notice if they want something specific that we can book.
It's been pretty useful since we can feasibly only fit 10 people into that theatre normally given restrictions in our county

Edit: I actually had someone have me kill the sound at the end of Christmas Vacation last night so they could propose last night

[Marcel Birgelen]

I'm pretty sure that these would count as non-theatrical screenings, as distinct from domestic viewings. For most Hollywood titles, this would mean buying a one-time, fixed price screening license from Swank (in the USA). However, it may be that Regal and AMC are large enough players to have negotiated a separate deal with the studios to enable these micro-rental screenings of all the major titles in their catalogs, such that if a customer shows up with their DVD or BD, the chances are high that this title will be covered by one of these deals.

Swank may be one licensing opportunity, if they allow theaters to book it. I thought they do have a non-compete clause with the normal theater market, but maybe they're ways around it.

I have used Swank before, as they're internationally active, but it's a very inflexible process, much like dealing with a booker: You need to request a quote and they'll send you an offer. Maybe they have other licensing models, where you can report "after the fact", otherwise it will be close to useless for private shows.

[Paul Finn]

I have been told Swank has been given the distributorship for Fox and Disney archival titles. In connection with that arrangement, a "Hocus Pocus" DCP hard drive for one show just recently was supplied along with a $185 shipping costs billing for the three pound package. Are we back to the film print shipping cost days now? Have others here recently had similar experience with Swank?

[Darryl Spicer]

I'm told that Regal is doing it in these parts: $99

Unless there are Regal theatres open somewhere, it is not them. It is Cinemark though. We have been doing them since late summer.