I live in the Danish equivalent of Hollywood and TV production. The local movie theatre is run by volunteers, and costs about 30-50% less than what the commercial cinemas do. As far as I know, it has been community run for as long as I’ve lived here, or about 10 years.<p>You can rent a theatre for you and your friends. You can sponsor a chair and have your name on it.<p>It’s incredibly wholesome to have a Danish grandma handle the confectionary stand.<p>They typically run their movies much longer than commercial cinemas. They’re trying to maximise the revenue for each movie they pay for, I guess. This also means that even if a movie gets review bombed, we can typically still catch it for a good few weeks.<p>Given the choice, I would much rather go to a community cinema than a commercial one. Yes, the sound setup isn’t as good and the screen is a bit smaller, but the price is much more reasonable and the model is much more sustainable.
This is very timely. I took my kids to see the Dog Man movie this past weekend at a great, small, storied theater and ... we were the only ones there. Walking around inside the beautiful old building, I had a distinct feeling of being in a place that's not long for this world and it made me very sad. Hopefully this is a viable path forward for these places still clinging to life or even new ventures.<p>Not only are these cinemas priceless resources of art, culture and community but they're also natural conduits to other local businesses. After we left the theater, we walked to the ice cream shop and then to a coffee shop -- both locally owned. It really is in everyone's interest to keep these places around.<p>If you have a "local" option, even if it requires you going out of your way and past the megaplex, I would suggest making a concerted effort to support these cinemas -- in whichever form they're operating in.
Feels like COVID was the final nail in the coffin of cinemas, but phones and audience behavior had been eroding the concept for a while. Maybe they can survive better as enthusiast clubs.