07/10/2026
I just had a very, let's call it enlightening, conversation with someone on the phone. He said my movie selection sucks. He did not like that I'm playing so many kids movies. So I just want to inform everyone on how difficult it is to work with movie studios and their rules.
If I have a movie on opening weekend I have to at a minimum play it for 2 weeks. If it's owned by Disney, it's almost always 3 weeks. Recently, I had the newest Toy Story. Because I had this, I was forced to play Minions and Monsters next for 2 weeks. Spring Grove Cinema is a single screen movie theater and these studios are not making exceptions for us. I would like to play a larger variety of films, but with these rules it is very difficult to do so. Also it isn't the case that I can wait a week to get any film. They build in rules around that as well. So I try to balance the selection by weighing in my audience, but also what is even possible to play.
Also, please keep in mind the huge percentage the studios take from ticket sales. The “good guys” take 50% of ticket sales immediately, but more often I am paying back 65-70%. That's on top of a guarantee amount the studios need to get. So when I play a lesser known film, I have in fact lost money in order to play it. It is very much true that the only money movie theaters make are on the concessions.
So please know I am hearing your needs, and trying my best to accommodate them.
