Who wants to start a movie theater with me?

That's pretty cool. I can't kick in on anything that awesome right now, unfortunately. Where would you try for? Is there an empty building somewhere in EAV?

Man, I love what The Plaza is doing lately. Would love to run a theater like that. And then cry when nobody came. And then start showing porno. And then cry when they came.

I Heart U.

I'd love to start a theater where you could pay a little extra and sit in a "VIP box" that would have it's own enclosed sound system, and couches to sit on instead of theater seats. And alcohol is also served.

And no one would go, and you would eventually have to show porn. See Kevin's post for more detail.

"VIP Box" easily changed to "VIP Room", if needed.

This town NEEDS a good cinema drafthouse. The thing AMC runs in Buckhead does not count--I'm talking about a place with the Plaza's type of programming with interesting food. In fact, I'd love to see the Plaza converted into something like that but I imagine it costs a damn fortune, and you need space for a kitchen. A place with a decent beer selection, creative menu, and stuff like big screen Guitar Hero tournaments and indie movies would do alright here, I think.

I've looked into this idea a couple of times. I am pretty sure that the Toco Hills theater space is still vacant. With the Garden Hills theater closed, that makes 2 unless they have ripped it up. There's an old theater space in Avondale Estates that is currently being used as someone's office (ack). There's also this: www.moxiecinema.com which is proof that you can more or less put a theater into any space that's big enough if you have the willpower!

The trouble here would be having enough of an audience that you could co-exist with Landmark, the Tara, and the Plaza, since I'm sure all of those venues are competing for the same prints. Frankly, I'd love to just see the Plaza keep doing what they are doing but invest in some renovations and maybe an upgrade with a kitchen. I'm finding myself headed to the Plaza a couple of times a month now, usually to see movies that are decades old--which is awesome.

Ugh, Garden Hills location SUCKCKCKCKCED. That parking lot is ridiculous.

I remember seeing RAN there in a heavy rain. Neat atmosphere, but yeah, a big hassle to get to. I try to avoid Buckhead, in general.

I've never been inside it, but I think the Avondale location has no parking to speak of . . . I live about ten minutes from there. It's too bad, because just down College Avenue is PushPush Theater (I'm sorry, New Street Theatre now). Over there they have the Dailies Project (local filmmakers creating and then showing short films), so there's a community of folks in the area who are interested in movies. Just about everyone who was in The Signal has done something with the Dailies. While there's never a guarantee that a film theater is going to succeed, it'd have a decent chance over there.

I've only been to the Alamo Drafthouse once, but as soon as my wife and I left the theater we talked about how Atlanta needed something similar.

It's . . . it's close to me . . . *sniff*

I looked into the franchise requirements for the Alamo since after spending a week there last year I was pretty sure that it was the coolest place in the world for movies, but hot damn is that an expensive proposition. They only want to start franchises with groups who can open multiple regional locations and with folks who have years and years of experience running multiplexes. I understand the quality control issue, but I imagine it'll be hard to get someone to open a branch in the southeast because apart from Atlanta, what town could really support one? Nashville? A college town maybe?

They are opening a theater in the next town north of Norman (Moore) with a 21 to enter theater inside it that will serve alcohol. They will also have a specialty theater in there that has a restaurant as well. The place is freaking huge.

Oh yeah, it will have a bunch of regular theaters in it too.

Here's something to aim for:

The Landmark Theater in LA has a wine bar inside and 3 of the theaters don't have seats, but COUCHES. That's right, now you have an excuse to fall asleep in a movie - wine & a couch.

If I was still in college, I would take this as a personal challenge to try and score on one of those couches.

I could provide.... bitch work.

Where is the Toco Hills theater space?