I'd like to have a film festival for my friends.
So I'll give you a list of 20 movies, Mr Movie Theater Owner, and one night every other week, you'll play one of them, and I'll guarantee a certain number of tickets sold. Above that, we'll split the revenue.
That way we get to watch old movies in a theater setting, with popcorn and restrooms, and then we can all go out to dinner after and talk about the movies and why we like them so much. Maybe we could even get one of the actors or the director to join us.
Movie theaters should be hubs for social activity. Watching a movie at home or on a laptop or a tablet isn't the same as watching it in a theater. And most of the great movies aren't showing in theaters now.
This idea reminds me of The Clock, which I saw in Venice two summers ago. It was more than an amazing movie, made entirely of scenes from other movies, but also a very social thing to take in. Nobody could watch 24 straight hours of it in any case, so people wandered in and out, and stood and talked to each other about it in the hallways. (This was at la Bienneale, in Venice: a huge contemporary art installation that takes up the entire armory, which spreads for many acres.)
We would need a creative theater owner to take a chance on this; but I'll bet there are some. It might also be a good way, say, for schools to make money while the teachers and kids are off on breaks. Bring in a projector, a screen and some vendors for edibles, and have fun.
;)
