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Do you want to start movie theater business plan
A movie theater is a business in which you make contact with the film distributors, buy their movies and play them on a big screen for your audience in a comfortable and enjoyable environment. This business requires continuous serious work, money and time investment, resulting in the production of huge profit.
If you are looking for a complete guide on how to open a movie theater, thoroughly read this sample business plan for movie theater including financial and marketing analysis, written for a movie theater startup named, ‘The Arena’.
Executive Summary
2.1 The Business
The Arena will be a registered and insured movie theater company located in El Paso, Texas. Business will be owned by a husband and wife, Zac Martin and Enna Martin. All type of movies such as second run and first released will be played in The Arena.
2.2 Management
To open a movie theater and run it successfully, one should either have strong management skills or should hire an efficient manager. From the distribution of tickets to the proper seating of the audience in the hall, it’s all about management.
Zac will be responsible for upgrading the building, managing finances of the business, and supervision. However, Enna will manage stuff like the selection of the movie, hiring staff, theater marketing, and snacks. For managing day to day tasks efficiently they have decided to hire a general manager to help them run the business.
2.3 Customers
After a busy and a hectic day, everyone resorts to some entertainment place to spend their evenings. So every young and adult, child and old living near to our theater will fall into the category of our customers.
2.4 Target of the Company
The company aims at balancing the startup costs by earned profits within just three months of the launch and generate huge profits afterward by providing the best film, best food, and best drink all in one seat.
Company Summary
3.1 Company Owner
Zac and Enna, a husband and wife who were previously acting as managers in a multiplex company, will be the owners of The Arena. They both are graduates in management regarding domains from the same university and are skilled in their respective domains.
3.2 Why the Business is being started
After a three-year valuable experience in management, Zac and Enna have decided to start a movie theater of their own to serve the audience in the best way they have explored and of course to avail the opportunity of running their own company.
3.3 How the Business will be started
Zac and Enna will work in coordination with each other, however, they have decided to have a clear work division to avoid any sort of mismanagement. The Arena will be a movie theater comprising of four movie halls with a capacity of at least 250 people in each hall.
A building which previously was a marriage hall, will be restored to its fullest glory and upgraded to fulfill a theater requirement. And lastly, highly customer care-oriented staff will be hired for undertaking day to day chores.
The detailed start-up requirements as included in The Arena’s movie theater business plan is given here:
| Start-up Expenses | |
| Legal | $55,300 |
| Consultants | $0 |
| Insurance | $32,750 |
| Rent | $32,500 |
| Research and Development | $32,750 |
| Expensed Equipment | $32,750 |
| Signs | $1,250 |
| TOTAL START-UP EXPENSES | $187,300 |
| Start-up Assets | $0 |
| Cash Required | $332,500 |
| Start-up Inventory | $32,625 |
| Other Current Assets | $232,500 |
| Long-term Assets | $235,000 |
| TOTAL ASSETS | $121,875 |
| Total Requirements | $245,000 |
| START-UP FUNDING | $0 |
| START-UP FUNDING | $273,125 |
| Start-up Expenses to Fund | $11,875 |
| Start-up Assets to Fund | $15,000 |
| TOTAL FUNDING REQUIRED | $0 |
| Assets | $23,125 |
| Non-cash Assets from Start-up | $18,750 |
| Cash Requirements from Start-up | $0 |
| Additional Cash Raised | $18,750 |
| Cash Balance on Starting Date | $21,875 |
| TOTAL ASSETS | $0 |
| Liabilities and Capital | $0 |
| Liabilities | $0 |
| Current Borrowing | $0 |
| Long-term Liabilities | $0 |
| Accounts Payable (Outstanding Bills) | $0 |
| Other Current Liabilities (interest-free) | $0 |
| TOTAL LIABILITIES | $0 |
| Capital | $0 |
| Planned Investment | $0 |
| Investor 1 | $332,500 |
| Investor 2 | $0 |
| Other | $0 |
| Additional Investment Requirement | $0 |
| TOTAL PLANNED INVESTMENT | $695,000 |
| Loss at Start-up (Start-up Expenses) | $313,125 |
| TOTAL CAPITAL | $251,875 |
| TOTAL CAPITAL AND LIABILITIES | $251,875 |
Services
To provide the services in a way you actually want to provide, you need to map their implementation even before researching on how to run a movie theater busines. Knowing the importance of preplanning Zac and Enna have enlisted their services with a little detail in their business plan for a movie theater as given here:
- First & Second Run Movie Presentation: During the early stages of the startup, The Arena will present already released movies to its customers.
- Animated Movie Presentations: Animated movies will be played according to the demands of the public.
- Sales of Snacks & Drinks: To provide its customers with a great experience, The Arena will serve them with instant and delicious snacks and drinks.
Marketing Analysis of Movie Theatre Business
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After you have decided to run a movie theater business, the next step is to do its accurate and detailed marketing analysis. Before opening a movie theater, you have to make sure whether you are selecting the convenient location or not. Or whether you have to opt for a drive in theater business plan or a movie theater business plan for an auditorium. In either case, this sample on starting a movie theater business plan will be a great help for you.
5.1 Market Trends
Despite a large competition, movie theater business has been growing since the past few years by the annual growth rate of 3.1 percent and is expected to follow even a faster growth rate in the future. According to IBISWorld, movie theaters have generated a revenue of $18 billion in 2018, employing more than 155,400 people in the United States.
The business has its scope around the year in any climate or in any economic conditions, indicating that you won’t be at loss provided that you plan it successfully.
5.2 Marketing Segmentation
Before thinking about how to start your own movie theater business, you must be very clear about who will be your audience. Zac and Enna had divided their customers into three groups to focus on the demands of each group separately as given here:
Business plan for investors
5.2.1 Families: As The Arena will mainly be a second run released movie theater so its main target group will be the families who want a light entertainment within a walking distance or a short drive from their homes. People who seek family-oriented entertainment experience usually don’t care about watching a movie on the very first run. They just want quality and inexpensive entertainment.
5.2.2 Young & Adults: The second category which we look up as our customers will be the young and adults who want entertainment for a slight break in their daily routines, or as a good chance to enjoy with their friends and mates.
5.2.3 Children & Teens: The children and teens who want to have experience of watching movies in the cinemas like the other members of their families will also be our target customers. We’ll play our collection of animated and children movies for them.
The detailed market analysis of our potential customers is given in the following table:
| Market Analysis | |||||||
| Potential Customers | Growth | Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 | Year 4 | Year 5 | CAGR |
| Families | 32% | 11,433 | 13,344 | 16,553 | 18,745 | 20,545 | 13.43% |
| Young & Adults | 48% | 22,334 | 32,344 | 43,665 | 52,544 | 66,432 | 10.00% |
| Children & Teens | 20% | 12,867 | 14,433 | 15,999 | 17,565 | 19,131 | 15.32% |
| Total | 100% | 46,634 | 60,121 | 76,217 | 88,854 | 106,108 | 9.54% |
5.3 Product Pricing
In the initial stages, we’ll price our tickets and snacks a little less than our competitors to get introduced to a wide audience. However, the prices may vary depending on the seat allocated and the price of movies.
Strategy
After identifying the market trends, the market demand, and the potential customers of the startup, the next thing to cater in movie theater business plan is to develop a strategy to attract those customers toward us.
6.1 Competitive Analysis
In all out research about how to start a cinema theater, Zac and Enna have thoroughly analyzed the market and the competitive edges they have to come up with, also given here for your help if you are formulating your home theater business plan.
Our biggest competitive advantage is that we are starting our business in an excellent locality in El Paso, as rest of the cinemas are very far from us, and several people would prefer to have a good entertainment near to their homes and offices. We’ll have excellent management, comforting environment, and good quality snacks to serve our customers.
Lastly, we have come up with a competitive edge which most of the others in the same business lacks. We will develop a website for our theater not for just looking at the schedule of movies but also for buying tickets and making reservations through online payment. We will make a poll every week, in which people could vote for the movie they want to see, the movie with the largest votes will be shown on every Sunday.
6.2 Sales Strategy
Sales strategy is the plan of how you will introduce your new business to your target customers. Considering the importance of advertisements, Zac and Enna had also included advertisements’ costs in their movie theater startup costs.
To advertise ourselves:
- We will sell discounted tickets for the first few months of our launch.
- We will offer a 20% discount on the purchase of snacks and drinks for the first three months.
- We will offer a free ticket to our customers after the purchase of six tickets in a month.
6.3 Sales Monthly
6.4 Sales Yearly
6.5 Sales Forecast
Considering our competitive advantages, our lower rates, and the quality of our services, our sales pattern is expected to increase with years. Our sales forecast on a yearly basis are summarized in the column charts.
The detailed information about sales forecast, total unit sales, total sales is given in the following table:
| Market Analysis | |||||||
| Potential Customers | Growth | Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 | Year 4 | Year 5 | CAGR |
| Families | 32% | 11,433 | 13,344 | 16,553 | 18,745 | 20,545 | 13.43% |
| Young & Adults | 48% | 22,334 | 32,344 | 43,665 | 52,544 | 66,432 | 10.00% |
| Children & Teens | 20% | 12,867 | 14,433 | 15,999 | 17,565 | 19,131 | 15.32% |
| Total | 100% | 46,634 | 60,121 | 76,217 | 88,854 | 106,108 | 9.54% |
Personnel plan
Note
In your movie theater business plan selection, distribution of tickets, proper seating arrangements and selling of delicious snacks have great importance. What’s more important is the dedicated and customer care oriented staff which will ensure the smooth running of your business for you.
7.1 Company Staff
Zac and Enna have decided to initially hire the following people for the startup:
- 2 Accountants to maintain financial records
- 2 Sales Executives responsible for marketing and discovering new ventures
- 4 Cleaners for cleaning the facility
- 4 Assistants for operating the facility and regulating day to day operations
- 1 Inventory Manager to manage the inventory needed for events
- 1 Front Desk Officer to act as a receptionist
- 2 Security Officers
To ensure the best quality service, all employees will be selected through vigorous testing and will be trained for a month before starting their jobs.
7.2 Average Salary of Employees
The following table shows the forecasted data about employees and their salaries for the next three years.
| Personnel Plan | |||
| Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 | |
| Accountants | $85,000 | $95,000 | $105,000 |
| Sales Executives | $152,000 | $159,000 | $166,000 |
| Assistants | $240,000 | $270,000 | $300,000 |
| Cleaners | $210,000 | $240,000 | $270,000 |
| Inventory Manager | $50,000 | $54,000 | $57,000 |
| Front Desk Officer | $41,000 | $50,000 | $54,000 |
| Security Officers | $145,000 | $152,000 | $159,000 |
| Total Salaries | $260,000 | $294,000 | $327,000 |
Financial Plan
After you have decided each and everything about your business, the last step is to estimate start up cost for a movie theater and make a detailed financial plan. Your financial plan should depict how much does it cost to open a movie theater, what are your investment group for business plan, how you will be able to balance your investments with the earned profits and much more.
The detailed financial plan for The Arena is given here for a rough estimate.
8.1 Important Assumptions
| Personnel Plan | |||
| Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 | |
| Accountants | $85,000 | $95,000 | $105,000 |
| Sales Executives | $152,000 | $159,000 | $166,000 |
| Assistants | $240,000 | $270,000 | $300,000 |
| Cleaners | $210,000 | $240,000 | $270,000 |
| Inventory Manager | $50,000 | $54,000 | $57,000 |
| Front Desk Officer | $41,000 | $50,000 | $54,000 |
| Security Officers | $145,000 | $152,000 | $159,000 |
| Total Salaries | $260,000 | $294,000 | $327,000 |
8.2 Brake-even Analysis
| Personnel Plan | |||
| Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 | |
| Accountants | $85,000 | $95,000 | $105,000 |
| Sales Executives | $152,000 | $159,000 | $166,000 |
| Assistants | $240,000 | $270,000 | $300,000 |
| Cleaners | $210,000 | $240,000 | $270,000 |
| Inventory Manager | $50,000 | $54,000 | $57,000 |
| Front Desk Officer | $41,000 | $50,000 | $54,000 |
| Security Officers | $145,000 | $152,000 | $159,000 |
| Total Salaries | $260,000 | $294,000 | $327,000 |
8.3 Projected Profit and Loss
| Personnel Plan | |||
| Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 | |
| Accountants | $85,000 | $95,000 | $105,000 |
| Sales Executives | $152,000 | $159,000 | $166,000 |
| Assistants | $240,000 | $270,000 | $300,000 |
| Cleaners | $210,000 | $240,000 | $270,000 |
| Inventory Manager | $50,000 | $54,000 | $57,000 |
| Front Desk Officer | $41,000 | $50,000 | $54,000 |
| Security Officers | $145,000 | $152,000 | $159,000 |
| Total Salaries | $260,000 | $294,000 | $327,000 |
8.3.1 Profit Monthly
8.3.2 Profit Yearly
8.3.3 Gross Margin Monthly
8.3.4 Gross Margin Yearly
8.4 Projected Cash Flow
| Personnel Plan | |||
| Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 | |
| Accountants | $85,000 | $95,000 | $105,000 |
| Sales Executives | $152,000 | $159,000 | $166,000 |
| Assistants | $240,000 | $270,000 | $300,000 |
| Cleaners | $210,000 | $240,000 | $270,000 |
| Inventory Manager | $50,000 | $54,000 | $57,000 |
| Front Desk Officer | $41,000 | $50,000 | $54,000 |
| Security Officers | $145,000 | $152,000 | $159,000 |
| Total Salaries | $260,000 | $294,000 | $327,000 |
8.5 Projected Balance Sheet
| Personnel Plan | |||
| Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 | |
| Accountants | $85,000 | $95,000 | $105,000 |
| Sales Executives | $152,000 | $159,000 | $166,000 |
| Assistants | $240,000 | $270,000 | $300,000 |
| Cleaners | $210,000 | $240,000 | $270,000 |
| Inventory Manager | $50,000 | $54,000 | $57,000 |
| Front Desk Officer | $41,000 | $50,000 | $54,000 |
| Security Officers | $145,000 | $152,000 | $159,000 |
| Total Salaries | $260,000 | $294,000 | $327,000 |
8.6 Business Ratios
| Personnel Plan | |||
| Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 | |
| Accountants | $85,000 | $95,000 | $105,000 |
| Sales Executives | $152,000 | $159,000 | $166,000 |
| Assistants | $240,000 | $270,000 | $300,000 |
| Cleaners | $210,000 | $240,000 | $270,000 |
| Inventory Manager | $50,000 | $54,000 | $57,000 |
| Front Desk Officer | $41,000 | $50,000 | $54,000 |
| Security Officers | $145,000 | $152,000 | $159,000 |
| Total Salaries | $260,000 | $294,000 | $327,000 |
Download Movie Theater Business Plan Sample in pdf
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