[WhoIam]

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I think a sound system at $1k might be a bit off.

[/ QUOTE ] I'm not going to be showing Hollywood action blockbusters, so I don't need anything too advanced--it just needs to sound better than what someone would have at home. This would also be smaller than a regular movie theater so I wouldn't need lots of speakers or power.
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If you were to do this project I would view it more as a hobby than a business venture.

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This is sort of the idea. I have a degree in film studies and love watching good movies in the best quality possible. This would also serve sort of as entrepreneurial training wheels. Most of my other ideas involve substantially more risk and a lot more capital. It would be nice to have some real-world experience before jumping into this. I made a half-assed attempt at starting a business in college and learned a lot from the experience despite it being a total failure.
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I'll be you could get permission to show the films for a very small royalty and maybe get some nice fringe benefits from the studio's. If you tell them you are charging $1.00 per person, I can't see them wanting more than $0.15 of that money.

[/ QUOTE ] Unfortunately this just isn't the way things work. I have a friend who has done quite a lot of work in the industry in India, including distributing foreign films and he assures me there would be no way to do this legally without losing thousands of dollars every month. If I could pay 15% or something I would.
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Do you think that you'd have the long term interest in this to deal with all the headaches that will inevitabely come with it? If the financial rewards aren't there, then when it comes down to the hard work you may regret ever getting involved.

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Because it's such a small investment, if I get sick of it or can't take the stress, I can pull the plug without losing a substantial amount of money. And I'd still be left with with a great home theater system and some valuable knowledge. In truth, I can never see it realy, really sucking the way owning a factory could.

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If I were you, I'd probably think more about running it primarily as a bar, or a kind of club where people you are targetting can come to socialise and meet their peers as opposed to just coming to the cinema.

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Wow, this is a good idea. Having a bar with a back room that showed a movie (or two) every night would have all the advantages of a bar without many of the disadvantages the standalone theater would have. It would certainly be a lot more profitable. I would probably operate it like a club with a cover charge that included a drink or two. The back room could also be potentially used for live music. Wow, this is giving me a lot to think about. Free beer for life if I get this thing off the ground and you make it to Laos.
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WHy not just open a bargirl bar for guaranteed custom and profit?

[/ QUOTE ] Because I would go to jail. There are plenty of bars like this already.