From my vantage point, we are starting on the design for the "Archive" multiplex, operated by a non-profit corporation.

But starting at the top, for Screen #1, I'm thinking 800 premium rocker seats downstairs, with a small private balcony having deluxe loge Lazy-Boy seating and strictly for invited guests only.

Then, what should be the scaling downwards to the smaller houses, with the smallest being 150 seats, "The Screening Room" which would be the revival and art house.

More on #1, entry to the private balcony will be only be by way of the booth, and the sound equipment racks with controls would be here and not in the booth, which would just have the needed changeover stuff and a remote master volume control.

The booth would also have interlocked 35mm mag film recorders which I would custom-build myself due to the outrageous cost of same otherwise.

Besides the 5/100 pipe organ, this house would have a fully-equipped stage.

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But if I were building 10 screens for archive films in Billings MT, I would build 2 rooms at 400, 2 rooms with 200 seats, 2 rooms at 100 seats and 2 rooms with 60 seats. And even with that, there would be too many seats for that town. Were talking redneck, pickup driving, video store going, action film lovers there man.

It is hard to fill up those larger auditoiums any more. Denver used to have a couple 1,500 seat houses, one with 2,500 seats and a couple with 800-900 seats. Now I know that there is one with 850 seats and one with 700 seats and they hardly ever fill them up. I'd rather have 500 seats filled 30% of the time than 1,000 seats filled 15% or less of the time.

Here again I must apologize for not having explained well at the outset. This is what happens if you scribble something in a hurry.

A 10-plex for archival films only would be Insanity here.

The plan is only one screen for archive films at any one time. Something very special would use the #1 6-800 seat house, as for a benefit to which all the elite would come. Otherwise the little 150 seat "The Screening Room" having 2 35mm proj. plus platter is where art films would go.

Examples: A 70mm first-run might have its grand opening in #1 and then move to the 600-seat Screen #2 for the regular engagement. If we ran "Raiders of the lost ark," "2001," etc. in 70mm these would be specials shown just a few times and thus #1 would be used with changeovers.

It is probable that for here 600 seats for #1 and #2 is optimum, but then it drops down fast, I think.

In Sonoma County I have one good choice to see a film and even that is flawed. In Denver there are a few good places.

In Billings, building a large new plex could be what is known as a category killer.

Example:

In Albuquerque NM, Century built an all stadium 20 plex. I know UA's city manager in Albuquerque. He said that the number of admissions didn't go up in the town, but now the Century theatre gets 60% of the admissions, which means everybody lost 60% of their business.

If you can do that to Carmike, more power to you. If you can't, somebody else will do it to you. If somebody new moves in to Albuquerque, then Century will lose too. But there, they are the big dog and are scaring away all the little dogs. When you build like that, you get concessions from the city. Concessions like, tax breaks because you will employ a hundred teenagers, and a moratorium on movie theatre building permits for 10 years. Don't laugh, that's what the guy in my town got.