# What's with these tiny movie theaters? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 14, 2006, 8:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-these-tiny-movie-theaters/356725 "2006-05-14T08:58:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![thirdname](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d07c76/32.png) [@thirdname](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thirdname)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2006, 8:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-these-tiny-movie-theaters/356725/1 "2006-05-14T08:58:41Z")
It seems that movie theaters have gotten a lot smaller over the last 5 years or so. Several theaters in my area have narrow theaters that seat maybe 100 people. One now has regular big screens along with tiny, tiny “digital screening rooms” that cost as much as the big ones but can’t be big enough for more than 50 people. I can understand maybe having that for people to hold parties with movies of their choice, but it’s not a real movie theater. I have to call ahead to check if a movie is on a big screen. Fortunately there’s one new theater in my area with real big screens, good stadium seats and pretty good sound, though it’s a half-hour drive or more. So why are there so many more tiny theaters than there used to be? Does anybody here like them? I hate it. ---
**Author:** ![thirdname](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d07c76/32.png) [@thirdname](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thirdname)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2006, 9:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-these-tiny-movie-theaters/356725/2 "2006-05-14T09:02:13Z")
PS I suppose this thread might belong in Cafe Society. Feel free. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2006, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-these-tiny-movie-theaters/356725/3 "2006-05-14T15:31:56Z")
Small theaters give multiplexes a place to put a low-budget or independent film that isn’t going to fill at 200-seat theater, but will fill a 50-seat one. Thus you can fill four 50-seat theaters with films instead of getting 50 people into a 200-seat theater. ---
**Author:** ![divemaster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/divemaster/32/78_2.png) [@divemaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/divemaster)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2006, 12:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-these-tiny-movie-theaters/356725/4 "2006-05-15T12:09:24Z")
My first experience with this was after I moved to the Washington DC area. I saw an ad for a movie that looked interesting, but it wasn’t showing out in the 'burbs–only in the city. So, I Metro’d in and found the theater. Something called Cineplex Odeon or something. Well, color me surprised when I walked in! There were about 50 seats (tops) and the screen itself was the smallest I’d ever seen in a theater. It wasn’t much bigger than one of those drop screens used for Powerpoint presentations in conference rooms. In fact, the “theater” reminded me of just that. A conference room. At least it was dark and the screen was rectangular, so I guess it was okay. But give me the MegaPlex with the stadium seating and mega sound system. Every time. ---
**Author:** ![chrisk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@chrisk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chrisk)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2006, 12:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-these-tiny-movie-theaters/356725/5 "2006-05-15T12:15:03Z")
> [@riker1384](#): > > One now has regular big screens along with tiny, tiny “digital screening rooms” that cost as much as the big ones but can’t be big enough for more than 50 people… Just for the record, when you say they ‘cost as much’, that means your ticket costs as much, not a comment on the cost to the theater of running the screening room, right?? (Just checking, because I initially read it the other way.) And I’m not saying that your feeling of ‘not getting as much for your money’ in a small theater isn’t valid, because I can see your point now that it’s made, but I would not have thought of it that way myself. I’m not paying per foot on the cinema screen, I’m paying to watch a movie, and for a pleasant experience if possible… the watching is just as good in a smaller screening room, and often the surroundings seem more pleasant. (Though that might be more about the kind of people who come to watch the movies they put in small rooms than the theater itself.) To each their own though. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2006, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-these-tiny-movie-theaters/356725/6 "2006-05-15T13:31:54Z")
I encountered these decades ago in Toronto. The cinema at Eaton Centre is a GoogolPlex with lots and lots of little shoebox-sized theaters 9or theatres). They have rear-projection and seat an incrediblt tiny number of people. It lets the owners run a lot of films, or they can run the same film in more than one theater. On the other hand, it certainly detracts from the cinema experience, at least for spectaculars. I’ve seen home projection TVs with bigger screens. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2006, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-these-tiny-movie-theaters/356725/7 "2006-05-15T14:55:11Z")
> [@divemaster](#): > > My first experience with this was after I moved to the Washington DC area. I saw an ad for a movie that looked interesting, but it wasn’t showing out in the 'burbs–only in the city. So, I Metro’d in and found the theater. Something called Cineplex Odeon or something. > > Well, color me surprised when I walked in! There were about 50 seats (tops) and the screen itself was the smallest I’d ever seen in a theater. It wasn’t much bigger than one of those drop screens used for Powerpoint presentations in conference rooms. In fact, the “theater” reminded me of just that. A conference room. At least it was dark and the screen was rectangular, so I guess it was okay. I bet it was the Cineplex Odeon (which is now called Loews Cineplex) West End or Inner Circle in the Foggy Bottom/West End area, right? I loved both those theatres. They’d show all the movies that I wanted to see but weren’t very popular. And I liked the cozy little theatres. Unfortunately, they’re both gone now. ---
**Author:** ![divemaster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/divemaster/32/78_2.png) [@divemaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/divemaster)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2006, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-these-tiny-movie-theaters/356725/8 "2006-05-15T16:40:39Z")
> [@acsenray](#): > > I bet it was the Cineplex Odeon (which is now called Loews Cineplex) West End or Inner Circle in the Foggy Bottom/West End area, right? I loved both those theatres. They’d show all the movies that I wanted to see but weren’t very popular. And I liked the cozy little theatres. Unfortunately, they’re both gone now. And the Janus is gone, too. I don’t remember which Odeon it was. I’ve been to a few in the city over the course of the past several years and they all tend to run together. It wasn’t the one up near Tenleytown (that one was normal sized) and I don’t think it was Dupont. The one I was referring to seemed to be wedged into a corner. You had to go through the lobby of an office building, I think. My memory of the surroundings is hazy. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2006, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-these-tiny-movie-theaters/356725/9 "2006-05-15T16:51:13Z")
> [@divemaster](#): > > The one I was referring to seemed to be wedged into a corner. You had to go through the lobby of an office building, I think. My memory of the surroundings is hazy. Ah, that sounds like the discount Foundry cinema in Georgetown. That’s gone too.