Vinton Palace Theatre - Vinton, Iowa
Vinton has a population of just under 5,000.
We have one screen and show a movie every night at 7 pm, and Mondays at 2 pm.
Depending on the movie, we often add matinees or late shows on the weekend.
Our usual attendance is 30-80 during the week, 80-sold out on the weekend, depending on the movie.
Our admission is $3 (2D), $4 (3D) on the main floor, and $6 (2D), $8 (3D) for premium balcony seating.
We offer online choose-your-seat ticketing.
We seat 141 on the main floor and 24 in the balcony.
We have four paid managers (one every evening) and use volunteers in our concession stand and box office. Volunteers watch the movie for free and receive a small pop and popcorn.
We renovated in 1998-1999. The cost at that time was $500K. We raised that money with grants and community donations. At that time the building was completely gutted, tuck pointed, seats, concessions, everything added, including 35 mm projector and sound. Our ticket price was $2 for everyone, even babies pay. In 2010, we went back to the community and raised $120K to go 3D digital. The installation process including silver screen and rigging (we raise our screen for live theatre) took two weeks. At that time our 2D price remained $2 and we boasted The Only $3 3D in the World. In 2011, the studios forced us to raise our price $1 to maintain our on the break status, thus our current ticket prices. In 2012, we raised $40K and replaced our seating with cushy leather rockers in the balcony and very nice leather seats on the main floor. We also refinished our cement floor at that time and renovated our box office. We were closed for a solid month due to a problem with the floor refinishing process.
We do rent our theatre for private parties, etc, during non-regular movie hours (so, not at night). $120/hr with no movie, $580 for a private 2D showing or DVD, $780 for a private 3D showing. Free popcorn is given for all those events.
Best advice: get someone involved who is technologically savvy.