re: Opening up an independent art house theater in Baton Rouge

Long post warning .... All you have to do is go to any theater in Baton Rouge on opening night for something other than a typical/trendy movie to see that this idea would fail in BR.

I saw the highly acclaimed documentaries "The Cove" (which won the Oscar btw) and most recently "Blackfish" both on opening nights in BR and was the only couple in the theater. Now you could argue that it was because they were documentaries being the reason, but that's not true.

People in BR and Louisiana in general are typically dirt cheap. It's not that people don't have the money, they just want everything for next to nothing. If you have a nicer, single screen theater then you are going to need to charge more to keep up with overhead. Most people around here bitch about having to spend $10 on a coke and popcorn the small handful of times they actually do get up and go to a movie .... So just imagine trying to stay afloat with that type of crowd dominating the area. Even if you did show the blockbuster films.

Good idea, just not for Baton Rouge. It does work in many bigger cities.