Over a year ago I moved to a tiny town that does not have a movie theater, in fact the nearest one is almost 2 hours away. My predicament has caused me to dream up this small movie theater, which I’d build in an instant if I won the lottery (like everything else I’ve posted here). As you can see, there is a theme: movies based in New York City.

The outside of the building is a facade made of 3 locales: a Macaroni restaurant, an Olive store, and a Firehouse. The main entrance is located at the Firehouse, the exit is the red door of the Macaroni place.

Some of my favorite theaters had an upper balcony for seating, so I went with that layout here. I also went with a lounge on the balcony, so fancy people could enjoy booze with their popcorn. Obviously, the balcony would just be for adults. The lounge would be curtained off when the movie is playing.

The main lobby is mainly the interior from the Ghostbusters Firehouse. The entrance to the seating area from the lobby is the team lockers, only now they are 2 doors, each with 2 lockers fused together. Janine’s desk is now the snack counter.

The projector has a Taxi paint job, a nod to the film Taxi Driver. There are a few other film nods here and there too. I wish I could’ve done something more ‘romantic’ for one of the exterior locales, like the diner from When Harry Met Sally, but it didn’t fit my layout. Other films like Big, Breakfast at Tiffany’s, and You’ve Got Mail were also considered.

Finally the theater itself is a homage to King Kong (1933), which features the stage and platform upon which the giant gorilla stood. In a real-world scenario, this would probably get the axe to prevent people from climbing on it. Maybe a flat 2D platform can be imposed on the wall below the screen; the cuffs above the screen would remain the same.

This theater is for about 120 people, I did my best to keep it as small as possible. The Firehouse would be almost half the size of the actual Hook & Ladder No. 8 in New York.