Running a theatre is a tough business, not far down the list from running a restaurant. It's not like the old days when a huge film got an exclusive 5 or 10 theatre opening. If you were one of the lucky theatres, you made out nicely.
Today the studios are killing the goose that lays the golden egg. A huge film like THE AVENGERS, BLACK PANTHER or DEADPOOL 2 opens in 2000 theatres nationwide. That means almost every theatre in your area is playing it, which is wonderful for the studios since they usually get a 80/20 or 85/15 split of the first weeks take. The theatre's take increases the next few weeks, if anyone bothers to see the movie the 3rd, 4th or 5th week. The concessions stand is where the money is. The sale of popcorn, candy, soda etc. is what keeps the theatre open. Also, it's tougher if the theatre is older without some of the amenities of the giant 12 or 16 plex down the road. Sometimes an older theatre can get by because they show the big films at a lower price than the gigaplex. Sometimes an independent theatre will just show the arty, harder to see films but they have to rely on the moviegoers in the area to come out to see the films.
The recent reissues of 2001 & The Old Dark House are a case in point. 2001 was shown only in just a couple of gigaplexes on a Saturday and/or Sunday for 2 shows. The Old Dark House played in exactly one theatre in NYC and that's all. No theatre in NJ touched it because "it's an OLD movie. Nobody wants to see that stuff anymore!"
