Theatres For Rent

Japan’s second-largest movie theater chain, Warner Mycal, has announced a new venue rental service.

According to Variety, the company will start offering its venues for everything from academic conferences to business seminars and shareholder meetings.

The exhibition market shrunk by 17 percent in 2011, and many movie theater owners have tried to weather the storm by tapping into live sporting events, concerts and other non-movie entertainment content.

Warner Mycal is going even further, adapting a business practice already common in the U.S.

Organizations that rent the theaters have to reserve space at least three weeks in advance for an average cost of about $442 per screen.

At present Warner Mycal maintains 496 screens nationwide comprising 60 theaters. The company’s target is 1,500 rentals per year by the third year of operations.