How Much Does it Cost to Rent a Movie Theater for a Birthday Party?

How do you rent a movie theater?

In the olden days of the pre-internet era, renting your ideal movie theater would not have been so easy! You would have had to locate each theater individually and contact them to ask if they were available for rent. In all likelihood, many of those you reached out to would not be available.

Meantime, you’d waste a lot of time on the process of locating and contacting theaters. And even if you were very thorough, you’d still likely overlook some of the best options available in your area. 

Now, you might think that the internet and its search engines solve all your problems, but Google is still not the most convenient or straightforward method of locating movie theaters available for rent. Browsing through lots of theaters’ websites and trying to find rental information is faster than an analog search, but still not the absolute fastest and easiest.

Try Peerspace to rent a movie theater instead

The fastest and easiest option for renting a movie theater is by using Peerspace, the internet’s largest online marketplace for hourly event space rentals.

Among its listings, you’ll find numerous movie theater rental options throughout the country, many of which will be an ideal fit for your private screening. And not only is there tons of options, but it’s also amazingly easy to browse through them.

Here’s how to do so like a pro:

Begin your search

Searching Peerspace is a snap: simply head to the homepage, enter your city and the kind of event you’re planning (in this case, “birthday party”), and optionally add the date of the event for even more specificity. 

Use filters

Next, try narrowing your search down to movie theaters specifically. To do so, click on the “More Filters” option, and select “Theater” under the “Space Type” category. Or, you can type “movie theater” in the keyword box.

You can also narrow things down by other filters, including the number of attendees, price per hour, and additional features (from bathtubs to exposed brick to elevators. Most of these won’t be relevant in your search for a movie theater, however!)

Browse listings

Once you’ve done your search, you’ll be amazed by how detailed Peerspace’s venue listings are. They provide a clear sense of what every event space is like, so you don’t have to visit in advance.

With plenty of high-quality photos of the space, an in-depth description, and reviews from past renters, each listing is a perfect overview of the venue. You can also reach out to the venue’s host through the listing page if you have any questions or requests before or after booking.

As you can see, with Peerspace renting unique spaces is a breeze!

What affects the cost of a movie theater rental?

If you want an exact figure, we can only offer a pretty broad price range. The fact of the matter is that the cost of renting a movie theater varies based on several factors.

Location

One of the elements that most strongly influence the cost of renting out a movie theater is the city where you’re seeking rentals.

Renting a theater will be significantly more expensive in costly cities like Los Angeles or New York City than in significantly more affordable cities like Memphis, TN, and Omaha, NE. And in individual cities, different neighborhoods have different costs of living that will influence the cost of renting within them. 

The theater itself

In addition, the scale of the movie theater itself makes an enormous difference. A small, simple theater will be much more affordable than a large-scale movie theater that seats many more people. Not to mention that a lavish theater with historical significance will also cost quite a bit more to rent.

How long you’ll rent it

Most movie theaters rent out space for private use, including events like birthday parties. But many also impose a minimum rental period, anywhere from a couple of hours to as much as 10 hours.

The reason for this is event type. Some theaters are ideal for private events that may only last a couple of hours while others are better suited for professional productions that can take a whole day.

As you begin your search, keep an eye out for movie theater rentals that have a minimum rental period ideal for a birthday, like two to six hours, max.

Ahead, we’ll share specific Peerspace movie theater rentals and examine their prices.

Now that you’ve almost got the venue, check out these great movie birthday party ideas and start planning the event itself!