SWOT analysisFor the board's planning day, Saturday, January 16, 2027

Tollgate Cinema

Where a two-screen independent cinema stands going into 2027: twelve points, each with its evidence, then four moves that follow from them.

Mireille Dufresne, general manager
December 14, 2026
Figures are for 2026 unless a year is given. Screen 1 seats 180, Screen 2 seats 64.

Helps us
Hurts us
Inside the cinema
Inside · helps
S

Strengths

  • S1
    Members pay before the year starts. 2,140 members at $60, and 81% renewed. That's $128,400 in the bank each January.
  • S2
    Event screenings fill the room. The 64 nights with a guest or a Q&A sold 88% of seats. Ordinary screenings sold 34%.
  • S3
    We own the building. No rent, no landlord. The mortgage was paid off in 2019, and a 2025 valuation put the building at $1.9 million.
Inside · hurts
W

Weaknesses

  • W1
    Weekday daytimes are empty. Monday to Thursday before 5 pm we sold 9% of seats.
  • W2
    Screen 2's projector is 11 years old. It failed 4 times this year. 13 screenings cancelled, 286 tickets refunded, $3,718 handed back.
  • W3
    Our members are getting older. 1,241 of the 2,140 are over 60, which is 58%. Only 150 are under 30, or 7%.
Outside it
Outside · helps
O

Opportunities

  • O1
    People want to hire the screens. 46 enquiries this year. We said yes to 19 and no to 27, mostly because nobody is free to host one on weekday daytimes.
  • O2
    A college with no film society. Wexcombe College has 6,200 students a mile away. Its film society folded in 2024.
  • O3
    An accessibility grant is open. The city arts fund offers up to $40,000 for captioning and hearing-loop equipment. Applications close Friday, February 26.
Outside · hurts
T

Threats

  • T1
    A multiplex is coming. Eight screens at Thackeray Retail Park, three miles away, opening in fall 2027. The chain's nearest site sells $6 tickets on Tuesdays. Ours are $13.
  • T2
    Second weeks are shrinking. A film's second week sold 41% of its first-week tickets in 2023 and 29% this year.
  • T3
    Energy costs more. Heating and power came to $31,000 in 2024 and $37,820 this year, up 22%.

So what do we do?

A list of twelve points changes nothing. Each move below pairs two of them, and names who does it, by when, and what it's worth.

01
S2 × T1

Out-program the multiplex. Don't match its prices.

It will win on price and on new releases. It can't put a director in the room. Raise event nights in Screen 1 from 64 a year to 96. An event sells about 158 of the 180 seats where an ordinary night sells 61: that's 97 more tickets at $13, or $1,261 a night.

Owner
Jonah Yilmaz, programmer
By
2027 calendar out March 1
Worth
+ $40,352 a year, before guests' fees
02
W1 × O1

Staff the weekdays, and say yes to hires.

A part-time weekday manager costs $21,000 a year. The 27 hires we turned down were worth about $900 each, $24,300 in all. That pays for the post with $3,300 over, and the same person can book school and seniors' screenings into those empty seats.

Owner
Bettina Csonka, operations
By
In post Monday, April 5
Worth
+ $24,300 a year, − $21,000 a year
03
W2 × T1

Replace Screen 2's projector before the multiplex opens.

A cancelled screening next fall sends people three miles down the road, and some won't come back. The installer's quote is $58,000, fitted. Order in May, install in the quiet last week of August.

Owner
Mireille Dufresne
By
Running by August 31
Worth
− $58,000, once
04
W3 × O2

Go and get the students.

A $25 student membership, and one night a month programmed by students. 300 student members by December would take under-30s from 7% of members to 18%. The money is small. Who's in the room ten years from now is the point.

Owner
Rafael Ilves, membership
By
300 members by December 31
Worth
+ $7,500 a year
$79,000

new spending in the first year: the $58,000 projector and the $21,000 post

$72,152

new income a year if all three paying moves land: $40,352 + $24,300 + $7,500

$21,000

of that spending repeats every year. The projector is paid for once.

Left alone, on purpose