By Shirrel Rhoades
Last weekend Tropic Cinema invited members and other moviegoers to attend its 2014 Annual Meeting. Held in the Carper Theater, chairman Jon Allen walked the audience through the non-profit’s goals and achievements and treasurer Karen Schievelbein discussed the cinema’s financial performance (2012 compared with 2013).
Among the highlights was a positive net operating income of $114,706, an increase of 109% over the previous year. An operating deficit of $194,438 was offset by membership revenues and donations that contributed $312,144, swinging it into the black.
Ticket sales were up 4%, with customers buying 82,780 tickets for 5,562 performances of 183 different films and events.
Concession sales are still driven by popcorn and wine, increasing year-over-year by 11% and 20% respectively.
At the heart of the cinema is its selection of films. While the Tropic makes good on its commitment to showing the finest independent films, the Ten Top-Grossing films were “Silver Linings Playbook,” “Lincoln,” “Life of Pi (3D)”, “Mud,” “Hyde Park on Hudson,” “Django Unchained,” “Seven Psychopaths,” “The Guilt Trip,” “Quartet,” “and “The Great Gatsby (3D)” -- in that order. These films accounted for 34% of the cinema’s revenues.
Allen pointed out that the Tropic Cinema’s “unique and balanced mix of indie and wide-release films supports special programming including opera and ballet, our Monday Movie Classics and our art-house, foreign and documentary films.” Note was made of its participation with the Key West Film Festival, its partnership with CFFK for “4 Nights 4 Justice,” and the Student Leader Program.
The presentation concluded with a look at the Tropic Experience, where an email survey reported that 91% of customers are “extremely satisfied” and 98% say they would “recommend a membership to a friend.” When asked what the Tropic should change, 56% say “nothing.”
srhoades@aol.com
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