To retrofilms' comment - Overall it has been an amazing experience both times (TLB and HT). I don't mean to sound down on the theatrical element - in the end the box office has been about 20k to date for HT and TLB did about 40k. The theatrical was positioned for press and promotion to help with DVD sales, world and TV sales which it has. I'm hoping to make the workbook the quintessential guide to what I and others have done to get their movies out - showing the pros and the cons. The one that is for sure is that there is no ONE way to get the work out.

To phauer's commnet - It's interesting that you reference Cameron. He is currently developing a number of MMOGs (massive multiplayer online game) that will be used to promote and develop an audience around some of his new films. Interesting times...

So Lance, after everything you've experienced (both good and bad) with your own DIY Theatrical run, would you do it again? If so, what would you do different?

Dang Lance, you are one creative promoter. I love your ideas. And I think that the cinema is going through the same pains it felt at the advent of television. In the end, however, I think, all things being equal, people prefer watching films to be a communal, shared experience. There's an energy that the audience can provide that can never be replicated, even if you in your own home, in your own home theater with the best projection and sound.

For example, films that were greatly augmented by the audience experience for me were Rear Window, Fatal Attraction, Napoleon Dynamite, Raiders of the Lost Ark and Poltergeist, to name a few. I think the next few years will be a lean transitory period for cinema and multi-events such as yours that bring various areas of interest to a viewing will be required while the technology, distribution streams and eventual merging of television and downloadable on-demand programming off of the internet finally reach stability.

Either Cameron's fancy-dancy 3-D cinema vision will reinvent the cinema demand or maybe they'll still be theaters, but smaller, niche theaters that show niche product to like-minded viewers. Or something else entirely. Either way, it sure is an interesting time.