I am not an attorney, but it seems you would need a city and/or
county and/or state license to operate the theatre.
You will probably need permission to show any copyrighted
movies (old or new), unless for some reason the movie is
considered in the public domain, which is highly unlikely.
Visit the following Motion Picture Licensing Corporation
web site, and contact them for further information:
http://www.mplc.com/index2.htm
One of their e-mail addresses is
[email protected]
Their toll free number is 800-462-8855