How To Become A Movie Theater Manager: What It Is and Career Path

What is a movie theater manager and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

3 min read

There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a movie theater manager. For example, did you know that they make an average of $23.27 an hour? That's $48,408 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 6% and produce 189,200 job opportunities across the U.S.

ScoreMovie Theater ManagerUS Average

Salary

3.8

Avg. Salary $48,408

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

9.6

Growth rate 6%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

3.5

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.47%

Asian 6.35%

Black or African American 6.16%

Hispanic or Latino 15.12%

Unknown 4.33%

White 67.57%

Gender

female 47.16%

male 52.84%

Age - 44

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 44

Stress level

9.6

Stress level is very high

7.1 - high

Complexity level

9.2

Complexity level is advanced

7 - challenging

Work life balance

3.6

Work life balance is poor

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a movie theater manager

Explore movie theater manager education requirements

Most common movie theater manager degrees

Bachelor's

33.3 %

High School Diploma

27.3 %

Associate

22.7 %

Start to develop specific movie theater manager skills

Skills	Percentages
Customer Service	66.70%
Ticket Sales	11.18%
Movie Tickets	7.84%
Inventory Control	7.20%
POS	7.09%

Complete relevant movie theater manager training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 6-12 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New movie theater managers learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a movie theater manager based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real movie theater manager resumes.

Research movie theater manager duties and responsibilities

Know the basic POS system, manage money.
Manage scheduling and payroll activities.
Compute financial transactions accurately in POS system
Aggregate information in database to identify consistent playing customers for VIP events.

Prepare your movie theater manager resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your movie theater manager resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a movie theater manager resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable movie theater manager resume templates

Build a professional movie theater manager resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your movie theater manager resume.