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Author
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Topic: Movie-Theater Chains Take On IMAX
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Terry Lynn-Stevens
Phenomenal Film Handler
Posts: 1081
From: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Registered: Dec 2012
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posted 12-13-2013 09:31 PM
Here is a great article, the author makes a good point in asking what happens to the contracts once the IMAX contracts run out. I never knew that the big chains had a chance to unite under one common brand name, I think a studio/common name would of been a real thorn in the side IMAX.
It is really nice to see the mainstream press tackle the subject.
Movie-Theater Chains Take On IMAX
Rival Movie Chains Invest in Oversize Screens, Enhanced Sound, Luxury Seats
http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304202204579254453051597642
A battle for the bigger screen is brewing between IMAX Corp. IMX.T -0.53% and U.S. movie-theater chains.
Over the past four years, North America's five major theater companies have been retrofitting their auditoriums or building new ones with oversized screens that add several extra dollars to the ticket price. That is giving IMAX, the dominant player in premium movie-going, fresh competition from the very theater chains it depends on for business.
The trend is coming into sharp focus for Hollywood now because in coming months the number of chain-operated large-format screens is on pace to equal all 339 IMAX locations in the U.S. All these screens usually stretch floor to ceiling in auditoriums with enhanced sound and extra-cushy seats, offering what some moviegoers consider the best viewing experience for Hollywood's biggest blockbusters.
Of the $161.1 million grossed last month during the opening weekend of "The Hunger Games: Catching Fire" from Lions Gate Entertainment Corp. LGF -1.74% , about $9.6 million was collected from private-label screens run by the theaters. That was only about $3 million less than domestic IMAX locations generated.
This weekend, "The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug" from Time Warner Inc.'s Warner Bros. will premiere on virtually all of the country's so-called premium large format, or PLF, screens—IMAX and private label alike.
Studios and exhibitors stand to gain millions of dollars by cutting IMAX out of the box-office equation. Ontario-based IMAX gets fees from theaters and studios that amount to about a third of the box-office receipts collected from theaters using its technology. Exhibitors typically hand over about 20% and studios pitch in 12.5% of the ticket price, excluding taxes. Some older contracts even allocate a portion of concession-stand sales to IMAX.
"The distribution and exhibition dynamic is much simpler when there are only two parties involved," says Chris Aronson, president of domestic distribution at 21st Century Fox Inc.'s Twentieth Century Fox, which until recently was part of the same company as The Wall Street Journal.
IMAX says the theater-operated brands try to replicate its signature moviegoing experience without delivering the goods. "It's like putting a Mercedes on a Ford body and saying you have a Mercedes," says Chief Executive Richard Gelfond.
IMAX has invested tens of millions of dollars of research into its technology, he says, and two of 2014's big movies, "Transformers: Age of Extinction" and "Interstellar," are being filmed with cameras designed to play best in an IMAX theater.
The chains vary in how aggressively they are pursuing the proprietary big-screen strategy. Some have all but stopped adding new IMAX contracts. Others are placing their private-label screens near existing IMAX theaters. Some are building new locations with IMAX and their own big-screen offerings under the same roof.
The nascent market is an alphabet soup of brand names: XD at Cinemark Holdings Inc., CNK -0.09% RPX at Regal Entertainment Group, RGC +0.72% ETX and Prime at AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc., UltraAVX at Cineplex Inc. and the BigD at Carmike Cinemas Inc. The companies have had to lean on Hollywood to include their logos in movie ads to build a semblance of IMAX's brand awareness. The chains rebuffed past suggestions that they unite under a common name that would make advertising easier.
The big question now is: Will theaters renew their IMAX contracts when they come up for renewal starting in 2017.
The tension has its roots in the film industry's recent conversion to digital distribution. When studios started delivering movies digitally rather than in bulky film canisters, it became easier to build auditoriums with sound and lighting architecture for large-format viewing.
"There was enough off-the-shelf technology that, if you knew how to put it together, you could create your own PLF experience," says Timothy Warner, chief executive at Cinemark.
Cinemark has been the most aggressive in building out its own large-format theaters, reaching 145 locations in the U.S. and South America since its first XD theater opened in West Plano, Texas, in 2009. It still operates some IMAX theaters, but it has brought on only two new ones since it started the XD rollout four years ago.
New Cinemark XD theaters cost about $200,000 to build. Retrofitting an existing one, which requires moving exit doors and lowering the theater's front rows so the image isn't projected on moviegoers' heads—costs about $600,000.
IMAX says it has contracted or constructed theaters in nearly 80% of the U.S. markets it has identified as potential locations. It has had significant growth overseas, including in China, where the company last year successfully sued a state-backed projection company called DMAX for trademark infringement.
IMAX expects to make about 60% of its 2014 revenue overseas, Mr. Gelfond says.
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Bobby Henderson
"Ask me about Trajan."
Posts: 10973
From: Lawton, OK, USA
Registered: Apr 2001
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posted 12-14-2013 10:17 AM
Good one, Adam.
![[thumbsup]](graemlins/thumbsup.gif)
First of all, there's nothing "large format" about these big screen digital projection theaters. It doesn't matter if the theater carries the IMAX brand or is labeled with another acronym. Leave it to the press to not understand the difference between a regular commercial movie theater and a true, large format special venue theater.
I don't know the exact count, but it looks to me like the major theater chains already outnumber IMAX branded screens with their own house brand big screen concepts. Regal has more big screen houses labeled RPX than IMAX screens. Cinemark has more XD labeled screens than it does IMAX screens. Carmike has more BigD screens than IMAX screens.
quote: Wall Street Journal
IMAX has invested tens of millions of dollars of research into its technology, he says, and two of 2014's big movies, "Transformers: Age of Extinction" and "Interstellar," are being filmed with cameras designed to play best in an IMAX theater.
Of course the writer for the WSJ fails to mention the details of movies like Interstellar having significant portions filmed with IMAX 15/65mm film cameras and that it requires a 15-perf 70mm film-based projection system for viewers to see the difference. Most IMAX-branded theaters don't have that kind of capability even though they carry the name synonymous with large format film.
quote: Wall Street Journal
New Cinemark XD theaters cost about $200,000 to build. Retrofitting an existing one, which requires moving exit doors and lowering the theater's front rows so the image isn't projected on moviegoers' heads—costs about $600,000.
A real, large format film-based theater costs millions of dollars to build.
The biggest problem I have with all these in-house "private label" big screen concepts is lack of technical information. Customers have a hard time finding out just what kind of equipment is in the booth. Is the big screen theater using two digital projectors or only one? What is the resolution of the projector(s)? What kind of sound format and sound system configuration is used?
Customers can, if they like, figure out just what is being used by an IMAX-branded theater. It's not easy, but infomration is available. IMAX' digital systems are, for the most part, indentical: they have dual digital projector systems and the same kind of sound system.
AFAIK, Cinemark's XD concept is really only a single projector setup, based on their web site's verbiage of XD theaters using "a Barco projector." They're installing the Auro 3D 11.1 sound format in some XD theaters, but it's not clear which ones. The web sites for Barco and Auro have no Auro 3D 11.1 theater installation lists. One XD theater in Plano, TX is equipped with Dolby Atmos. Dolby does have a theater map showing installs for various Dolby d-cinema technologies, including Atmos.
If Regal followed through on what it said in its first press releases about RPX we could be led to believe their RPX theaters feature dual digital projectors. Some have Auro 3D 11.1 sound systems, while at least a dozen or more have Dolby Atmos. There's likely more than a few RPX theaters wired for regular 5.1 or 7.1.
We practically need a feature comparison table for all these big screen digital theaters. Perhaps if such a comparison table was easily accessible to the public it might force some companies who are trying to build big screen, premium priced theaters on the cheap to improve to a better standard. The lack of curtains and masking in many of these theaters is a serious problem.
quote: Wall Street Journal
The chains rebuffed past suggestions that they unite under a common name that would make advertising easier.
Because that would require them to adhere to some consistent standards -standard the public might understand more easily, such as using two digital projectors instead of one, perhaps supporting 4K instead of 2K and maybe using other better quality things that would end up costing them more money to build/install and maintain.
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Terry Lynn-Stevens
Phenomenal Film Handler
Posts: 1081
From: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Registered: Dec 2012
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posted 12-14-2013 11:19 PM
quote: Jonathan Goeldner
5.0 IMAX sound in my mind is inferior to how far sound technology has become
I think they are all good, you really can't go wrong with any of the premium system. Just as important is the theatre design and construction, the purpose built IMAX theatre close to me is no different than the larger IMAX venues built before the digital conversion or MPX auditoriums, yes it is now digital but the layout still counts for something, I don't mind the true IMAX lay out and nobody else gets you as close to the screen as IMAX. Too bad 15/70 has been phased out in my area, and most IMAX retrofits are not all that great.
quote: Jonathan Goeldner
larger specialty screens may have the upper hand when it comes to actual 4K projectors and 7.1/Dolby Atmos
You make a very good point however I still don't think the quality control is there yet. I have no idea who has a 4K projector in my area, and I doubt it will ever be advertised. Also, when I was at the Hobbit 2 opening night, Cineplex was advertising Hobbit 2 in UltraAVX with Dolby Atmos, well just after the trailer for AVX hit the screen which told everyone that they were in an immersive environment with digital picture and such, the Dolby Surround 7.1 trailer then hit the screen and let everyone know that the sound is over here, and here, and over here. So much for quality control?
quote: Jonathan Goeldner
in all fairness to the 'Hunger Games: Catching Fire' - the fact that most of the games sequence was shot in actual 4:3 IMAX 'film' was a positive - it made me want to re-see this as it was originally shot and in a proper IMAX 15/70 venue.
No argument there.
quote: Adam Martin
Funny ... Isn't that exactly what he did by putting the Imax name on Christie and Barco projectors?
Good point. IMAX modifies the digital projectors in Mississauga, how much they actually modify must be a trade secret ![[Wink]](wink.gif)
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Jason McMillan
Film Handler
Posts: 68
From: Houston, TX, USA
Registered: Dec 2009
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posted 12-18-2013 06:58 PM
quote: John Roddy
some USL processors instead
I can't speak for the Houston Palladium, but I do know when I went to see The Book Thief at their Tomball Silverado location, they played the Dolby Countdown logo and peering into the booth there surely was a dolby sound processor. I mention this because it opened in their smallest auditorium (to my knowledge). It was maybe 100 seats.. and i usually expect lower cost equipment in the smaller houses.
And as for ticket prices, just down the street AMC Willowbrook 24 charges $10/2D $12.50/3D for their shows (and they do not have any imax/etx at that theatre), and also in the same pocket is a Movie Tavern for $8/2D $10.75/3D. That being said, $10 - $11 is about average in Houston for the larger chains. Cinemark does have a few that are cheaper, $7.00 range at 290, and $4.50 for first run at their theatre in Texas City. Interestingly, AMC Spring 10, about 12 miles away from Willowbrook, is (to my knowledge) the only first-run showing 35mm is $8.75.
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