Imax Corp.’s Chinese language arm is aggressively including screens throughout the nation, betting on large native and US productions to spice up its gross sales on this planet’s second-largest movie market.
Associate Wanda Movie Holding Co., China’s largest film exhibitor, is planning to interchange 27 premium format screens with Imax’s bigger high-tech jumbo screens in cities from Beijing to Xi’an, the businesses mentioned Monday. Imax China Holding Inc., which presently runs about 800 screens in China, drew a file 22 million moviegoers from January to Could, up 106% from a yr earlier, largely due to fantasy movie “Ne Zha 2.” The general film attendance in China rose about 27% in the identical interval, the agency mentioned.
Wanda operates greater than 50% of China’s Imax screens, Li Jinbo, assistant president of Wanda Movie and common supervisor of Wanda’s cinema chain, mentioned at a company occasion in Shanghai. The cinema chain is looking for to spice up the variety of premium format auditoriums throughout the nation, he mentioned.
Shares of Wanda Movie rose 3.6%, whereas Imax China superior 4.6%.
China’s film business has been going through a boom-and-bust cycle as many new titles produced throughout the pandemic years weren’t launched till 2023, elevating field workplace gross sales to $7.7 billion. The next yr, field workplace gross sales fell by 23%. Whereas “Ne Zha 2” has boosted ticket gross sales this yr, movie executives have raised considerations that different new titles could also be hit by waning demand.
Imax, nonetheless, is projecting that its attendance will continue to grow as customers search bigger screens to look at large productions with family and friends.
“If folks select to go to film theaters, they’re going to need to have a transparent purpose why,” Daniel Manwaring, head of Imax China, mentioned in Shanghai. “Is that this a film that deserves my money and time? Imax is the one firm that’s answering that query head-on. We assure the expertise.”
This summer season, Imax is relying on Chinese language and Hollywood titles such because the warfare epic “Dongji Rescue,” directed by Guan Hu and Fei Zhenxiang, Common Footage’ “Jurassic World Rebirth” and Apple Inc.’s “F1.” Walt Disney Co.’s “Avatar: Fireplace and Ash” is predicted to be launched on Imax screens late this yr.
Imax China can also be planning to launch 5 native movies shot on Imax cameras. Out of 73 movies launched on Imax screens in China final yr, 34 had been native, together with a minimum of two films shot for Imax, in accordance with the corporate. The corporate is looking for to keep up the stability between native and overseas movies being launched on its screens, Manwaring mentioned.
“The movie enterprise must make films sensational and large,” he mentioned. “At the very least in China, I’m very optimistic concerning the long-term moviegoing viewers.”
Kim writes for Bloomberg.
