IMAX to roll out 40 new theatres across China, after boom in first-half box office income

IMAX China to partner with South Korean cinema chain CGV in adding 40 new cinemas on the mainland, as wide-format film technology wins over audiences

IMAX income from start of the year through July 14 rose to US$237 million, reflecting a 26 per cent gain from the same period last year

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IMAX China has plans to roll out as many as 90 cinema this year, even as the broad Chinese cinema market recorded its first drop in first-half income in nine years. Photo: AFP

Published: 4:15pm, 16 Jul 2019Updated: 10:59pm, 16 Jul 2019

IMAX China Holdings, the exclusive licensee of ultra-wide screen IMAX film technology in Greater China, will join forces with South Korean cinema chain CGV to provide 40 new theatres on the mainland, after IMAX theatres posted record first-half box office income in the country.

More than half of the new theatres will adopt IMAX’s new laser projector technology, which provides brighter images and sharper resolution, according to Jim Athanasopoulos, chief financial officer of IMAX China, the Hong Kong-listed unit of Canada’s IMAX Corporation.

IMAX theatres in China earned US$237 million in box office income from the beginning of this year to July 14, reflecting a 26 per cent gain from the same period last year.

“In renminbi terms, we are up 35 per cent in China … it’s a record Q1 [first quarter] and Q2 [second quarter] for us. We’ve been quite happy with what’s going on at the box office overall,” said Athanasopoulos in a phone interview with the South China Morning Post on Tuesday.

“We are continuing to focus on our expansion in the market,” he said, adding that IMAX China plans to add around 90 new cinemas nationwide this year. The theatre chain currently has more than 600 cinemas in China.

The result stands in stark contrast with the overall Chinese cinema market, which suffered a 3 per cent year-on-year drop in box office revenue to 31 billion yuan (US$4.5 billion) in the first half, the first decline in nine years, according to official data.

Rising ticket prices and a shortage of high-quality domestic films led to the slowdown in the world’s second-largest film market, analysts at China International Capital Corp (CICC) wrote in a research report on Tuesday.