Are you a Star Wars fan and looking for a different viewing experience for the last instalment in the series --- Rise of Skywalker? PVR Cinemas could help you with that as the multiplex chain operator on December 20 announced the upgrade of its IMAX theatres PVR Phoenix, Mumbai and PVR Select City Walk, Delhi that will now feature IMAX’s laser experience.
How will IMAX Laser technology make your cinematic experience better?
The 4K laser projection system will deliver an increased resolution, sharper and brighter images, deeper contrast as well as the distinct, exotic colours.
Talking to Moneycontrol, Gautam Dutta, CEO, PVR Cinemas, said, “We have planned four-screen roll out on the upgrade and three will be in current existing theatres out of which Mumbai and Delhi are in phase I and the third one will be in Chennai and the fourth will be a new project.”
He added that PVR will use the 4k laser projectors to experiment with a slightly smaller site to see if they can increase the penetration of the concept of IMAX.
While Dutta did not give exact investment details on how much PVR has invested to bring the IMAX Laser technology, as IMAX is selling the technology to other players as well, he did say it is double the cost of the Xenon deal.
“Our last Xenon deal was close to about Rs 8.5 crore to Rs nine crore for entire IMAX. It is typically double of that and this includes seating, signage and the works that come with it,” he said.
While IMAX’s Laser doesn’t come cheap, PVR is not charging a premium on the tickets for the new technology.
“It (ticket prices) will be marginally higher than what is charged for IMAX screens, probably Rs 25 higher."
Getting IMAX Laser is another tech addition in PVR’s portfolio and also in its premium segment. But what makes PVR confident about such formats?
“If we look at the premium screen, out of the 821 screens we have, close to 94 sites are premium screens which include Luxe, Gold Class, Director’s cut, IMAX, 4DX, Playhouse, the Samsung Onyx LED screen, D-Box. And we believe that this is important because we have to start giving audiences a much bigger reason to get to the cinema. Experiences that are difficult to replicate,” said Dutta.
“If we track them (premium PVR formats) against the other auditoriums within the complex, all these formats perform at least 10 percent higher occupancy than the other auditoriums. Formats like 4DX and Playhouse are up 25 percent in terms of occupancy and with similar content playing in the other auditorium within the complex. All these formats are successful because consumers are willing to pay extra. The profitability is also higher,” he said.
With movie consumption seeing significant growth in 2019, scaling of premium cinema formats by film exhibitors is the right move.
PVR saw footfalls growing to 29.3 million in the September quarter from 23.1 million in June quarter.
"It is clearly showing that this category (film exhibition) has the power to reverse the recessionary trends," said Dutta.
"However, we are waiting for a blockbuster release as November was still dull and in December, the two big releases are yet to happen. We are waiting for the blast to happen in Q3," he added.
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