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Credits roll on the huge-screen revolution as Imax cinema closes

By Steve Bloomfield

04 January 2004

This is the story of a movie revolution going wrong; so wrong, in the UK at least, that it probably won't be coming to a cinema near you. Imax, the huge-screen format ideal for displaying the blow-your-mind, in-your-face special effects of Hollywood blockbusters, is in trouble.

Last week, one of Britain's nine Imax theatres closed, and others around the country are struggling to attract audiences. Industry experts say the high cost of buying the films has left theatres with small profit margins, while the high ticket prices for punters - with shows often twice as expensive as normal films but half the length - have contributed to Imax's problems.

The lack of Hollywood films made in the correct format has left Imax with a constant diet of impressive, yet worthy, nature documentaries to display on its giant 70ft by 50ft screens. Apollo 13 and the most recent Star Wars film, Attack of the Clones, have both been digitally remastered for the Imax screen, but only once they have been and gone at regular cinemas. Last summer a digitally remastered version of The Matrix Reloaded showed how successful Imax could be, playing to packed-out audiences around the country.

But even The Matrix could not save Birmingham's Imax theatre. Last week, it and its projector - the size of a Vauxhall Vectra - went out of business after losing £600,000 in a year and playing to audiences as small as four. Its demise left the UK's second city without an Imax screen within a 100-mile radius.

Mike Dernie, a spokesman for Millennium Point, the complex where the Imax was based, blamed the theatre's failure on the lack of quality and quantity of films available in the format. "It's a harder product to sell than the normal cinematic experience," he said. "They tend to be more worthy films rather than entertainment."

Yet in the US, the steady diet of nature documentaries has proved popular with Imax audiences. Everest, for instance, has so far grossed $78m (£44m), and T-Rex: Back to the Cretaceous, Space Station 3-D, Mysteries of Egypt and Across the Sea of Time are other documentaries in America's all-time Imax box-office top 10.

The Imax Corporation admitted its disappointment with the format's performance in the UK. Larry O'Reilly, Imax's senior vice-president of theatre development and film distribution, said: "Many of the UK theatres may not be ideally placed in the city. The institutions tend to be strapped for cash and have little marketing budget. We are a little disappointed with the box office in the UK. It lags behind other countries in Europe. The box office over the past two years has been lower than we originally expected."

Tracey Guiry, commercial director at Bristol's Imax Theatre, which doesn't expect to break even until this year, admitted that the format hasn't taken off in the UK in the way that the industry expected. "It hasn't struck a chord with UK audiences like it has in the US," she said. "It's pitched at an expensive end of the market. We just didn't realise how very expensive it is.

"They are still the best cinematic pictures you can get in the world. For the purists it will remain unbeatable - but that doesn't point to a growth market, which is a worry."

Mark Robinson, general manager of the Sheridan Imax Theatre in Bournemouth, also expressed concern. "They are difficult to make work all year round," he said. "The product doesn't really appeal to your average cinema-goer. It's a visitor attraction. We do well at weekends and in the holidays, but the films are incredibly expensive for cinemas to buy in."

According to Patrick von Sychowski, senior media analyst at trade publication Screen Digest, Imax will never be more than a niche market in the UK. "We will be seeing more closures. It will always be a niche. And at the moment it's a struggling niche. The problem with Imax is they are in a difficult transition. They were doing a steady stream of worthy documentaries and now they're trying to do entertainment. But they haven't been fully embraced by the Friday night cinema-goers. They'll have to scale back their ambitions."

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Link to story.
 

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Posted by Claude S. Ayakawa (Member # 1401) on 01-05-2004, 02:13 AM:
 
Consolidated's (Pacific) Waikiki IMAX in Honolulu closed year year due to the same reason as the theatre in the UK. The admission price per film was almost $10.00 not including $4.00 for parking in the theatre's parking structure. I love IMAX films especially in 3-D but the thing that made me think twice about seeing all of the films that played in that theatre was the high cost of admission. The high admission price for regular movie tickets, parking and the opening of the Ward 16 nearby were some of the reasons all three of the standard Waikiki theatres also had to shut down. The Waikiki Twins is now been renovated for other commercial use and the Waikiki #3 is scheduled for demolition in a month or two. What a sad faith for a magnificent theatre!

-Claude
 

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Posted by Darren Briggs (Member # 1071) on 01-08-2004, 04:48 PM:
 
I dont think you can blame IMAX for all the films, they don't produce all the 15/70 film's available, but distribute many of them.
The most sucessfull theaters seem to be in museum complex's, and show films often related to the genre of the museum.

IMAX is still 'the most advanced motion picture system' as they claim, and with the right films, it is truely awesum.
The DMR technolgy works well but if the film isn't meant to be shown on a 50t wide screen 10 meters in front of your face, the results seem to be very hit and miss. The less fast paced the better.
 

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Posted by Leo Enticknap (Member # 534) on 01-13-2004, 03:57 AM:
 

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The most sucessfull theaters seem to be in museum complex's, and show films often related to the genre of the museum.

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Imax closed its corporate-owned South Miami location on December 23. Low attendance was one of the reasons given. It was located in a shopping center.

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That IMAX was having financial problems when I used to live in Miami. I think I remember a Herald article about rent non-payment and IMAX or the mall almost shutting it down then... (2-3 years ago)

In my opinion, the only way an IMAX that is not part of a theme park can survive is if you run 35MM product on it also. (Giant Screen) Then, at least there is a supliment to the mediocre product to keep people going through the door.

Maybe the AMC that is in that mall in South Miami will snatch up the IMAX and try that but I doubt it.
 

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Posted by Gordon McLeod (Member # 33) on 01-13-2004, 08:31 AM:
 
that whole mall in Miami wasnever very viable in any sense
 

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Posted by Mark Gulbrandsen (Member # 72) on 01-13-2004, 07:30 PM:
 
It really is too bad that these large format systems cost too much to operate. I've got to wonder how long the Imax at Boise will stay open. They never had much of a crowd there in spite of being right next to a 20 screen Edwards. I'd have to speculate and say that Imax made some very poor decisions on re-opening theatres that were not making money the first time they were closed down.

Our Ex-Iwerks now Cinema Development Co. 15/70 3D theatre in Salt Lake City is actually doing pretty good though. I guess not having lease payments DOES make a big difference! This is also a good case in point that not being able to show the Imax films really does not matter at all.
Mark @ CLACO
 

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Posted by Gordon McLeod (Member # 33) on 01-13-2004, 09:39 PM:
 
I have yet to figure out a business model for a comercial in multiplex large format anyway
Also your IWERKS basically runs its own signature film so other titles is for now a moot point
 

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Posted by Mark Gulbrandsen (Member # 72) on 01-13-2004, 10:14 PM:
 
Gord,
If no one can figure out a good buisness plan then I guess I can assume that Imax wasn't providing the proper consulting service that it should have been. To me it more or less appears that they just took the money and ran for what ever reason. Surely they knew some of these locations would result in pie in the face for them sooner or later. Don't however get me wrong, I love Imax and all the other large formats out there alot but it really seems like theres been some people at Imax that are making some poor decisions vis a vis locations.

At Thanksgiving Point they really don't run any signature films at all. In fact they have yet to produce their own film, that is forthcoming. They just run other mainstream 15/70 product thats available to everyone. Where it comes from doesn't really matter all that much.

Mark
 

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Posted by Gordon McLeod (Member # 33) on 01-13-2004, 10:38 PM:
 
there internal consultants to what I understand presented the comercial theatre exhiitors with a modified business plan but regular thetare people can't understand group sales and the likes so it was a moot point
In toronto we have5 15 perf screens and we typically do about 300 school kids per show in our daytime schedule
the comercial nes are lost trying to figure out how to do that
 

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Posted by Jamie Glossop (Member # 2180) on 01-30-2004, 07:58 AM:
 
Hi All .

The imax cinema has closed ? I was gonna visit to see how good the picture whould be in that place. I dont think we have many imax theatres around us . I know the films cost to much but imax cinemas are cool. When i open my own 20 screen cinema i might have a few imax projectors installed . Cinemas are not like the old days here we used to have a load of them around my area we had a good one called odeon and abc cinemas until the 18 screen warner village came and was brought out by vue and then they sold it to ugc cinemas. The cinema chain is kinda good for the people that love the cinema work I just wish i could get another job in one. anyways thats enough of my yabbing for one time and yes im new Its nice to meet you all and hope to chat you all soon
 

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Posted by Dick Vaughan (Member # 540) on 01-30-2004, 08:21 AM:
 
First off welcome to Film-Tech

Secondly it's not that far to Bradford to see the UK's first IMAX.

 

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Posted by Mark Gulbrandsen (Member # 72) on 01-30-2004, 05:53 PM:
 
Gord Said...
"that whole mall in Miami wasnever very viable in any sense"
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Actually Miami in its entirety is getting so bad that its not very viable anymore...

Mark
 

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Posted by Jamie Glossop (Member # 2180) on 01-30-2004, 05:58 PM:
 
I never knew there was one in bradford. I might check it out sometime .
 

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Posted by Paul Cassidy (Member # 951) on 01-31-2004, 12:03 AM:
 
It seems strange but the Closed IMAX in Auckland , now transformed into the MEGA Screen ,shows only the Latest Blockbuster Movies and is the exclusive preview cinema in Auckland , the screen uses just over half the height of the massive IMAX screen but uses the full width of the screen , with masking for the Trailers and adds , it has become one of the most popular cinemas in Auckland because of the sound quality and the sheer size of the screen
 

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Posted by Leo Enticknap (Member # 534) on 02-02-2004, 01:32 AM:
 
...which would seem to suggest that Imax's biggest problem is a lack of films...
 

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Posted by Dick Vaughan (Member # 540) on 02-02-2004, 04:30 AM:
 

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I never knew there was one in bradford. I might check it out sometime

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We've been here since June 16 1983 Take a look at www.imaxnorth.co.uk

FYI there are also theatres in Glasgow,Manchester,Bristol,London(x2),Belfast and Bournemouth
 

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Posted by Gordon McLeod (Member # 33) on 02-03-2004, 05:47 PM:
 
There is no shortage of IMAX films just theatres that know how to market them
 

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Posted by Manny Knowles (Member # 1171) on 02-04-2004, 11:08 PM:
 
My $.02

IMAX's high presentation standards came with an equally huge price tag on every front: film production, construction and, of course, consumption. Making matters worse, the movies themselves don't seem to live up to the inherent promises of the format. Particularly odd is the fact that so many of these supposedly huge experiences were, in fact, short and boring movies.

In fact, when IMAX decided to start running mainstream Hollywood movies it was an admission that their own movies weren't doing justice to their format (and certainly couldn't justify the high cost of admission).

Generally, I have no need to see an image that large. I don't need sound to be that loud, either. There's something shamelessly Freudian about the whole IMAX thing. It's too much hype and ultimately lacking in delivery.

I hope that all those DMR movies begin with the disclaimer that says "this movie has been modified from its original format..."

I think the audience has a legal right to know that they're seeing a blowup which may also be cropped and/or edited for length.

(Doesn't the MPAA/CARA have a rule against having multiple edits of a movie in simultaneous release?)
 

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Posted by Adam Martin (Member # 641) on 02-05-2004, 12:30 AM:
 
None of the Warner Brothers product was/will be cropped or edited for their Imax runs. (Matrix 2, Matrix 3, Harry Potter 3)

As for loudness, just because we can be louder doesn't mean that we all are. Audio should always be played back at a comfortable level regardless of what the deaf mixer recorded.
 

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Posted by Mike Williams (Member # 1140) on 02-05-2004, 05:46 AM:
 

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There is no shortage of IMAX films just theatres that know how to market them

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I don't think the hits like T-REX or Everest would have the same effect or box office draw if they were not IMAX or at least some sort of large format.

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Uh, that's the whole point of IMAX.
 

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Posted by Gordon McLeod (Member # 33) on 02-05-2004, 10:19 PM:
 
"I have to disagree. I think there is only so much that can be done with mediocre content. The only thing that is a real draw is the format itself. "
funny we have no problem with content nor getting a continous audience In fact some days our attendance would fill to capacity the other large format theatres in this city to capacity and still have people left over
 

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Posted by Mike Williams (Member # 1140) on 02-06-2004, 09:36 AM:
 

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funny we have no problem with content nor getting a continous audience In fact some days our attendance would fill to capacity the other large format theatres in this city to capacity and still have people left over

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