![]() “Different exhibitors have different strategies, investing in a number of formats,” says Jones. The rise of premium-format screens over the years has expanded from what Omdia defines as “global-branded PLFs,” auditoriums under a third-party vendor’s brand like Dolby, RealD, and Imax, involved in the end-to-end life cycle of a film-from production to exhibition-to what has come to be known as “exhibitor-branded PLFs.” The exhibitor-led efforts are private-label offerings independently assembled by circuits themselves and oftentimes incorporate branded formats like Dolby Atmos immersive audio with non-branded fixtures like luxury seating or laser projection. If her definition is broad, it is by design. They are multifaceted, often consisting of more than one element, and, in fact, exhibitors are known to cherry-pick and combine a number of concepts in their approach,” she says. ![]() “By definition, premium formats elevate the cinema experience. Jones defines PLF as auditoriums where best-in-class image and sound technology feature prominently and sometimes include newer formats, like immersive seating and panoramic screens. Jones expects that global footprint to increase in the coming years, sharing her insights in a presentation at a recent edition of Boxoffice Pro’s latest “Live Sessions” webinar series focusing on the topic. By the end of 2020, there were close to 6,400 PLF screens globally, “a very small number in terms of the 203,000 cinema screens worldwide,” says Charlotte Jones, associate director of cinema at Omdia. The sector grew by 17 percent from 2018 to 2019, slowing down to a 7 percent growth the following year because of the pandemic. The number of PLF auditoriums has more than doubled over the past six years, according to the latest report from research firm Omdia. Kong than it did for the film’s 2019 predecessor-even with cinemas operating under capacity restrictions. Despite the slight drop in overall box office, D-Box sold more tickets in its motion-seating format for Godzilla vs. The film opened overseas in late March to $123.1 million from 53,256 screens, 5 percent below the $130 million international bow of 2019’s Godzilla King of the Monsters from 53,515 screens. Immersive seating provider D-Box experienced that same bump with the release of Godzilla vs. The over-indexing of PLF auditoriums in the global return to cinemas hasn’t been exclusive to Imax. ![]() By July, Imax claimed nearly 10 percent of the $80 million domestic opening weekend from Disney’s Black Widow-at the time, the biggest pandemic-era debut in North America. Domestically, Imax began to hit similar benchmarks as audiences returned. A rerelease of James Cameron’s Avatar in China, for instance, brought in nearly a third of its opening weekend haul from Imax screens. The box office hot streak carried over during the lull in new releases experienced by much of the market during the first half of 2021. ![]() Imax continued to see similarly strong performances from its locations as more cinemas opened around the globe. The August release of The Eight Hundred, the first Chinese film to be shot in Imax, brought blockbuster earnings from Imax screenings despite the format being available in just 1 percent of the country’s screens. The trend began to emerge as early as last summer, when Chinese cinemas first reopened following the closures that presaged the pandemic’s global disruption. As moviegoers make their long-awaited return to cinemas, premium large-format (PLF) auditoriums have emerged as a preferred destination. ![]()
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