The Hindu Business Line : `Adlabs' IMAX break-even schedule on course'

HARRY Potter does not excite Mr Manmohan Shetty though theoretically his IMAX dome theatre in the city should gain from the imminent release of the third film on the child magician.

The IMAX dome, the world's biggest, is part of a larger complex that includes a four-screen multiplex. The total project cost was Rs 52 crore, the 520-seater-dome alone costing Rs 39 crore. Adlabs Films Ltd, which set it up, funded it through an IPO in late 2000. Projected break-even schedule was over five years.

Mr Shetty, Managing Director, had said last year that the break-even schedule was very much on course but making money at the expensive IMAX dome was a challenge. In the absence of a joint venture with IMAX Corporation all the investment was footed by Adlabs. It had to additionally pay 15-20 per cent of box office collections as film fee to the Canadian company.

Atop film fee was the issue of ensuring good occupancy level, IMAX films being specially made and therefore limited in number.

Films for screening in the format are shot with dedicated equipment and on celluloid having the largest frame size. Given the logistics involved - big cameras, a single stretch of shooting not exceeding three minutes and a finished film weighing 250 pounds - each IMAX movie costs $5-6 million (Rs 23-27 crore).

At the time of Adlabs' IPO, IMAX Corporation had a bank of 107 films in its library plus 50 other films available with private producers, together representing the software pool Adlabs could draw upon. The typical IMAX fare ranged from films like Blue Planet and Grand Canyon to Everest - all in the documentary format.

That changed with the local screening of Apollo 13 and Matrix, both of which were converted digitally from 35 mm into the IMAX format using DMR technology. While these feature films hit the biggest screen in the city much after their regular theatrical release, the conversion experience matures in the case of Harry Potter And The Prisoner of Azkaban.

Here, the IMAX debut is alongside the film's regular theatrical release. In principle, that should provide some relief for Mr Shetty's concerns on the occupancy front (he is opening more multiplexes, but not another IMAX screen). Feature films, that too box office heavyweights, provide an added incentive to see a film in the IMAX format.

It should also be possible to price IMAX tickets for feature films in such a manner that it reflects the superior watching experience.

Mr Shetty agrees to both - there is room for flexibility in ticket pricing and a hit film should attract people to see it on IMAX format. Further with regard to these digitally converted feature films, the film fee charged is on a sharing basis without any upfront payment that tends to block money.

But he discounts any suggestion that such films will help quicken the project's break-even schedule.

"The difference is that feature films in IMAX format fetch you a short term spike in occupancy. After that, it settles down. A Blue Planet, on the other hand, gets you year round occupancy," he said.

In the world of project economics, it takes more than magic to ensure steady revenue.