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Motion picture presentation company IMAX Corporation has set a target to open 100 screens in India in the next five years, but it highlighted specific regulator issues that it encountered while operating in India. In an interview with businessline, Richard Gelfond, Chief Executive Officer of IMAX Corporation, said: “I think things like caps on ticket prices are not always helpful. I think some of the censorship rules could be a bit looser. Such as some of the laws around zoning, where you can put a theater and not put a theator. Things like that.”
“So IMAX costs more. Because it is a better experience, most people think it is worth more. So, I don’t think price caps really apply to IMAX in the same way. Removal of price caps will therefore be helpful,” Gelfond added.
This is Gelfond’s fourth visit to the country, where the executive is meeting with the owners of multiplex chains and single-screen theatre to increase the production company’s presence in India. The country ranks eighth globally in terms of the number of screens and number nine in terms of revenues. However, IMAX’s presence in India with 23 screens pales compared to the company’s presence in the China market, where it has 800 screens and another 200 screens in the backlog. Gelfond said that IMAX would be adding six additional screens in India this year; however, challenges such as the limited proliferation of malls and slower capital flows, especially foreign investment, have been the critical hindrances in achieving a China-like scale in a movie-loving country like India.
Gelfond further added that while they will be increasing the number of local language films shown on IMAX, from 2024, IMAX might also participate in the production process of regional movies to make them more suitable for the screen. Some of the biggest blockbusters of 2022, such as Tom Cruise’s Top Gun and James Cameron’s Avatar the Way of Water, were made in collaboration with IMAX’s production team, to make them tailored for the immersive movie experience of IMAX.
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