Imax将在中国合资建设75座影院Imax to open 75 China cinemas

Imax has announced a $40m plan to open 75 cinemas in China by 2014 in a bet that Chinese spending on entertainment will start to catch up with western markets.

Imax宣布计划投资4000万美元，到2014年在中国建成75座影院，押注中国娱乐消费会开始赶上西方市场。

Rich Gelfond, chief executive, said the joint venture with Wanda Cinema Line, China’s largest cinema operator, would see Imax put up the per location cost of 2D and 3D projection equipment and screens of about $500,000, with Wanda building the theatres at a cost of about $1m each.

该公司首席执行官理查德•葛尔方(Rich Gelfond)透露，将与中国最大的影院放映商万达电影院线(Wanda Cinema Line)合资，Imax将为每座影院投入约50万美元配备2D、3D放映设备和银幕，而影院建筑将由万达建设，每座成本约为100万美元。

Mr Gelfond would not disclose the share of box office takings Imax would keep, but said the large-screen film exhibitor typically retains 20 per cent in similar revenue-sharing partnerships.

葛尔方不愿透露Imax会取得多少票房收入分成，但说在类似的收入分配合作中，这家大银幕电影放映商一般会取得20%。

Shares in Imax were up 11.2 per cent at C$29.00 by late morning in Toronto, setting a record for a stock that traded below C$13 as recently as last June.

Imax股价在多伦多股市接近午盘时上涨11.2%，达29加元，为去年6月份还在13加元以下徘徊的Imax股价创下了纪录。

“In China, about 3 per cent of GDP is spent on entertainment, compared with about 7 per cent in the more developed world,” Mr Gelfond said. “It’s a market where people like affordable luxuries, and spending $3-$4 extra on entertainment is clearly something there’s appetite for.”

“在中国，约有3%的GDP花费在娱乐上，而在更加发达的国家，这个比例能达到7%，”葛尔方说。“这个市场上人们喜欢能够负担得起的奢侈消费，在娱乐上多化三、四美元明显符合他们的胃口。”

Tickets at Imax’s 10 cinemas in China typically cost $10-$15, compared with $6-$7 at non-Imax screens.

Imax在中国的10家电影院中，票价一般在10到15美元，而非Imax银幕的票价为6到7美元。

Cinema’s rapid growth in China, where box office receipts rose 40 per cent to Rmb10bn ($1.5bn) last year and the number of screens has risen threefold to 6,000 in three years, has attracted attention from international exhibitors and film studios.

中国电影院行业增长迅猛，去年票房收入上升40%，达到人民币100亿元（15亿美元），银幕数量三年增长三倍，达到6000块。该市场已经吸引了国际放映企业和制片厂的注意。

China’s quota, allowing 20 foreign films to be distributed each year by two state-owned companies, was deemed a breach of World Trade Organisation entry terms last year. But rather than waiting for this rule to be relaxed, many foreign filmmakers have bet on Chinese co-productions.

去年，中国每年允许引进20部进口电影、并由两家国有企业发行的配额，被裁定违反世贸组织(WTO)的准入条款。但许多外国制片商并未坐等中国放松配额政策，而是押注于在中国合拍。

Wang Jianlin, chairman of Wanda, a subsidiary of Dalian Wanda Group, said its existing smaller partnership with Imax had already helped set its properties, many of which are shopping malls, apart.

万达董事长王建林表示，该公司目前与Imax的合作已经使其名下产业脱颖而出，该公司名下产业中有许多是购物中心。万达院线是大连万达集团的子公司。

The deal with Wanda caps a period of expansion for Imax, which three years ago was in just 145 cinemas but which has ridden a wave of interest in 3D films following the success of Avatar. “Part of me has to slap myself because that kind of growth is so unusual,” Mr Gelfond said.

与万达院线达成的协议标志着Imax的扩张期锦上添花。三年前仅有145座影院中有Imax银幕，不过在电影《阿凡达》(Avatar)取得成功之后，观众对3D电影的兴趣也让Imax乘上东风。葛尔方说：“我有时候会想闪自己一巴掌，因为这样的增长太不寻常了。”