IMAX movies have thrilled millions, but format has serious Chinese rival

It was the Hollywood film Avatar that got the ball rolling two and a half years ago. As the film set all kinds of box office records across China, the country's moviegoers began to hanker for more big-screen 3D movies. The movie's success was also a huge fillip for the world's largest giant-screen film producer, Imax Corp, as it expanded its presence in China.

However, if Imax thought that it was in for an easy ride from there, sweeping all before it and pocketing huge profits on the way, it was probably mistaken. While the Canadian Imax can proudly call China its second-largest market, the company is facing increasingly stiff competition from within China.

The biggest of these rivals is the technology China Film Giant Screen, developed by China Film Group Corp and China Research Institute of Film Science and Technology, and at least 100 of the screens will be installed in major Chinese cities over the next three years.

"The creation of the Chinese giant screen is our answer to Chinese moviegoers' giant-screen fever," says Cheng Yang, president of China Film Digital Ltd, which is marketing the new technology.

"We believe that the China giant screen will be mass produced and be put into large-scale operation soon, and it will provide new opportunities for growth for China's film industry."

Cheng says putting China Film Giant Screen on its feet has been far from easy. A research and development team of nearly 20 scientists and technicians worked on the project for more than three years before it finally saw the light of day a year ago.

He Haifeng, executive director and general manager of China Film Digital Giant Screen (Beijing) Co, says he believes its products, though a lot younger than those of Imax, are in no way inferior to what Imax offers.

He says: "The quality of China Film Giant Screen is equal to or even superior to IMAX, from design to image optimization and stereo sound system. In fact in brightness, sharpness and color saturation, China Film Giant Screen's projection is better."

He says that with a standard screen 20 meters wide and 12 meters high, China Film Giant Screen is slightly smaller than IMAX, which is 22 by 16 meters, but it can also take 2D and 3D screens and "is compatible with the world's most advanced technology".

However, He says, the crucial thing is that China Film Group has 100 percent intellectual property rights over the product.

"The screen's birth marks China film technology entering a new era, which is undoubtedly a great technological breakthrough."

Chinese cinema developers have shown keen interest in China Film Giant Screen even before it was launched.

In June, China Film Stellar Theater Chain, one of the country's top three cinema chains by box-office takings, signed an agreement to buy 18 of the screens. China Film Group expects to sell 15 large film screens this year in domestic movie theaters, including in Chengdu, Guangzhou, Shanghai and Changchun.

One of the things that may help tip the balance that way is the huge price advantage that China Film Group enjoys. Cheng says a China Film Giant Screen projection system costs about 1 million yuan ($156,800, 127,600 euros), less than half of what Imax offers. Converting a standard film for a China Film Giant Screen format may cost more than 100,000 yuan, while the IMAX price is more than double that.

In addition, unlike with Imax, cinemas are not required to hand over a proportion of their takings or pay royalties for using China Film Giant Screen.

"The high cost of the IMAX technology has forced Chinese cinemas and film companies to make their own versions of the giant screens," says Li Qiang, an analyst with EntGroup Consulting Group, an entertainment industry consultancy in Beijing.

IMAX's strict conditions are also at play here, he says, adding that the powerful new competition will challenge IMAX's dominance in China and further stimulate the development of domestic giant movie screens.

Another figure in the equation is the price to the cinema patron. A China Film Giant Screen 3D movie ticket can cost as much as 100 yuan, but the corresponding IMAX ticket can cost as much as 50 percent more, Cheng says. And, over time, China Film Giant Screen's tickets may become even cheaper, he says.

As if those advantages are not enough, China Film Giant Screen can also draw on a wider range of sources for its films.

"China Film Giant Screen has got strong support from many well-known domestic film producers and directors," Cheng says. "At the same time, we have also forged a cooperative relationship with a growing number of Hollywood studios."

Duncan Clark, distribution president of Universal Pictures International, says: "It's very impressive to watch films on China Film Giant Screen, and we will be very happy to be on this format of enhanced-screen viewing."

Every year, only about 10 IMAX films are produced, of which almost all come from outside China.

"Theoretically, almost any film can be played on a Chinese-made giant screen," Cheng says.

liulu@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily 08/03/2012 page11)