Southern African cinema chain Ster-Kinekor Theatres has completed an agreement
with IMAX® Corporation to install an IMAX® theatre at its flagship cinema complex in
the Gateway Theatre of Shopping in Durban by November this year.
After the demise of the original IMAX® theatres in South Africa at the end of June
2010, CEO of Ster-Kinekor Theatres, Fiaz Mahomed is confident that the new wave of
the ultra-big-screen experience couldn’t have come at a better time.
“We’ve always been friends and fans of IMAX® at the same time,’ says Mahomed.
“However, we weren’t supporters of the model that was presented at the time. We
believed that it had a limited lifespan because it wasn’t going to be profitable for
anyone in this territory and unfortunately we were proven right.’
Mahomed adds that the original cost of operating IMAX® relative to ticket prices that
could be charged didn’t add up. Secondly, there wasn’t sufficient Hollywood content
on this format. “From a business perspective in a cinema environment we need the
Hollywood content for people to watch.
“The new IMAX® technology is superior to what it was in the past and the financial
model to run it is a lot more palatable to us, and we believe in this model. The
content is significantly better in terms of quality and quantity relative to our market.’
According to Mahomed the inclusion of digital technology makes IMAX® a lot more
efficient and he confirms that Ster-Kinekor will screen 23 titles over the next year.
Thor: The Dark World starring Chris Hemsworth, Natalie Portman, Tom Hiddleston,
Idris Elba and Anthony Hopkins shows first in Gateway’s IMAX® theatre, although a
specific date had not been determined at the time of going to press.
“The screen is being built to spec according to the latest DMR technology in Canada.
It arrives in October and that date will determine when we can open,’ confirms
Mahomed.
“IMAX® is a premium experience and we’ll follow the trend across the world for it to
work. Although it has to have a higher ticket price, the value will be unsurpassed.’
Mahomed comments that Ster-Kinekor is busy with an evaluation of its number of
sites and the company’s intention is to roll out more IMAX® theatres and to be
representative of the bigger malls across South Africa.
Ster-Kinekor is following the worldwide trend that IMAX® is part of existing cinema
chains. “Across the world that is the model that is being used and that is part of the
reason it has becomes viable,’ he says.
“IMAX® will never be as wide as 3D, for example, but it will be wide enough that
audiences will have a truly immersive IMAX® cinema experience close to them.
“The track record of IMAX® box-office continues to do very well across the world and
there is no reason why it wouldn’t do well here. We think all the necessary boxes can
be ticked and it’s time for Ster-Kinekor to enter the IMAX® world,’ concludes
Mahomed.
Other titles audiences can expect are Hunger Games: Catching Fire (shot with IMAX®
cameras), I Frankenstein, Seventh Son, Robocop, 300 Rise of an Empire, Godzilla,
Transformers 4 and The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug.
