Cinemark so as to add 20 ScreenX places in premium moviegoing push

Singing witches and blue aliens are set to hit the large display earlier than the top of the 12 months and usher in droves of moviegoers. Cinemark is making ready for the excessive demand by including extra distinctive premium screens to its U.S.- and Latin America-based places.

On Wednesday, the third-largest U.S. cinema chain introduced it is including 20 new ScreenX theaters to its portfolio, increasing its partnership with the South Korea-based CJ 4DPlex. Eighteen of these screens can be constructed within the U.S.

The growth marks ScreenX’s first foray into Latin America.

ScreenX is a premium movie format that makes use of extra shows on the proper and left partitions of the auditorium, referred to as wings, to create a 270-degree panoramic subject of view. Cinemark already has six ScreenX places and expects to open six extra earlier than the top of the 12 months.

“That is been a giant purpose for us, to get as many theaters open for the final a part of the 12 months for ‘Depraved: For Good’ and, after all, ‘Avatar: Fireplace and Ash,’ which is such a seminal film for all the business,” Don Savant, CEO of CJ 4DPlex Americas, advised CNBC.

CJ 4DPlex and Cinemark entered right into a six-theater beta check collectively in 2022, however with the twin writers and actors strikes delaying manufacturing and theatrical releases, it took longer to increase the variety of places domestically, Savant mentioned.

“They only wanted to see a constant circulate of content material,” he mentioned.

The funding from Cinemark in including extra ScreenX theaters is a part of a wider development within the theatrical business. Within the wake of the pandemic, moviegoers have gravitated increasingly more towards seeing movies on premium massive format screens. These places, also known as PLFs, provide an elevated viewing expertise and cost larger ticket costs. The bodily screens are sometimes greater than conventional film screens or have auditoriums that characteristic higher-quality sound programs or seating choices.

CJ 4DPlex can also be the corporate behind 4DX film theaters, auditoriums with movement seats, sensible results and sensory parts to immerse viewers in a film.

Savant mentioned the corporate is targeted on “differentiating cinema” and offering audiences with experiences they cannot get from streaming choices or in-home leisure programs.

Whereas PLF receipts nonetheless characterize a small portion of the general field workplace, it is a rising phase of the enterprise. And moviegoers have demonstrated they’re prepared to pay extra for these experiences.

To this point this 12 months, premium tickets have represented 22% of home gross sales, in response to film knowledge agency EntTelligence. The common price of an grownup ticket 12 months so far for a PLF is $17.61, practically a greenback larger than the identical ticket throughout the finish of 2024.

Disclosure: Comcast is the father or mother firm of NBCUniversal and CNBC. NBCUniversal is the distributor of “Depraved: For Good.”