Advanced Television

IMAX expands in Japan

December 3, 2015

By Chris Forrester

Giant screen specialist IMAX is to expand in Japan, and has signed a 10-screen agreement with local cinema operator Toho Cinemas. The deal is its largest-ever in Japan

IMAX says that Japan is a top territory on a revenue per screen basis, with an average revenue of $1.2 million per screen, and which places Japan among the Top 10 highest grossing in the world.

Toho Cinemas now becomes one of IMAX’s largest partners in Japan. The exhibitor’s first IMAX theatre opened in April at the Toho Cinemas Shinjuku multiplex in downtown Tokyo. Since then, the site was Japan’s highest-grossing IMAX theatre for Furious 7, Dragon Ball Z: Resurrection “F”, Avengers: Age of Ultron, Mad Max: Fury Road and Jurassic World, which marked IMAX’s highest-grossing opening weekend ever in Japan with a record-setting $1 million.

“Today’s agreement with Toho marks our largest signing ever in the country and a tipping point in our Japanese expansion efforts,” said IMAX CEO Richard Gelfond. “Toho’s first IMAX site is off to an exceptional start and in just six months has become Japan’s highest-grossing IMAX theatre. We look forward to future collaborations with Toho on both the exhibition and film fronts to support our mutual growth in this important market.”

Categories: Articles, Business