Modern
Multi for Island Capital
K. Cineplex Adds
6 In Cyprus
NICOSIA, Cyprus — K. Cineplex in March launched a new 6-plex
in the capital city of Nicosia, Cyprus, bringing the circuit’s
Cypriot screen count to 17.
 The
new multi will boast five box offices, an up-to-date monitored
security system, a grand lobby capable of accommodating 1,000
guests, a fast food franchise, a cafeteria with facilities to
host special events, climate-controlled air conditioning and
a children’s playground.
Auditoria will feature satellite equipment (allowing for the
reception of live events) and stadium-style seating with orthopedic
recliners.
Owned by DJ Karapatakis & Sons Ltd., K. Cineplex opened
its first multi, a Limassol, Cyprus facility, in 1999.
ShoWest
Honors Hoyts CEO
Johnson Named Int’l
Exhibitor of the Year
NEW YORK — Paul Johnson, CEO of Australia-based Hoyts
Cinemas since 1999, was honored March 4 as ShoWest international
exhibitor of the year.
Johnson first joined the Oz-based circuit in 1982 as an accountant
and became director of corporate strategy two years later.
Johnson moved to the circuit’s U.S. arm as chief financial
officer in 1986, before returning to Australia in 1990 to
lead global expansion efforts. Johnson was named CEO of Hoyts
in 1999, following Kerry Packer’s Consolidated Press
Holdings’ acquisition of the circuit.
92.5
Million Tickets Sold
Australian Admits
Up 17.8% Over 2000
SYDNEY, Australia — The Motion Pictures Distributors
Association of Australia announced on Jan. 21 that 2001 saw
92.5 million admits on the continent, a 17.8 percent increase
over 2000’s final tally.
The continent’s final box office gross of $419.7 million
($A812.3 million) was largely due to imports like “Shrek,”
“Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone,” “Moulin
Rouge” and “What Women Want.”
Although 2000’s figures showed the first sign of decline
in Australian admissions since 1987, 2001 re-established the
market as one of the healthiest in the world, averaging almost
five admits per head. Iceland, the leading market, averages
5.7 admissions per head.
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Pornography
Ban May Lift
Indian Censors Push
For U.S.-Style Ratings
BOMBAY, India — The Central Board of Film Certification
in India is asking the government to approve a U.S.-style
form of movie classification.
In the past, Indian censors have cut inappropriate material
out of films and have used a squad of police to enforce those
cuts — as was the case in January when police raided
a Bombay theatre allegedly showing nude scenes that had previously
been cut out by India’s censor board.
A U.S.-style Indian ratings system would potentially put an
end to banning pornographic films, although the board would
still retain the right to cut films in special cases.
Locals Limit Film Imports
Quotas Under Fire
in S. Korea & Spain
SEOUL, South Korea — Film quota systems came under fire
in late January from the local film communities in South Korea
and Spain.
After South Korean product skyrocketed to a 49.5 percent share
of the market in 2001, the United States. has been pushing
to end that nation’s screen quota system, which requires
all theatres to show local product 146 days out of the year.
Though the Korean National Assembly passed a resolution at
the end of 2000 demanding that the quota law not be compromised
in negotiations with the U.S.-Korea bilateral investment treaty
(BIT), officials of the South Korean government have hinted
they might reduce the quota from 146 days to 106 days, if
quotas are not abandoned entirely. Eight film associations
protested the negotiations, releasing a joint Jan. 23 declaration
demanding the government stop the negotiations on screen quotas.
South Korean exhibitors have taken the side of the United
States, since the nation’s ex-hibitors get a larger cut
on imported films.
Under Spanish law passed in mid-2001, exhibitors are required
to show one day of European product for every three days of
films from other continents. (Some American-finanaced films,
such as “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone”
and “Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring,”
count as European product under the law.)
Spain’s producers lobby has asked the government to tighten
the quota so that it would require one day of European film
for every two days of films from outside Europe.
Agreement
Protects Exhibs
Window Widening
For Hong Kong
HONG KONG — The Hong Kong Theatres Association (HKTA)
reached an agreement in late January with local distributors
to extend the territory’s theatrical release window to
at least one month, in order to protect an unstable exhibition
market from the DVDs and VCDs that offer current theatrical
titles.
VCDs and DVDs of a movie are often released in Hong Kong simultaneously
with, or within weeks of, the theatrical release of the same
movie.
Although American and other foreign films are included in
the guidelines, these films are usually subject to stricter
booking terms between distributors and exhibitors and enjoy
at least a 3-month theatrical window.
Distributors shortened the window due to the weak box office
performance of local films in recent years, and to protect
films from piracy. Some 130,000 pirated DVDs were siezed in
2000 and 300,000 pirated DVDs were seized between January
and October of 2001.
HKTA currently represents all of Hong Kong’s 62 sites.
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