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South
Korean Venture Sets Goal For 2004
Megabox Aims For 100+
SEOUL, South Korea – South Korea’s Megabox
Cineplex announced in September plans to increase its
46-screen circuit to 100-150 screens nationally by 2004.
Onex
Corp. and Oaktree Capital plan to invest $21 million
in the expansion, triggered by the growing success of
the Korean film industry.
Megabox
currently operates its flagship 16-plex in Seoul’s
COEX mall, which attracts 6 million moviegoers annually.
South
Korea’s screen count has already rocketed from
497 in 1997 to 820 currently. According to the Korean
Film Commission, admissions are also rising rapidly,
from 64.6 million in 2000 to 87.9 million last year.
Sony
Pictures Program
Japanese Make Choices
With ‘Dream Theatre’
TOKYO – Sony Pictures Entertainment has introduced
a new service called “Dream Theatre” that
lets Japanese moviegoers decide the what, when and where
of their movies.
By
logging onto Sony’s fee-based MovieEater
Website, film fans can suggest favorite titles
and opt for the times and venues that best suit them.
When 100 to 150 people concur on a selection, they will
be able to collectively lease a screen to view their
chosen film.
Dream
Theatre allows audiences to pick from classic films
as well as recent releases. The concept creates a revenue-generating
market for Sony’s library of titles while limiting
risk by providing a guaranteed audience.
Regular
Dream Theatre service was scheduled to begin in late
September.
Summertime
Stats
French Titles Up;
French Admits Down
PARIS – A record 26 French titles were released
in French moviehouses over the summer, but French cinemas
sold 6.4 million fewer tickets this summer than they
did last summer, according to a report in Screen
Daily.
The
trade paper also reported that by summer’s end
French moviegoers had this year bought 19.5 million
tickets to U.S. films, and only 4.4 million tickets
to French films.
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MPA
Estimates
75% Of Malaysian Vid
Discs Believed Pirated
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia – Malaysian authorities
have been cracking down on video piracy in recent months,
but despite numerous arrests and the confiscation of
over 1 million pirated DVDs and VCDs, the country continues
to be a hot spot for intellectual property theft.
The
Washington, D.C.-based Motion Picture Association (MPA)
estimates that piracy represents approximately 75 percent
of the Malaysian video market’s revenue (or about
$40 million in annual losses for Hollywood studios).
This makes Malaysia one of the primary piracy offenders,
along with China (88 percent), Indonesia (90 percent),
the Philippines (80 percent) and Thailand (65 percent).
While piracy accounts for only 7.4 percent of the Japanese
video market’s revenue, this adds up to a substantial
annual loss of $110 million.
Philippines & Hong Kong
East Wages
War On Pirates
MANILA, Philippines – Nearly 1.7 million pieces
of pirated VCDs, DVDs, VHS and cassette disks were seized
in early July by government agents led by Video Regulatory
Board chairman Ramon Revilla Jr. and Philippine president
Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.
Revilla
and Macapagal-Arroyo joined movie representatives in
celebration by burning and crushing the discs and tapes
with hulking vehicles.
The
seizure was in support of the president’s aggressive
plan to crack down on video piracy, which is said to
contribute to the plummeting rate of local film production.
The current annual rate of production rests at 30-40
films, compared with the former high of 300-400 Filipino
films yearly, according to Variety.
Revilla
plans to continue the raids in an ongoing effort to
wage war on video piracy, which has taken nearly 187,000
jobs away from workers in the film industry.
Motion Picture Association (MPA) regional director/VP
Mike Ellis told the trade paper the anti-piracy campaign
has succeeded in reducing the number of pirate shops
from more than 1,000 to around 160.
The
MPA is working with Hong Kong customs and Shenzhen authorities
to catch smugglers trying to cross the border. In May,
according to Variety, authorities arrested a Hong Kong
man and seized 2,000 pirated DVDs. A subsequent four
arrests in Shenzhen resulted in the seizure of 54,000
DVDs.
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