Cinema advertising is experiencing major growth in China, with a 33% year-on-year increase even as the spot-per-screen-per-play cost has fallen from 16 yuan [USD $2.60] in 2011 to 12 yuan [USD $1.95] this year. As so often we are indebted to EntGroup for this data and analysis.

Due to the favorable impact of the film market, the size of 2014 Chinese cinema advertising revenues reflect the former is expected to reach 1.6 billion yuan [USD $2111 million], the growth rate will reach 33%. The past few years, reflecting the former theater advertising revenue trends can also be seen in 2011 before the outbreak of the advertising market is reflected, after two years the growth rate has declined, mainly due to the investment boom in theater construction has gradually become more rational, the number of screens growth rate slowed down, limiting the size of the market before the theater reflect the extensive expansion. In this stage, the theater before the advertising operator also reflect efforts to tap the market potential, try to change the direction of the intensive cultivation, in order to further improve the cinema advertising market size before mapping.  LINK

Cinema advertising has also been making great strides in India and afaqs! has an in-depth article providing excellent overview and lots of data about the whole Indian cinema and cinema advertising market. Recommended reading.

Onscreen ads are still the most preferred among brands. A multiplex plays an average of 23 ads (30 seconds each) or 12-15 minutes of advertising. The rate differs from chain to chain and could range from Rs. 7,000-20,000 [USD $115-330] for a 30-second ad. When it comes to off-screen models, poster branding costs between Rs. 15,000 and Rs. 30,000 [USD $248-496] a month per poster box while a standee costs around Rs. 18,000-25,000 [USD $298-414].

Brands are now beginning to opt for quarterly, semi-annual and annual deals. A niche or an upmarket product goes for screens attracting the SEC A+ audience, while a mass product goes for SEC A, AB screens. Says Shirish Srivastava, senior vice president – marketing & sales at Reliance MediaWorks, ”Today, 50 per cent of brands opt for the annual deals.” It insulates the brand from box-office failures.  LINK

[vimeo]http://vimeo.com/97172184[/vimeo]

USA (NY) – If you like your cinema advertising more interactive, Audience Entertainment has just announced that it is launching its software developer kit (SDK) next week for third parties to develop content for its platform.

The company plans to launch the SDK on Sept. 29, during Advertising Week, but it’s already taking early beta signups here. When asked about the extent to which Audience Entertainment will control the content on its network, Chief Marketing Officer Adam Cassels said that as the platform opens up, the company will be serving as “a conduit to interactive content” and will continue to perform “quality assurance.”

When I first heard the pitch, I thought of previous failed experiments in “interactive cinema“. But then I had a chance to try out the technology for myself — sadly not in a crowded movie theater, but using the camera in the Audience Entertainment conference room. As I played one of the games, I found myself enthusiastically (if awkwardly) jumping around in my seat to touch different cubes as they appeared onscreen.  LINK

Germany – Don’t write the obituary for 3D films just yet, at least not for Germany, where FFA reports that last year saw a significant increase in attendance.

In the last year the number of visitors has risen 3D again in German cinemas. A total of 28 million moviegoers have bought a ticket for a 3D movie – 5 percent more than in 2012 and so that is as many as never before. The 3D market share climbed to 22 percent (2%), more than one in five cinema thus accounted for a 3D movie. When sales were 3D to richer and scored (8%) the highest box-office since the 3D box office are reported individually with 289 million euros. These figures are confirmed by a recent study entitled “Moviegoers of 3D movies in 2013,” the FFA presents this year for the third time.  LINK

Germany – Staying in Germany we learn that a scheme has been launched for digitizing the remaining analogue cinemas, particularly small ones and those with particular ‘cultural value’.

Funding is provided within the available budget for the purpose of promotion. It serves the aim of achieving the widespread digitization of German cinema, to obtain a comprehensive receipt of screening locations for movies, especially the German film, and so the cultural diversity in the German cinema landscape. It is intended that such theaters are encouraged to perceive as a cultural one particular function and have not met the minimum eligibility criteria of the previous BKM-funding for digitization of cinemas (programming period 11.02.2012 to 31.12.2013).  LINK

Sehr geehrte Damen und Herren, Kinos mit hohem kulturellem Wert oder mit herausragendem filmkunstorientierten Programmen, die den Schritt in die digitale Ära noch nicht oder nur zu Teilen geschafft haben, können sich ab morgen für das zusätzliche BKM-Förderprogramm bewerben. Endlich einmal gute Nachrichten von Kulturstaatsministerin Monika Grütters für die deutsche Kinobranche. Wurde auch höchste Zeit! Herzliche Grüße – Ihre Barbara Schuster Redakteurin Kino Deutschland

Accessibility

UK – Poor show Empire Cinemas for not sorting out this issue faster. No way to treat your paying customers.

A disabled woman has been unable since Christmas to use the entrance of a Bromley cinema because of a broken lift.

Vanessa Stimpson, 46, has been in a wheelchair for more than 15 years and says going to the movies is one of her favourite pursuits.

But for around eight months the disabled access at Bromley’s Empire Cinema has been broken, forcing Miss Stimpson and her carer Natalie Colgan to have to use a side door.  LINK

Piracy

UK – Good to see a camcording pirate caught, tried, convicted, named and shamed. The moron criminal wasn’t caught in the cinema (where his camera battery ran out the first time), but used the same moniker uploading the film as on a dating site. Not too clever some of these film thieves.

Philip Danks secretly took a video of the movie at the Showcase Cinema in Walsall on May 17 last year – the day it was released in the UK before being shown anywhere else in the world .

He uploaded it onto the internet via his personal website Bit Buddy the following day after converting the pirated camcorder version into a digital copy.

That copy – which carried his tell tale ‘tag’ Thecod3r – was then downloaded free of charge by around 779,000 people in the next four weeks, Wolverhampton Crown Court was told yesterday.  LINK

People

Australia – Hoyts have made several senior and mid-level managers redundant as it prepares for its IPO and puts its planned VoD service on ice.

Hoyts Entertainment Group Australia has confirmed the departure of its chief marketing and digital officer, Crispin Tristram, as one of several redundancies made across the business.

According to a report on IF magazine, Tristram was one of 20 redundancies made across the business as part of an ongoing restructure. Other executives to depart include chief operating officer, Matthew Liebmann; director of programming and long-serving employee, Frank Perikleous; and general manager of digital content, Linda Hickey.  LINK

Event Cinema

UK – Not quite a first for event cinema, as some opera tickets are released on the day cheaply, but still interesting to see cinema prices higher than those in the venue itself.

A series of theatre productions from the Summerhall venue are being broadcast live to audiences at Odeon cinemas across the country.

The live venue, at Summerhall Place, Edinburgh, is just a mile away from the Odeon on Lothian Road, which is also screening the broadcast.

Cinema punters are paying up to £8 a ticket while preview screenings at the theatre cost as little as £5.  LINK

Community Cinema

UK – Another example of cinema’s ability to rally the community into action of turning a bingo hall back into a cinema.

A DREAM to reopen Hucknall’s historic Byron Cinema is now one step closer to reality after more than 20 volunteers helped collect 400 seats for the auditorium.

The good news comes after the Post reported earlier this month that a deal to buy seats from Nottingham Royal Concert Hall had fallen through.

Now, with the help of local residents, 400 red seats have been transferred from the Plaza cinema in Stockport to Hucknall.  LINK

UK (Wales) – Proof just how well community cinemas can be down. Faced with a threat of closure a year ago, this cinema has now been nominated for Cinema of the Year.

WALES’ Oldest cinema, the Market Hall Cinema in Brynmawr has been nominated for Cinema of the Year.

The cinema which faced closure last year is celebrating being nominated as Cinema Of The Year 2014 at the prestigious UK Screen Awards.

The cinema has been run by the Market Hall Brynmawr Community Group since its re-opening in June, 2013.  LINK

Cinema Opening/Closings

Trinidad & Tobago – No sooner had T&T swanky new multiplex in San Fernando opened to great fanfare then it was unceremoniously shut.

Police and fire prevention officers have shut down the newly-opened $20 million Caribbean Cinemas South Park ten multiplex cinema, just a day after its gala opening in San Fernando, saying the complex did not have a cinema licence to operate. The ultra-modern multiplex cinema was opened by acting mayor of San Fernando Junia Ragrello on Tuesday night. Around 3 pm yesterday, police, led by Senior Supt Cecil Santana, Supt James, attorney PC Phillips and a team of fire officers, supervised by assistant divisional fire officer Steven John, went to the entertainment centre at Michael Rahael Boulevard Tarouba, San Fernando and spoke with the project manager, who identified himself as Mr Lee.

“I asked if they had a cinema licence to operate. He said they were awaiting that from the court. I told them that until they acquired that licence, they cannot operate,” Santana said.  LINK

USA (OK) – Carmike is one of the new tenants of the planned mall in Tulsa, though “mall” is now a dirty word so it’s called a retail centre. And the commentators are complaining that there is no gym.

Developers for the long-delayed Walk at Tulsa Hills, a $32.5 million, 155,000-square-foot retail center under construction south of Tulsa Hills at 81st Street and U.S. 75, announced a slew of upcoming tenants at the development’s official groundbreaking Wednesday.

They include a 12-screen Carmike Cinema, Chuy’s Mexican restaurant, a 45,000-square-foot Gander Mountain outdoor store, a Mathis Brothers Sleep Center, an Aldi grocery and a Freddie’s Frozen Custard and Steakburgers were all announced by Gary Parkes, executive vice president of developer Parkes Development Group.  LINK

UK – You might have trouble taking a taxi to this future cinema.

The main night-time taxi rank in Stafford town centre will shut to make way for a new cinema as part of a multi-million-pound development – sparking anger among cab drivers.

The five-space rank in Bridge Street would be moved to the nearby South Walls when the five-screen cinema is constructed on the old Chicago Rock cafe site. Part of Bridge Street would also be closed to traffic from the junction with South Walls from 11pm in the evening to cut the risks to pedestrians.  LINK

Finally

One of the reasons this summer’s box office is down in the US is the absence of any Pixar film. But with Micheal Bay’s Transformers 4 and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles doing stonking business, we leave you with a trailer of what could have been, if Michael Bay had directed Pixar’s UP. In one word – EXPLOSIVE!