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India Opens International Day at CinemaCon 2023 – Keynote by Ajay Bijli of PVR INOX

At CinemaCon 2023’s International Day the honour of the International Keynote Addresses from Exhibition went to Mr Ajay Bijli, Managing Director, PVR INOX Leisure Limited & Founder PVR Cinemas. India’s two largest cinema operators PVR Limited and INOX Leisure had recently merged to f…

Russia Set to Sanction Illegal Screenings of Hollywood Films

The Russian parliament (Duma) has put forward a proposal for the “compulsory licensing of foreign films.” Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February of last year, Hollywood studios have stopped distributing films in Russia. This means that only illegally obtained copies of film…

CJ EXCLUSIVE: Russia’s Largest Cinema Chain Sues IMAX

Russia’s largest cinema chain has filed a lawsuit against IMAX, demanding that the large format company resumes operations in Russia. The lawsuit from the joint cinema chains Formula Kino and Cinema Park is due to IMAX pulling out of Russia on 1 June of this year, after Hollywood studios and o…

Universal's "Minions: The Rise of Gru"

CJ Exclusive: Russia’s Largest Cinema Chain Abandons Piracy Plans

Russia’s largest multiplex operator has abandoned plans to show Hollywood films by utilising a loophole of dubious copyright legality. United chain Kino Park and Formula Kino was getting ready to screen Universal Picture and Illumination’s “Minions: the Rise of Gru” as a ‘cinema product’. However, t…

Korean Box Office Pandemic Recovery

South Korea’s Cinema Recovery Highlights Staffing Shortages

South Korea has become the last major global cinema territory to see a strong recovery, thanks to a combination of Marvel and a lifting of restrictions. “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness” scored an impressive USD $29.1 million five-day opening, off a USD $14.4 million opening…

Cinema United in Solidarity With Ukraine

Film is a widely used propaganda tool especially in times of war but simply keeping cinemas open can be an act of defiance. In Ukraine, local exhibitors are intent on business as usual even while shopping malls which house many of the country’s multiplexes are being destroyed. Planeta Kino, a networ…

Cinema Reopenings in Italy Point the Way for the Rest of Europe

On 26th April 2021, Italian director Nanni Moretti had a special date: open the doors of his own cinema in Rome, the Nuovo Sacher, and greet the audience coming in after six months of darkness. Miles away through the north of the peninsula, in Milan, another cinema was the very first to reopen in It…

Italy’s Cinemas Prepare to Re-Open After Europe’s Longest Closure

June 15th is the date that all the Italian cinema industry has marked in red on the calendar. One month to reopen with a new normality since that decision on 16th May when PM Giuseppe Conte announced cinemas and theatre will be allowed to turn on projectors and lift up their curtains again. Italy wa…

Russia Is Now Europe’s Largest Cinema Territory

Russia overtook France in 2017 to become Europe’s biggest cinema territory in terms of admissions according to provisional data on cinema attendance published by European cinema trade body UNIC. Around 213.6 million tickets were sold in the Russian Federation, compared to 209.2 million in Fran…

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (C) and Managing Director of International Monetary Fund Christine Lagarde (L) attend the Future Investment Initiative (FII) conference in Riyadh, on October 24, 2017. The Crown Prince pledged a "moderate, open" Saudi Arabia, breaking with ultra-conservative clerics in favour of an image catering to foreign investors and Saudi youth. "We are returning to what we were before -- a country of moderate Islam that is open to all religions and to the world," he said at the economic forum in Riyadh. / AFP PHOTO / FAYEZ NURELDINE (Photo credit should read FAYEZ NURELDINE/AFP/Getty Images)

Cinema is Coming to Saudi Arabia – Winners and Losers

Saudi Arabia is to allow cinema after 35 years of absence. The first cinemas could open as soon as March of 2018, with several operators vying for prime position. The aim is to have 2,000 screens in over 300 cinemas by 2030 in the country of over 32 million inhabitants. Below we examine the prospect…