On the morning of March 12th of this year, Leon Newnham, the Chief Executive Officer of Vista Cinema, woke up to discover much of his hard work over the past several weeks would be for naught. The growing coronavirus pandemic…
After more than five months of empty auditoriums and soundless popcorn machines, many movie theaters around the world have reopened their doors again in anticipation of Christopher Nolan’s “Tenet”. Despite a less-than-optimal global climate and several deferrals of the movie’s…
Celluloid Junkie is proud to have partnered with Vista Cinema for the Cinema of the Month series. Vista is the world’s leading cinema management software solutions company. We won’t just be featuring cinemas whose operators use Vista, but we will…
Forty-one territories later, Warner Bros’ long-awaited and much anticipated “Tenet” did more than predicted. Outside of America’s domestic market, Christopher Nolan’s big screen metaphysical action film grossed $53m during a five day opening weekend. Screens opening on August 26th lead…
Last Wednesday I attended a 1:00 pm showing of “Tenet” on its opening day in one of London’s biggest multiplexes. I think it was a “sell out” – it certainly looked pretty full – but I genuinely have no idea….
I squinted at my phone at 6:00 am on the 12th of March. “Did you see that they cancelled CinemaCon as well as all flights to and from Mainland Europe?” read the text. The news had broken overnight (for those…
With the banner, “Because you’re tired of watching movies on your laptop” boldly displayed across its homepage, Cinema Treasures is the world’s largest guide to all things movie theater. Now in its 20th year and listing over 53,000 venues and…
To say that 2020 has been a bad year for cinema operators and theatrical film distributors would be quite the understatement. With COVID-19 shuttering most of the world’s movie theaters, global box office is down well over 70% from last…
Their first-ever event at East London’s Stratford Picturehouse completely sold out in 2013. In 2017, directing legend Spike Lee collaborated on a central London event with them. In early 2020, they were recipients of a Lodestar award from Film London….
Global data kindly provided by Comscore. With almost 50% of cinemas around the world back in business, the big screen is stretching and coming out of its deep sleep. “Tenet” tickets have gone on sale, spreading like wildfire across social…
It has sadly not been uncommon for re-opened cinema to be forced to shutter their doors again in many part of the world. China was first with the brief re-opening in the spring quickly ending and cinemas in Dalian also…
During a long stint in hospital, patients – and their families/carers – often have no respite or distractions from their (often serious) illnesses or upcoming treatment. UK charity MediCinema aimed to change exactly this when it was founded in 1999…
Global data kindly provided by Comscore. With cinema starting to bloom open across the globe – with Beijing opening up while spikes as seen in Dalian shuttered cinemas in that area – the theatrical industry is stirring from its ventilator. It…
So what now? That seems to be the common refrain from most cinema industry followers as this past week we watched more high profile films moved back to 2021. As cinemas reopen in some parts of the world, and as…
The film industry has, for the last 100 years, always proven itself to be recession-proof, having reaped the benefits of being affordable Out Of Home (OOH) leisure entertainment. But sadly, the last four to six months have shown the industry…
Celluloid Junkie is proud to have partnered with Vista Cinema for the Cinema of the Month series. Vista is the world’s leading cinema management software solutions company. We won’t just be featuring cinemas whose operators use Vista, but we will…
Global data kindly provided by Comscore. This week’s box office – focusing on the first two weeks of July – was widely varied as the pandemic continues to allow some little pigs to go to market while making other little…
In Germany, most cinemas have opened their doors again after the three-month COVID-19 lockdown. “The dates for the reopening have been set,” says Christine Berg, Chairperson of the Hauptverband Deutscher Filmtheater (HDF). “Unlike other European countries, it was not possible…
Never has there been a time where an effective marketing strategy will be a more important asset to cinema exhibitors, as movie theatres reopen their doors the world over. Yes, there’s a keen desire to come back to the movies…
With cinemas re-opening all over the world, but major Hollywood tentpoles either repeatedly postponed or going straight-to-VoD, returning moviegoers have had to make do with holdover titles (“1917,” “Little Women”) and older re-releases (“Jaws” and “Jurassic Park” topped North American…
As cinemas re-open, people have been understandably concerned about the issue of wearing masks within cinema interiors. But are we missing a bigger factor in potential transmission of the Coronavirus, that is the HVAC or heating, ventilation and air conditioning…
Exhibitors are dying to reopen movie theatres. Studios are dying to release blockbuster films. But will fans be ready to risk dying to see them? That’s the dilemma facing our industry in what could be a cruel summer of dashed…
Most movie industry observers figured that Warner Brothers would have to make a decision on whether to fire the starter’s gun on the “summer” movie season by launching Christopher Nolan’s “Tenet” on July 17th by the middle of June. The…
The global COVID-19 pandemic, and resulting government-enforced lockdowns, has pushed the international cinema industry to its limits. But throughout this time, innovation and a strong sense of community has surfaced, with exhibitors around the world using the downtime to plan…
So far, 2020 has been an eventful year for the international cinema exhibition industry, and not in the way we all hoped. That said, before the global COVID-19 pandemic struck, the previous twelve months were marked by some incredible achievements…
Celluloid Junkie’s ‘Re-Opening & Re-Imagining Cinemas‘ is a series of articles that tracks how cinemas around the world resume operations and seek to build a better cinema experience. We thank everyone who has contributed to this effort. It seems like…
Tomorrow, Thursday June 11th, our fifth annual list of the Top Women in Global Cinema (TWiGC) will be revealed. This year, for the first time ever, it will be announced live on the #CJCinemaSummit, starting 17:00 London time and 9:00…
Cinema-on-demand in an actual cinema is a wow, who knew? This ‘private cinema show of your own’ proves that the moviegoing tradition can stay alive even when there’s no new product to show. Despite having run out of audience for…
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…
As someone who made a living in the movie industry for over two decades and now writes about it, it pains me to admit this: I’m scared for what it’ll look like this time next year. I know, we’ve been…
In one of the most famous scenes in the 1992 film, “The Last of the Mohicans”, Daniel Day Lewis’ character tells Madeleine Stowe, “You stay alive, no matter what occurs, I will find you.” That’s a rather apt analogy for…
As the worldwide Coronavirus pandemic continues, some (happier, and perhaps unintentional) consequences of the international shutdown of human activity have been the temporary drop in carbon emissions and thriving wildlife enjoying homo sapiens respite. And so in the spirit of…
Celluloid Junkie’s ‘Re-Opening & Re-Imagining Cinemas‘ is a series of articles that tracks how cinemas around the world resume operations and seek to build a better cinema experience. We thank everyone who has contributed to this effort. As highlighted in…
“Never let a good crisis go to waste”, Winston Churchill famously said. All too often in business we can become complacent, getting consumed by the day to day and not questioning the norm. In challenging times however, we have the…
Drive-in cinemas have been experiencing a renaissance in Germany ever since the epidemic lockdown forced movie theaters to close their doors on March 16. Over the course of the past few weeks, the number of drive-in cinemas increased from a…
This week, I was poring over the most recent results from our 2nd national survey wave, in as many months, about consumer sentiment pertaining to when audiences think they’ll return to the theatrical movie experience, post-Coronavirus. As the head of research…
Many disruptions brought about by the coronavirus pandemic have devastated the global cinema industry, with one such example being the cancellation of the annual, much-anticipated CinemaCon. During this year’s Las Vegas conference a host of awards were due to be…
From the very moment in mid-March when the COVID-19 pandemic forced most cinemas around the world to shut their doors, they began to contemplate not only when they could reopen, but how they could do so in a way that…
While there is no doubt that the coronavirus pandemic has been devastating to small businesses, one of the more interesting aspects has been the technological response to support the businesses most affected by coronavirus. Whether it’s a local coffee shop,…
If you had switched off the news over the weekend (we don’t blame you), you probably missed the fact that the CMX, the eighth largest cinema chain in the United States, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy this past Friday. Given…
The past few days have seen many countries taking their first (baby) steps into a post-lockdown world. The nature of which vary drastically from nation to nation – for some it’s schools, others it’s bookshops. In certain US states it…
When Peter Fornstam was awarded the UNIC Achievement Award in the summer of 2019 he probably didn’t expect that less than a year later his would be the last major cinema chain in Europe keeping the projectors lights burning. But…
“Everybody talks as if they know what’s going to happen, and nobody knows what’s going to happen.” – Charlie Munger, Berkshire Hathaway Vice Chairman, The Wall Street Journal, April 17, 2020 The economic damage inflicted by COVID-19 is only beginning,…
This interview with Kim Ludolf Koch, CEO of Cineplex (Germany), was first published in Blickpunkt: Film on 15 April and conducted by Marc Mensch. It is re-published here with their kind permission. The English version is a Google Translation with…
There’s a favorite New England saying, “If you don’t like the weather wait 10 minutes and it will all change.” Welcome to 2020 in the movie business. Obviously this year has been unlike any other (I will make a concerted…
The Coronavirus pandemic has brought a surge of urban cinemas screening anywhere but the movie theatre. Homes around the world have been making outdoor home cinemas with a large screen and some chairs. Real cinemas are selling popcorn outside of…
There are few things that we know for certain these days in the entertainment sphere (besides that everyone we know has watched “Tiger King”). Information divides opinion and headlines now draw polarising conclusions from observers and armchair commentators. Mainstream media…
These haven’t been a pleasant two months for the movie industry. Those of us who follow the film business, or simply just love movies, have watched as moviegoing has been completely upended, along with the rest of the entertainment sector,…
International cinema trade body UNIC has launched a comprehensive guide to help cinemas across Europe, with detailed information about cinema closures, possible re-opening dates as well as overviews of public funding initiatives and support. UNIC has also been active in…
If you were to run a poll amongst cinema-goers worldwide asking them why they go to the movies, the result would overwhelmingly be a combination of escapism from the real world and the social experience. As a sector that can…
The film industry, and exhibition in particular, is in a state of flux. With the US box office reporting $0 for the first time, exhibitors of all sizes around the world are going to find the next few months difficult,…
It’s been said before and will continue to be said, but these are unprecedented times in the cinema industry. Over 94% of the world’s commercial cinemas are presently closed due to the coronavirus pandemic. Exhibitors of all sizes are having…
It’s been a little over a week since the majority of the world’s cinema screens turned dark and despite an absence of customers, new releases and box office analysis, in many ways our sector has never been busier as it…
“Electric tiaras” are what theatre historian Ben M. Hall called the movie marquee. The cinema marquee and its readograph – the backlit sign written with moveable letters – is as important as the movie poster. Originally a rectangular sign, its…
It’s been a long old year, this week. It’s a sobering thought that our industry, like many others, temporarily doesn’t exist. In a little more than a week we at Celluloid Junkie have gone from tracking and reporting on the…
In these days of self-isolation, “vectoring” only with those you must, going out to the cinema is not an option – or is it? As the coronavirus closes multiplexes, movie theatres, outdoor screenings and specialist cinematic events in the west,…
“Lose our jobs and starve, most likely.” The Vulture critic Bilge Ebiri’s response to the question, “What will film critics do if all cinemas close for several months” was pithy and to the point. In a profession that had already…
In less than 24 hours two starkly different approaches emerged as to how cinemas in the UK will treat their staff while they are closed because of the Coronavirus outbreak. This was also one of the hot topics at yesterday’s…
In his 1982 collection of speeches and essays about the struggle for justice taking place in South Africa, Bishop Desmond Tutu wrote: A time of crisis is not just a time of anxiety and worry. It gives a chance, an…
When should you release your USD $1 billion+ Blockbuster? Given the number of releases that have radically shifted release dates (Bond in November, “Fast & Furious 9” next year), the question is more crucial than ever to box office success….
This post will be updated throughout today. Please check back for updates. It is sadly becoming easier to track which countries haven’t closed their cinemas, than keeping track of all the ones where they have closed. Germany, Sweden, UK and…
The first ever spacewalk made by an all female team. The European Commission’s first woman President and the most gender-balanced college in history. Finland’s all female government coalition led by the youngest head of state in the world – these…
This post will be updated throughout the day (13 March 2020) as news emerges and things change at a fast pace. Thank you also to all those who have sent in news and kept us informed. Please send updates you…
Unless you’ve been living in an igloo or are part of the Trump Administration you’ve probably heard that there’s this pesky coronavirus called COVID-19 going around the world. Thousands have been infected and entire territories have come to a virtual…
As Bond is followed by the bunny in getting its release date shifted, with SPE’s “Peter Rabbit 2: The Runaway” moved from March 27 (Easter) to August (five month later), we look at the latest news from around the world…
Cineworld has come out top in an analysis of which UK cinema chain’s website in was best “in terms of their effective engagement with online audiences.” The study was part of an annual review conducted by online marketing specialists Gruvi. The…
Located at the geographic crossroads of Europe and Eurasia, Poland is no stranger to conflict, having suffered numerous wars and invasions during it tumultuous history. Today it again finds itself in a three-way battle, only this time it is over…
When James Bond moves, everyone pays attention. As arguably the best known film franchise of all time, with a combined unadjusted gross of nearly $7 billion, James Bond has set the pace for earnings, consistency and remaining an event that…
Much like a Beach Boys song from the 1960s, North American distribution has been focused far too long on the spoils of summer, jamming tentpole after tentpole into the four-month long summer season. I’m sure there’s a musical analogy for…
Here is a roundup of the latest news in the global cinema market as it relates to the coronavirus COVID-19 outbreak. China – Beijing Municipal Government held its 34th coronavirus press conference, stating that the local cinema industry is not…
The Corona Virus may now be spreading faster outside of China than in it, but Arnauld Vialle, the owner of the Rex Cinema in Sarlat (Dordogne, France) doesn’t appear to be too worried at all. “As long as we don’t…
Celluloid Junkie is proud to have partnered with Vista Cinema for the Cinema of the Month series. Vista is the world’s leading cinema management software solutions company. We won’t just be featuring cinemas whose operators use Vista, but we will…
Europe, along with the rest of the world, has a plastic waste issue in that there’s a lot (too much) of it in everyday circulation. In particular for Pathé NL, the Netherlands’ largest cinema company, 0.5L drink bottles were a…
This is a roundup of cinema news related to the global Corona virus (Covid-19) outbreak. It is important to remember that while the virus is more contagious than previous SARS outbreaks, it has a relatively low mortality rate of 2%…
It’s feast or famine when prognosticators look at box office prospects. In 2019, everyone saw a calendar year bursting with sure-fire billion dollar grosses like “Avengers: EndGame,” “Frozen II,” “Star Wars: The Rise Of Skywalker” and “Toy Story 4.” They…
Sat alongside straws and napkins on a cinema concessions counter in South Korea is a bottle of hand sanitizer. The few remaining customers wear face masks, and have had their temperature taken with a gun-like device on entrance to the…
2019 was an eventful year for cinema. Worldwide box office grew to a record $42.5 billion, the Guardian announced that the growth in pre-show advertising would overtake growth in internet advertising for the first time in 20 years, and Moviepass…
If you’re reading this the chances are that you are well versed in the “is Netflix Killing Cinema” notion, as you may well have been for “is VHS killing Cinema” iteration decades previously. Whilst external commentators band around assumptions based…
European cinema attendance last year not only recovered from the slight slump of 2018, but went on to break records as the highest this century. Preliminary 2019 statistics from cinema trade body UNIC shows that more than 1.34 billion admissions…
Hollywood today is mirroring Hollywood in the 1960s, so if you want to know how we will view Hollywood today just look at how we view Hollywood back then. By the 1960s, movie theater attendances had dropped super-low because people…
After our pre-Christmas look at Barco’s efforts towards operating more sustainably we now turn our attention to fellow digital cinema projector manufacturers Christie and NEC. We also take a look into the wider issue of corporate environmental responsibility and action…
Having slightly dreaded revisiting our cinema predictions from a year ago, we were pleasantly surprised to discover just how much we managed to get right. And this wasn’t just right in the way that even a clock that’s stopped shows…
The nominations are open for Celluloid Junkie’s annual Top Women in Global Cinema, now in its fifth year of recognizing the important work done by women who work in the business of showing films in cinemas. It is particularly significant…
The announcement that Regal Cinemas is switching from Coke to Pepsi has not gone down well with most people on social media. The announcement came after a flirty Twitter campaign between the official @RegalMovies and @Pepsi accounts, proclaiming their mutual…
Before 2019 vanishes in the rearview mirror, let’s take a last look at who was king and queen of the multiplex over the past 12 months, as well as who ended up in the bin with the popcorn sweepings. Remember,…
Yes, there were movie houses as magical as the one greeted by Jimmy Stewart in It’s A Wonderful Life. I worked in one of them, writes Karen Krizanovich in this exclusive CJ Christmas cinema column. Single-screen cinemas were all we…
Having spent more than two decades of her career in the hospitality and events industry, Debbie Stanford-Kristiansen was presented with a new challenge when she was asked to head up Gulf cinema company Novo. Despite feeling as though it may…
Celluloid Junkie is proud to have partnered with Vista Cinema for the Cinema of the Month series. Vista is the world’s leading cinema management software solutions company. We won’t just be featuring cinemas whose operators use Vista, but we will surely…
The second video in our “Women in Cinema” series, in partnership with the Cinema Technology Community (CTC), features the delectable Mariam el Bacha, CEO of Pakistan’s largest cinema company, Cinepax. I sat down with her to discuss her international career,…
In the Austin Powers films, arch-nemesis Dr Evil’s plan for his “laser” had somewhat less-than-sustainable motives, including blasting through the Ozone layer and attaching them to the heads of sharks (the curious part of me would still like to see…
Chinese media report that GDC Technology is selling a 36% stake in GDC Technology Limited (British Virgin Islands) currently held by GDC Technology Limited (Cayman Islands) to Appotronics for USD $18.2 million. Appotronics is one of the four join venture…
Most people who work in or around the cinema industry have at some point had the same thought; ‘I could run my own cinema’. Whether large or small, multiplex or bijou , that impulse to build and open your own…
UNIC’s annual Cinema Days, our autumn convention where more than 180 industry leaders join us in Brussels for two days of panels, workshops and networking, also provides an occasion for participants of the UNIC Women’s Cinema Leadership Programme to come…
We’re delighted to present the first video of the “Women in Cinema” series with none other than Laura Houlgatte, CEO of UNIC. The “Women in Cinema” series came to life at this year’s CineEurope in Barcelona, the brainchild of Cinema…
In its never-ending quest to win an Oscar for Best Picture, it seems that Netflix will be releasing at least one of their original movies into cinemas each year in some form or fashion. Questions remain, however, exactly what forms…
In case you haven’t been to a SMPTE Technical Conference, don’t expect a CinemaCon-style large central trade show dispensing various new flavors of soft drinks with this years hip version of molded sugar treats. There aren’t even presentations of laser…
This week Indian multiplex major INOX inaugurated its first Megaplex, promising the “World’s First Cinema with Maximum Formats, Maximum Experiences” – and delivered on that claim. It was hard not to be impressed by the number of formats the multiplex…
Part Two – Costa: Creating Value From Waste Welcome back to part two of our CineEurope Coca-Cola Sustainability seminar round up. If you missed part one – covering the EU’s directive on plastic waste & marine litter, and Coke’s sustainability…
Award-winning Yorck Kinos is the largest cinema company in Berlin, with 14 indoor sites, and an open-air cinema, dotted around the city. Predominantly set in restored Grade II listed buildings, the architecture is varied and impressive, with their oldest building…
Celluloid Junkie is proud to have partnered Vista Cinema for the Cinema of the Month series. Vista is the world’s leading cinema management software solutions company. We won’t just be featuring cinemas whose operators use Vista, but we will surely mention…
Barco has entered the race for the next generation of projector-less direct-view cinema LED screens with a major deal in China. The share exchange tie-up with Shenzhen Zhouming Technology will see Barco develop LED screens specifically for the cinema display…
Over the past three years, CineEurope has become a celebratory place for participants of the UNIC Women’s Cinema Leadership Programme, where lessons are learned, success is measured and where finish lines mean new beginnings. This year, we marked the end…
Chinese-language media reports that Huayi Brothers is selling its 90.5% stake in GDC Technology, the leading Asian cinema server and equipment vendor [PDF link to financial filing here]. Huayi announced on 3 September that it’s wholly-owned subsidiary Huayi International Investment…
Poland has long been the fastest growing cinema market in Central Europe, if not the whole of Europe. Yet in the shadow of the multiplex majors Cinema City, Helios and Multikino a small cinema chain is carving out a different…
Part One – No Time To Waste Despite CineEurope 2019 now seeming like a distant memory, sustainability is a topic that doesn’t lose relevance (also see: Celluloid Junkie’s new regular feature CJ Green). The Celluloid Junkie team attended the second…
Earlier this week Regal Cinemas “officially” launched their all-you-can watch moviegoing subscription and we now have actual details to review (as we will below). The reason for the quotation marks around the word – officially – is because it was…
CineEurope 2019 marked the end of the second edition of the UNIC Women’s Cinema Leadership Programme. While the programme continues with a new cohort of mentors and mentees on board, we wanted to exchange thoughts with two of our graduating…
Our first CJ Green post is firmly focused on the United Kingdom’s Curzon Cinemas. Particular thanks to Jordan Bedding, Sustainability Manager at Curzon, for his help and time providing information and answering numerous questions. A Bit On Curzon’s Background Curzon…
Celluloid Junkie is proud to have partnered with Vista Cinema for the Cinema of the Month series. Vista is the world’s leading cinema management software solutions company. We won’t just be featuring cinemas whose operators use Vista, but we will surely…
During the first week of June we received a lead on a story that, though initially skeptical, we couldn’t ignore. Apparently Movio had helped one of their clients improve their marketing emails, growing their click rate by 18% and, maybe…
Nobody can deny the importance of China as a cinema market, having overtaken the United States in screen count in December 2016 and has the second biggest box office in the world after North America. Now consultant and audit group…
As delegates make there way to Barcelona, Spain for CineEurope 2019, one of the highlights at this year’s conference will undoubtedly be when Peter Fornstam of Svenska Bio will pick up the UNIC Achievement Award. Fornstam is not only the…
CineEurope 2019 is just around the sun-drenched corner and Celluloid Junkie will be attending in force, with Patrick, Sperling and Helen all there. This year we are thrilled to have our own interview booth on the stand of our terrific…
It was the piracy nightmare that was supposed to be technically impossible. Hollywood studios had spent years coming up with the digital cinema specifications and a certification process that ensured military-grade encryption would protect the latest blockbuster film releases. Camcording,…
Interview with pioneering mentees Grainne Peat, Magdalena Lewicka and Lucie Morvan The UNIC Women’s Cinema Leadership Programme was launched in 2017 as the first cross sector and cross-country mentoring scheme for up-and-coming female talent in cinema exhibition. A year since…
Popcorn: almost as synonymous with cinema as watching the actual film itself, not least because of the sensory ambience created by the freshly popped smell. But popcorn as a cinema snack has a reputation for being pricey and at GBP…
The boisterous response “John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum” received from the audience after winning the Best Action Trailer award early on during the 20th Annual Golden Awards on Wednesday evening should have been enough to predict that the movie…
Cinema has transcended many a barrier, from the analogue era to the digital cinema evolution. India despite being one of the largest cinema markets has been a very complex one. This has been evident in the adoption of digital cinema…
Celluloid Junkie is proud to have partnered with Vista Cinema for the Cinema of the Month series. Vista is the world’s leading cinema management software solutions company. We won’t just be featuring cinemas whose operators use Vista, but we will surely mention…
When movie stars like Julianne Moore, Gong Li, Adam Driver and Tilda Swinton strutted up the red carpet to attend the opening ceremony of the 2019 Cannes Film Festival on Tuesday, those who had journeyed to the French Riviera beach…
CinemaCon as a tech show is amazing for new good ideas. 4K RGB for the price of 2K laser phosphor… good idea. 10 years of support included in the price of the projector… good idea. Not blaming Netflix for cinema’s…
CinemaCon 2019 was bracketed by two PLF-style announcements, with a third announced the week prior. All three involve high profile manufacturers and industry specialists. Each announcement has enough nuanced information to make the future for all of them …interesting. On…
Cinema has the unique potential to inspire, boost dialogue and empower its audiences. It is therefore crucial for the industry to reflect its diverse cinema-going community both on- and off-screen, in the interest of promoting engagement and inclusiveness and leading…
For the fourth year Celluloid Junkie celebrates outstanding achievements in cinema with the list of over 50 women that have had the biggest impact on the global exhibition business, this year in partnership with Boxoffice Magazine. These are industry leaders…
Tomorrow Celluloid Junkie publishes the fourth annual list of the Top 50 Women in Global Cinema, this year in partnership with our friends at Boxoffice Magazine. As always, it is a privilege to get to shine a spotlight on the…
Until Marvel Studios’ “Captain Marvel” swooped in and boosted the global box office, Hollywood was struggling to kickstart 2019 and an uncertain year stretched ahead. Which is perhaps why, at least in part, two international cinema operators are actively diversifying…
Celluloid Junkie is proud to have partnered with Vista Cinema for the Cinema of the Month series. Vista is the world’s leading cinema management software solutions company. We won’t just be featuring cinemas whose operators use Vista, but we will surely…
Open letter from Philip Knatchbull, Curzon CEO Given Vue CEO Tim Richards’ recent letter to BAFTA, which implicates Curzon, I feel obliged to clarify our position regarding the current cinema vs. streaming debate. At Curzon, we have have been releasing…
This article is part of a short series on tackling gender imbalance in cinema exhibition, in collaboration with The International Union of Cinemas (UNIC). Next time, we’ll be delving deeper into the UNIC Women’s Cinema Leadership Programme – UNIC’s flagship…
Amanda Berry OBE BAFTA, 195 Piccadilly London, WIJ 9LN 19 February 2019 Open Letter Dear Amanda, As a long term member and former Council Member of BAFTA, I am writing to express my concern at the decision-making behind this year’s…
Celluloid Junkie is proud to have partnered with Vista Cinema for the Cinema of the Month series. Vista is the world’s leading cinema management software solutions company. We won’t just be featuring cinemas whose operators use Vista, but we will surely mention when…
“It’s tough to make predictions, especially about the future,” Yogi Berra famously quipped. This did not stop the editorial team at Celluloid Junkie from bravely sticking their necks out a year ago to read the tea leaves on what 2018…
July 2018 saw the appointment of new Event Cinema Association Managing Director, Grainne Peat. Having officially taken up the role in October and with the rapidly approaching ECA Slate and Insight Day 2019, Grainne Peat talks to Celluloid Junkie about…
2018 was a rollercoaster ride of a year, and as 2019 dawns, there’s still plenty of uncertainty around the future of the UK. But in the Event Cinema industry for one company in particular, 2018 has been a certified smash…
In the end it wasn’t Netflix. Nor was it Amazon Studios. Instead, it is the independent film distributor and production company Cohen Media Group that will be acquiring Landmark Theatres from Wagner/Cuban Companies. Put another way, two billionaires, Todd Wagner…
A ruling by the District Court of Amsterdam has revealed how Pathé Netherlands lost over EUR €19.2 million (USD $21.6 million) earlier this year to a professional gang of conmen. The so-called “CEO-fraud” type scam is well known by internet security experts,…
While cinemas in the Gulf region have been growing for several years, the announcement that Saudi Arabia is opening up its market to multiplexes has led to a surge in interest, with everyone from AMC and Cinepolis to Carnival and…
Celluloid Junkie is proud to have partnered with Vista Cinema for the Cinema of the Month series. Vista is the world’s leading cinema management software solutions company. We won’t just be featuring cinemas whose operators use Vista, but we will surely mention when…
Everybody’s Talking About Jamie – or are they? Whether you’ve heard of it or not, this West End, London musical re-wrote the rules of event cinema this summer. It transferred from its opening run at the Sheffield Crucible to the…
The announcement earlier this morning that Vue International is acquiring Germany’s CineStar chain from Australia’s Event Hospitality & Entertainment (Event or EVT) caught the European cinema industry by surprise. It shouldn’t have. Not because all parties had not done a…
Now that we’re midway through the second week of October, summer movies are being pushed out of cinemas by a bounty of autumn releases filled with awards potential (see “A Star Is Born”). There is one sleeper hit from this…
One of the benefits we have here at Celluloid Junkie is that smart people and innovative companies knock on our doors all the time with products and services for some of the industry’s most confounding problems. Writing about such issues…
Celluloid Junkie is proud to have partnered with Vista Cinema for the Cinema of the Month series. Vista is the world’s leading cinema management software solutions company. We won’t just be featuring cinemas whose operators use Vista, but we will surely mention when…
Celluloid Junkie has partnered with the Coca-Cola Company for a series of sponsored features highlighting what Coke does in cinemas, as well as exploring insights in retail both inside and outside the cinema industry. In this article we summarise the Retail Seminar hosted by Coca-Cola at…
When the National Association of Theatre Owners (NATO) announced in June that Ellis Jacob and Rolando B. Rodriguez had, respectively, been elected to their board as Chairman and Vice Chairman, it seemed like a fairly ordinary organizational procedure. NATO needed…
It was announced at Haugesund Film Festival this week that Unique’s MovieTransit is now no longer the only delivery method for content to local theaters. Eclair has now installed EclairBox in 169 out of 177 cinemas in Denmark, and now Norway…
Welcome to the second analysis of the websites of cinema chains in Europe, where we at Gruvi continue to ask that all important question “How effectively are European cinemas reaching Online audiences?”. In this months episode we will be looking…
Celluloid Junkie is proud to have partnered with Vista Cinema for the Cinema of the Month series. Vista is the world’s leading cinema management software solutions company. We won’t just be featuring cinemas whose operators use Vista, but we will surely mention when…
India cinema operator Carnival Group has signed a definitive agreement with Qatar-based Elan Group to acquire its 100% stake in Novo Cinemas. While financial details were not disclosed it is estimated to be in the region of INR 500-690 crore…
Cinema Tech Innovators is a series where Celluloid Junkie profiles small innovators looking to make a big difference in the world of cinema. These are companies working in online, technology, social media and other spheres to enhance and expand the…
The Chinese cinema industry has seen strong growth figures in the first six month of 2018 – with one critical exception. Box office growth was mainly driven by local titles, while the pace of opening new cinemas showed little sign…
Germany’s capital is making a name for itself in the cinema technology field, with companies like smart Pricer and Greta & Stark calling Berlin their home. One company looking to tap into and accelerate this market is the FilmTech Office,…
In a move most of the cinema industry had been predicting for at least a year, AMC Theatres, the world’s largest movie theatre operator, announced a new moviegoing subscription program today named AMC Stubs A-List. It comes as no shock…
This is the keynote address delivered by Phil Clapp, the President of the International Union of Cinemas (UNIC), at the opening of the CineEurope 2018 convention on Monday 11 June in Barcelona’s CCIB. Included are excerpts from the audio-visual presentation…
One of the products and services that made a big splash at CineEurope in 2017 was Qube Wire, which was just being launched commercially by its developer, Qube Cinema. Some of the buzz around Qube Wire surely had to do…
The Cinema Industry’s Worrying Trend The latest theatrical attendance analysis by the MPAA shows the Key demographics for 18 – 24 and 25 – 39 are all in decline in 2016 relative to their positions in 2012. Declines are also…
Ironically, at a moment when the motion picture industry is suffering from an existential dilemma over the definition of a movie and the relevance of theatrical distribution, the trailers that help promote and market upcoming releases to the public have…
Cinema Tech Innovators is a series where Celluloid Junkie profiles small innovators looking to make a big difference in the world of cinema. These are companies working in online, technology, social media and other spheres to enhance and expand the…
It’s hard to believe that over the past two decades filmmaker Christopher Nolan has made 11 feature films yet has never once been to the Cannes Film Festival with a movie. That changes this year, as Nolan has made his…
Had it not been for Harvey Weinstein the biggest controversy at this year’s Cannes Film Festival might have been the red carpet selfie ban. “Thank you Harvey [Weinstein] and Kevin [Spacey]; you helped women find their voice,” declared director Kate…
As much as the question over whether films made by Netflix are “legitimate” movies if they aren’t released in cinemas was front and center at last year’s Cannes Film Festival, this year it seems the topic is being raised less…
In May of last year Economist magazine proclaimed that oil was no longer the world’s most valuable resource. The black gold so instrumental to the advances of the 20th Century had given way to data, a digital commodity they predicted…
After numerous cinema industry consulting projects, Smart Pricer has created extensive benchmark analysis on worldwide cinema ticket pricing. Celluloid Junkie has partnered with Smart Pricer to share and highlight some of the insights they have gained. We will begin with…
As I sit here writing this column on April 15th Cannon Mountain in New Hampshire currently has 66 trails open for skiing. What in the world does this fact have to do with a summer movie boxoffice column? Excellent question….
Celluloid Junkie is proud to have partnered with Vista Cinema for the Cinema of the Month series. Vista is the world’s leading cinema management software solutions company. We won’t just be featuring cinemas whose operators use Vista, but we will surely mention when…
Dutch exhibition major Pathé Netherlands has suspended Managing Director Dertje Meijer and Finance Director Edwin Slutter effective immediately. Both the nature and the timing of the announcement came as a surprise to the industry. No specific reason was given for the…
Despite the recent box office success of the Chinese New Year festival, the long term growth of the market is not assured, due to over-building and lower cinema attendance in Tier Three to Five cities. Because of this hopes are…
Fresh on the heels of another Mexican filmmaker winning the Oscar for Best Director, the fourth time in the last five years, the Instituto Mexicano de la Cinematografía (Mexican Film Institute), also known as IMCINE, recently published the Mexican Film…
It’s that time of year again. Time to take a look at what Hollywood has to offer moviegoers this summer movie season in our Celluloid Junkie 2018 Summer Movie Preview. But first a few notes. Despite what the calendar indicates,…
The roaring success of this year’s Chinese New Year box office releases has led to renewed speculation about China soon overtaking the United States as the world’s largest cinema market. Despite the failure of previous such predictions, there is a…
In its third year of the top women in global cinema list we have tried to widen both the pool of those we consider for this recognition, as well as the committee that arrived at these names. We are aware…
Compiling the list of the Top 50 Women in Global Cinema became more difficult due to widening the criteria and receiving a record number of nominations this year. The selection committee realized that a large group of talented and hard-working…
A UK copy-cat version of MoviePass cinema subscription service has been revealed, with now operator cPass currently accepting applications for its GBP £9.95 (USD $13.83) a month plan. The websitesays that “cPass is the first UK and European cinema subscription service….
“If they don’t give you a seat at the table, bring a folding chair.” …
Chinese New Year is over (also known as Spring or Lunar Festival) and with it a record box office haul for the world’s second biggest cinema market, as we enter the Year of the Dog. After last year failed to…
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…
It’s official. The Saudi Arabian cinema land rush has officially begun. A mere two months after the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia officially allowed for the opening and operation of new commercial cinemas for the first time since the 1970s, the…
Celluloid Junkie is proud to have partnered with Vista Cinema for the Cinema of the Month series. Vista is the world’s leading cinema management software solutions company. We won’t just be featuring cinemas whose operators use Vista, but we will surely mention when…
MoviePass made a big splash at the outset of this year’s Sundance Film Festival by announcing their plans to co-acquire titles with film distributors. After passing the 1.5 million subscriber mark earlier in the month, the movie-theater subscription service was…
There are many nice things about garden leave, as I have found since leaving Odeon/UCI last year. One is having the time to think and reflect on lessons learned. Another is reconnecting with friends in other industries, which apart from…
Facebook has inadvertently revealed its ambition to directly sell cinema tickets through its platforms. A job posting on the social media giant’s Career’s page for Sales & Marketing seeks applications for ‘Monetization Product Marketing Manager – Movies’. The senior position…
Cinema box office in the United States overtook home video retail spend in 2017 for the first time in over 20 years. Let the significance of this monumental shift sink in for a moment. Cinema, through theatrical releases, is effectively…
With some of technology’s biggest players in Las Vegas last week for CES, Citigroup thought it would be a good idea to wrangle some of them into an investor conference taking place at the Bellagio Hotel. Among those in attendance…
The news that Germany’s UCI will roll out dynamic pricing to all of its 23 cinemas and 203 screens over the next five years marks the start of the embrace of dynamic pricing by the cinema industry. The fact that…
2017 was an eventful year for the film and cinema business and 2018 promises to be even more so. So the Celluloid Junkie editorial team has gazed into the crystal ball to see what’s ahead. Here is a list of…
Celluloid Junkie is proud to have partnered with Vista Cinema for the Cinema of the Month series. Vista is the world’s leading cinema management software solutions company. We won’t just be featuring cinemas whose operators use Vista, but we will surely mention when…
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…
South Koreas largest cinema operators are looking abroad for growth as the number of overseas cinema admissions overtakes that of Korea this year for the largest operator CJ CGV. Both CGV and Lotte have already a significant presence in several…
Well that didn’t take long. When MoviePass reduced the monthly price of its unlimited moviegoing subscription this past August to the unbelievably low USD $9.99, we suggested that some of the major cinema chains might create their own versions of…
Barco has just announced the creation of a global cinema joint venture (JV) for enabling the roll-out of the next generation of cinema technologies and experiences. Celluloid Junkie spoke exclusively to Barco’s currently SVP of the Entertainment division Wim Buyens…
Regal Entertainment Group has confirmed that it is in negotiations to be acquired by European cinema major Cineworld in an all-cash deal. The proposed merger would value Regal at USD $23 per share, while the company’s share closed on NYSE…
On November 8th filmmaker Ridley Scott announced he had chosen to replace Kevin Spacey in his next film “All the Money in the World” with the 87-year-old Christopher Plummer, the actor he had always wanted to cast in the role…
MoviePass, the movie theater subscription service that’s been stirring up the cinema industry over the past few months, announced they would be offering an annual plan for USD $89.95. That works out to USD $6.95 per month, or a 30%…
South Korean cinema major CJ CGV is set to stock market list its overseas cinema operation according to reports in Korean financial media. According to ChosunBiz CGV will begin with an initial public offering (IPO) of its Vietnamese subsidiary in…
AMC has confirmed that it will seek a stock market listing for its Odeon Cinemas Group in 2018-2019. The announcement was made by AMC CEO Adam Aron during the Q3 2017 Results – Earnings Call with investment analysts on 6 November….
Just when North American cinema operators looked forward to having blockbuster films like “Thor: Ragnarok” and “Star Wars: The Last Jedi” come along and boost a box office that has sagged in the second half of 2017, along comes Disney…
During Regal Entertainment Group’s third quarter earnings call last week, while financial analysts grilled the company’s senior management on box office projections, EBITDA and the ROI of reseating multiplexes, CEO Amy Miles addressed two tangential subjects which received their fair…
When the idea to distribute motion pictures via satellite through a low-cost cooperative called the Digital Cinema Distribution Coalition (DCDC) was first being floated in the late 2000’s, it received a fair share of skepticism from certain cinema operators and…
Korean cinema major CJ CGV will become the first major foreign exhibitor to expand into Russia, with plans to build 33 cinemas with 160 screens in Moscow by 2020. CJ CGV signed a deal with Russian real estate company ADG…
The launch of the Global Cinema Federation (GCF) at this year’s CineEurope and Shanghai Film Festival caused ripples across the worldwide exhibition and distribution communities. There were, naturally, lots of questions and rumours swirled about what the nature of the…
Celluloid Junkie is proud to have partnered with Vista Cinema for the Cinema of the Month series. Vista is the world’s leading cinema management software solutions company. We won’t just be featuring cinemas whose operators use Vista, but we will surely mention when…
I bump into Ymagis’ CEO Jean Mizrahi as we walk in opposite directions on Rue Eugene Colas that connects the centre of Deauville with the convention building on the beach. It was the first day of the annual French cinema…
Thailand’s Major Cineplex has become the first international customer to place an order for Samsung Cinema LED (trademarked as Samsung Premier) direct video (DV) screen. The screen will be installed in Bangkok’s Siam Paragon Cineplex in February 2018. Samsung also confirmed…
The brand name for Samsung’s Cinema LED direct view screen will be Samsung Premier. The trademark application was discovered and shared with Celluloid Junkie by consumer electronics website LetsGoDigital, which found that the Korean electronics major filed a trademark application (serial…
CGR is set to expand its ICE premium large format (PLF) and has announced three Hollywood titles. At the just-concluded FNCF French cinema convention in Deauville CGR demonstrated its ICE premium cinema concept featuring Philips’ LightVibes in a small booth….
The 72nd annual FNCF convention of French cinemas launched today with a heated discussion about the benefits of digitisation and virtual print fees (VPFs). The Congres de la Federation Nationale des Cinemas Francais (FNCF) held in the seaside town of…
Since its inaugural event four short years ago, Expocine has become the preeminent industry trade show for motion picture exhibitors and distributors in Latin America. Like CineEurope, its equivalent in the European Union, the conference has fast become invaluable for…
By Boyd Falconer, PhD and Jim Amos Sometimes we pull a muscle patting ourselves on the back when even the smallest amount of change occurs. Lost two pounds in six months? Yes, let’s celebrate with ravioli. Managed to clean half…
The Belgian-based Kinepolis has announced the purchase of yet another cinema chain as the company continues its expansion via strategic acquisitions. This time around Kinepolis hopped across the Atlantic Ocean to scoop up Canada’s second largest exhibitor, Landmark Cinemas. News…
On Friday 15 September, California State University Northridge (CSUN) named a building in their Media, Arts and Communication Complex: Manzanita Hall – Hollywood Foreign Press Association Wing. This was done in honor of the HFPA which has donated funds to…
It was ten years ago today that we published the first post on the newly launched CelluloidJunkie.com. Almost 1,500 posts later, with countless interviews, profiles, trade shows, not to mention a lot of popcorn and Coke under our belts, we…
Celluloid Junkie is proud to have partnered with Vista Entertainment Solutions (VES) for the Cinema of the Month series. Vista is the world’s leading cinema management software solutions company. We won’t just be featuring cinemas whose operators use Vista, but we will…
Jennifer Douglass is living proof that the movie business can get into your blood and make it difficult to pursue other professions. She has been working in motion picture exhibition since a day before her 15th birthday when she was…
Celluloid Junkie has partnered with the Coca-Cola Company for a series of sponsored features highlighting what Coke does in cinemas, as well as exploring insights in retail both inside and outside the cinema industry. In this article we summarise the Retail Seminar hosted by Coca-Cola at…
Nigeria is the world’s second largest market in terms of films produced and it is now also Africa’s fastest growing cinema market, with multiplexes, IMAX screens and VIP cinemas catering to the prosperous Nigerian middle class. Having first met and…
Last week, when MoviePass lowered its “unlimited” moviegoing plan to just USD $9.95 per month, the ensuing news stories and their associated clickbait headlines could have written themselves. Each found it necessary to explain precisely what MoviePass is and remind…
Celluloid Junkie is proud to have partnered with Vista Entertainment Solutions (VES) for the Cinema of the Month series. Vista is the world’s leading cinema management software solutions company. We won’t just be featuring cinemas whose operators use Vista, but we will…
This past weekend was yet another dismal failure at the North American boxoffice with revenues off a staggering 45% versus the same week last year. The remainder of August also looks bleak and may not improve until the fall when the…
“Be fearful when others are greedy and greedy when others are fearful,” is one of Warren Buffet’s most famous maxims. It is this strategy combined with shrewd analysis and long-term thinking that has made the ‘Sage of Omaha’ one of…
When setting out to direct his first narrative feature, filmmaker Joshua Z Weinstein certainly didn’t make it easy on himself. A well-regarded director and cinematographer with a rash of commercial and documentary credits to his name, Weinstein decided to set…
Celluloid Junkie recaps the main conference sessions at this years CineEurope for the benefit of those unable to attend or who did but want to jog their memories. As always, our transcription sometimes abbreviate to captures the gist of what…
Samsung Electronics unveiled the first installation of its Cinema LED technology on 13 July in Seoul’s Lotte Cinemas World Tower 13 multiplex auditorium dubbed ‘Super S’. Samsung first demonstrated the technology at the CinemaCon convention in Las Vegas in March this year…
On Monday, July 10th, the Vue West End cinema in London’s Leicester Square reopened after having been closed for four months to complete extensive refurbishing. “We want to set a new standard for what is possible in the West End,” declared Kevin…
Celluloid Junkie is proud to have partnered with Vista Entertainment Solutions (VES) for the Cinema of the Month series. Vista is the world’s leading cinema ticketing and software solutions company. We won’t just be featuring cinemas whose operators use Vista, but we will…
Now that we’re halfway through 2017 it seems as good a time as any to project out how the Hollywood box office market share race will wind up by the end of the year. Can Disney hang onto its lead and…
As part of its celebration of its Founders, this year CineEurope is presenting a special award to Robert (Bob) Sunshine, for his lifelong contribution to the global cinema industry. Bob’s industry involvement spans many decades and several continents. He has been…
This is the opening speech of CineEurope 2017, delivered by the President of UNIC Phil Clapp. UNIC is the trade body representing cinema operators in 36 territories and the owner of the CineEurope convention. On behalf of UNIC, I am…
Celluloid Junkie has partnered with the Coca-Cola Company for a series of sponsored features highlighting what Coke does in cinemas, as well as exploring insights in retail inside and outside the cinema industry from various companies. Here we hear from Coca-Cola what they will be showcasing…
Fresh off earning USD $223 million during its opening weekend in movie theatres around the globe, “Wonder Woman” walked off with the Best Of Show trophy at the 18th Annual Golden Trailer Awards. The preview for the Warner Bros. superhero…
Celluloid Junkie is proud to have partnered with Vista Entertainment Solutions (VES) for the Cinema of the Month series. Vista is the world’s leading cinema ticketing and software solutions company. We won’t just be featuring cinemas whose operators use Vista, but we will…
On the same day that “Wonder Woman” began conquering multiplexes all over the world, it was revealed that a no less formidable female force will be in charge of European cinema trade body UNIC. Laura Houlgatte Abbott, who has served as UNIC’s…
It’s hard to know if Alamo Drafthouse Cinemas was aware of the public outcry that would occur upon scheduling a women-only screening of the upcoming Warner Bros. super hero release “Wonder Woman,” or if perhaps provoking protest, however trivial, was…
In bright daylight, a man, in his thirties or early forties, pushes into a crowd. He wears a lanyard around his neck; a badge that reads “Cannes – 70 – Presse” dangles from the end. Others wear them too. The…
The introduction of a new media law on 21 April by media regulator SAPPRFT could see China’s box office count grow significantly, by including earnings from the country’s numerous private cinemas. The new law offers legitimacy to the previously grey market,…
The battle between three rival cinema surround-screen operators is heating up, with different films used to promote the various immersive premium large format (PLF) propositions. CJ 4DPlex has secured two major Hollywood titles for ScreenX, while Barco’s Escape will next focus…
No doubt the Cannes Film Festival wishes to put the discussion surrounding their programming two Netflix titles at this year’s festival behind them. Yet in an ironic moment that underscored the ongoing debate of selecting films that will never be…
Just one day after filmmaker Pedro Almodovar and actor Will Smith debated whether Netflix should be permitted to have films premiere in competition at the Cannes Film Festival if they the movies will never been seen in cinemas, director Todd…
Anyone who saw the Sony’s CLEDIS or Samsung’s LED Cinema Screen demonstrations at this year’s CinemaCon could not fail to be stunned by the spectacular brightness, colour and detail of the images. Sadly the audio was far inferior to the images, highlighting…
The International Union of Cinemas (UNIC) has launched the UNIC Women’s Cinema Leadership Pilot Programme and is looking for candidates for its mentorship program. The 12-month pilot initiative will see a number of female senior industry executives mentor a group of…
Hanging over the start of the Cannes Film Festival today was the incessant discussion over the selection of two films produced by Netflix to appear in competition. It was all anyone attending Cannes, and especially those that aren’t, could talk…
Samsung Electronic’s LED direct view digital cinema display has passed DCI compliance tests and can thus now be used to screen new Hollywood releases in cinemas. Having first been shown at invitation-only demonstrations at CinemaCon in late March this year, the…
AMC has published its Q1 2017 figures and profits are down but revenue is up at the world’s biggest cinema chain. The 67.5% growth in turnover had a lot to do with including Carmike, Odeon and (four days of) NCG…
When Chris Dodd announced last week that he would be stepping down as President of the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) later this year, it came more as a confirmation of the denouement industry insiders had begun to suspect,…
Celluloid Junkie is proud to have partnered with Vista Entertainment Solutions (VES) for the Cinema of the Month series. Vista is the world’s leading cinema ticketing and software solutions company. We won’t just be featuring cinemas whose operators use Vista, but we will…
Korea Multiplex is selling 19.5% of its 50% stake in South Korean cinema chain Megabox to institutional investors for KWN 110 billion (USD $97.3 million). KB Asset Management and Shinhan BNP Paribas are buying 157,410 shares in South Korea’s third-largest cinema…
When discussing threats facing the cinema business, Netflix, piracy and shorter release windows always seem to come before any discussion about hacking and cyber threats. Yet as cinemas increasingly rely on complex databases, social media marketing, online transactions, networked point…
Having turned around the fortunes of Odeon & UCI, the company’s CEO Paul Donovan stunned the cinema industry by announcing that he was stepping down shortly after the exhibitors’ sale to Wanda-owned AMC. After a period of well-deserved holiday, decompression and…
This is an online conversation about what a group of us saw and thought about CinemaCon 2017 and also a visit to leading facilities, studios and cinemas in Los Angeles the week before. Joining the virtual chat are myself, J….
In collaboration with Boxoffice Magazine CJ recently celebrated the 50 top female executives in the global cinema industry. Here is an interview with this year’s top candidate, Dadi Cinemas’s Yu Xin, the general manager of China’s second largest exhibition circuit. It was carried…
CinemaCon is a NATO construct built on the pillars of The Exhibitor’s movie palaces, The Studio’s mix of movies, and The Techniques and Technology that brings them to life. The pillars sit on a wild and nuanced history which reflects…
HDR (high dynamic range) seemed very vivid and a lot more certain when it was theoretical. What the term HDR implied for cinemas – Higher and lower luminance, giving both more light and more dark slices of the CIE horseshoe…
Celluloid Junkie is proud to have partnered with Vista Entertainment Solutions (VES) for the Cinema of the Month series. Vista is the worlds leading cinema ticketing and software solutions company. We won’t just be featuring cinemas whose operators use Vista, but we will…
Sweden’s second largest cinema chain Svenska Bio went cashless for all of its 35 cinemas on 1 November 2016. More than four months into this world-first for a major cinema chain Celluloid Junkie talked to Suzanna Renhuldt, CMO of Svenska…
Winning Your Audiences. Movie Marketing in the Connected World is an e-book recently published by Gruvi which discusses why it’s so important to understand your audiences. This will help you to figure out how to meaningfully reach and communicate to…
In the second year that Celluloid Junkie celebrates the top female executives in the global cinema industry we have expanded the list from 25 to 50 amazing individuals. Even then we have not been able to include all inspiring women that…
When “Disney’s Newsies: The Broadway Musical!” screened in movie theatres in February as a three-day event cinema offering, there was a good chance it would be a financial success for all involved; Disney Theatrical Productions, which produced all aspects of…
Gaumont is selling its 34% stake in the cinema chain Les Cinémas Gaumont Pathé to majority shareholder Pathé for around EUR €380 million (USD $400 million). The circuit has 108 cinemas with 1,076 screens across France – where it is the…
Though we’ll have to wait until Sunday to find out who will win Oscars at this year’s Academy Awards, a new study performed by Movio, a leading moviegoer data analytics firm, in conjunction with the social welfare organization AARP, is…
Celluloid Junkie is proud to have partnered with Vista Entertainment Solutions (VES) for the Cinema of the Month series. Vista is the world’s leading cinema ticketing and software solutions company. We won’t just be featuring cinemas whose operators use Vista, but…
If the month of January proves to be a bellwether, than South America could be in for a banner year both in cinema attendance and box office. Though obtaining accurate figures is not always easy, based on preliminary numbers from…
Is virtual reality (VR) the saviour or a nail in the coffin for traditional cinema going? That depends on who you talk to or what you read recently. Efforts to launch VR as a symbiotic companion to the cinema experience…
While the film screened there don’t contribute significantly to the European box office, the just concluded Berlin Film Festival is the occasion for publishing provisional statistics on the past year’s cinema attendance across Europe. No less than three trade bodies issued…
While the film industry has been preoccupied with the growth of monolithic movie markets in China and India over the last decade, another country in Asia, Indonesia, has quietly emerged as a territory worthy of cinematic investment. Last week Fox…
On Tuesday of last week a new box office record holder for domestically produced films was crowned in brazil. The BRL R$117.2 million (USD $37.7 million) earned by the comedy “Minha Mãe é uma Peça 2: O Filme” (“My Mom is a Character…
In today’s era of mass cinema acquisitions and mergers it’s rare to find an independent single screen movie theatre that is not only surviving but flourishing. Tucked into the Kensal Green neighborhood of North London lies the Lexi Cinema, the…
Celluloid Junkie has partnered with UNIC – the International Union of Cinemas trade body for Europe and beyond – to highlight innovation in the European cinema sector. UNIC has just published a report called ‘Innovation and the Big Screen‘ (PDF link). In the…
With three one billion-dollar acquisitions in Europe in the timeframe of just ten months, AMC is by no means done with achieving Wanda’s goal of controlling 20% of global screen count. AMC’s Adam Aron has openly said that the world’s…
Celluloid Junkie has partnered with UNIC – the International Union of Cinemas trade body for Europe and beyond – to highlight innovation in the European cinema sector. UNIC has just published a report called ‘Innovation and the Big Screen‘ (PDF link). In the…
On Friday, January 27th CJ CGV, the South Korean based cinema operator, jump started its expansion into the United States market when it opened a brand new theatre complex in Buena Park, California. The venue, which will act as their…
Guest columnist Patrick Corcoran, Vice President and Chief Communications Officer of cinema trade body NATO, reviews the North American box office year 2016 and finds that for the first time it was a year of four equal quarters, amongst other…
Celluloid Junkie will this year once again honour some of the best, brightest and hardest working executives in the global cinema business who happen to be female. Last year’s Top 25 was incredibly well received and this year we will…
Celluloid Junkie is proud to have partnered Vista Entertainment Solutions (VES) for the Cinema of the Month series. Vista is the worlds leading cinema ticketing and software solutions company. We won’t just be featuring cinemas whose operators use Vista, but…
CJ interviews ECA’s Melissa Cogavin ahead of the #ECACON2017 conference in London on Friday 3 February 2017…
Dadi has acquired the China cinema operation of Orange Sky Golden Harvest for close to $0.5bn, intensifying rivalry with its larger competitor Wanda. …
CJ interviews Kinepolis CEO Eddy Duquenne as part of our partnership with UNIC examining cinema innovation in Europe in conjunction with their new report. …
It is with profound sadness that we learned on Monday afternoon that our friend, colleague and digital cinema pioneer Jim Whittlesey passed away unexpectedly over the weekend at the age of 63. It is said that if you want something done,…
Wanda-controlled AMC has further expanded its global reach by acquiring Nordic Cinema Group (NCG) for SEK 8.25 billion (USD $929 million) in an all-cash deal, only a month after completing its acquisition of Carmike in the US and Odeon & UCI…
The rivalry between the Dalien Wanda and Huayi Brothers is intensifying, with Huayi investing CNY ¥78.85 million (USD $11.5 million) for 95 million shares in Dadi Cinemas, China’s second largest cinema chain. The deal gives Huayi Bros a 4.56% stake…
January in London can be an unforgiving month. With winter well underway, temperatures average 6 °Celsius (42 °Fahrenheit) and it rains a majority of the time. There is even the possibility of snow on the rare occasion. London’s inhospitable weather,…
Highlighting cinema innovation in the new report from UNIC, CJ talks to Maddy Probst of Watershed and Europa Cinema about her views on European cinema innovation. …
CJ China Cinema News is back, looking at stolen BO, consolidation in 2017, staffing & training woes, a Trump year ahead, BBC goes Imax, Wanda opens 200th Imax screen, lost iPhones, private cinema prosecuted, China Intercom and Dadi, plus blind “see” cinema….
How many films will cross the $100m mark for US domestic this year? We peer into our 2017 boxoffice crystal ball, but only find a handful of stand-outs. …
One year into his job as CEO of AMC, Adam Aron has already accomplished more than anyone ever expected, including the Carmike and Odeon deal. CJ takes a look behind the scenes. …
CJ looks at what caused the box office in China to crash in 2016, what the actual business climate is and the future prospect of the Chinese cinema market….
The last of Galeshka Moravioff’s Ciné Métro Art cinemas have been taken over by MK2 (Paris’ La Bastille) and Ymagis’ Jean Mizrahi (Marseille’s Les Variétés)….
It is exactly 100 years since Coca-Cola first appeared in a movie. Celluloid Junkie looks back at the history of cinema’s most important corporate partnership. …
With the adoption of digital cinema there seems to be fewer and fewer experienced motion picture projectionists working in the industry. Sadly the world now has one less. Indeed, Charles Aidikoff was such a fixture in Hollywood that his death…
Celluloid Junkie wishes its readers a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. We will be back even bigger, better and with more coverage of everything that matters to the cinema industry in 2017….
CJ talks to Murray Holdaway, Vista Group CEO, about our Cinema of the Month partnership, areas of growth, China, the thinking behind Vista’s acquisitions and what it’s like to be a non-dairy New Zealand export….
The news that WB is discussing a shortened release window for film to the homes has cinemas worried. CJ takes a look at what’s really at stake. …
The first panel at CineAsia examined trends in the Asian Cinema Market; Attracting the Millennials and Re-Inventing Cinema. With Ioan Allen, Mark Shaw, Mark Viane, Irving Chea and Sunder Kimatrai – again….
Cinema of the Month, brought to you by Vista, is Catalina Island’s Avalon Theatre, an enchanted Art-Deco theatre that was the first cinema purpose-built for sound. …
Celluloid Junkie interviews Tim Richards, CEO of Vue, about cinema trends, building a pan-European network, Brexit, the role of social media for cinema and much more. …
Celluloid Junkie & Coke bring you insights for the cinema retail sector from the Head of Design for Pret, one of the most successful and popular high end convenience food chains in London, New York, Shanghai and elsewhere….
At the last possible moment, Warner Bros. Pictures has delayed the release of “Sully: O Herói do Rio Hudson” (Sully: The Hudson River Hero) which was scheduled to open today, Thursday, December 1st. The studio made the decision due to…
AMC has completed the acquisition of Odeon & UCI, with Paul Donovan to step down as Odeon CEO. He is the third head of a cinema to go after being bought by Wanda-owned AMC. …
Odeon has with the help of Gruvi launched a chatbot for finding films and booking cinema tickets. The platform shows great promise, though bots inevitably have limitations….
A weekly roundup of new cinema developments from across the world. This week: Chelmsford Everyman, Curzon Aldgate, Cineworld Harlow, Kinepolis Toulouse, Village Cinema Southlands, AMC Loews Lincoln Sq….
Later this week motion picture exhibitors and distributors from around Latin America will be gathering in São Paulo, Brazil for Expocine 2016. The territory’s largest cinema trade show will be entering its third year and, as in 2015, appears to…
China screens overtake US, Reading suitor revealed, MM2 buys in Malaysia, Ymagis controls DSat, Indian cinema rupee woes, Empire debt-free, Warner joins German ticketing platform, Imax VR funding, Europa Cinema awards, ideal viewing position in cinema, Qube Wire launched, Arclight & Meyer sound, Cinemark, Xscape and Consolidated openings, chapel cinema, “Billy Lynn” post-mortem….
CJ Cinema of the Month is Paris’ Les Fauvettes which exclusively shows restored films in beautiful surroundings with the most impressive front-of-house display we have ever seen….
The headline of this post was written to attract the attention not only of our readers, but also those who might stumble across it through a search engine while seeking out a pirated version of the recent French release, “Brice…
A luxury seating arms race between two small multiplexes in British Columbia’s Victoria holds an important lesson for the future of cinema going. …
Celluloid Junkie interviews Veronica Lindholm, MD of Finnkino, about management skills, switching to Coke, the Scape own-brand PLF and learning from colleagues….
Three studies have thrown a light on cinema ticket prices in France, Germany and UK, with France having lowest prices and spread and UK having huge discrepancies. …
When Apple released the latest version of its mobile operating system last month they added features and functionality in their messaging app that can be utilized by both distributors and exhibitors to market their offerings. The enhancements in iOS 10…
CJ’s Cinema of the Month September is Melbourne’s quirky and delightful Cinema Nova, an art-house multiplex full of delight (if you can navigate it)….
As was the case at this year’s NAB conference in April, Ang Lee became the main attraction at this year’s IBC in Amsterdam receiving the IBC International Honour for Excellence at Sunday’s Award Ceremony for his contributions toward pushing big…
As Sony’s “The Magnificent Seven” remake shot to the top of the North American box office this weekend some of those moviegoers contributing to the film’s USD $35 million domestic bounty (USD $54.2 million worldwide) may have purchased their tickets…
Sydney’s cinema scene is set to improve with the opening of a new 14-screen Palace Cinema and a make-over for the old science Imax. …
Korean cinema majors CGV, Lotte and MegaBox have been accused of monopolistic practices in terms of ticket and concession prices. …
The setting is thoroughly familiar to any jet setting CEO. A tastefully decorated lounge with a large selection of complimentary snacks, canapés, hot dishes and deserts, not to mention water, juices and coffee. A well stocked bar and an attentive bartenders who…
Celluloid Junkie interviews Julian Pinn about the IBC 2016 Big Screen Experience, including Ang Lee’s 120fps HDR 4K “Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk” keynote and more. …
RealD had a good July with a patent win over Masterimage, acquisition of Tessive and a 4,000 screen deal with Wanda for China. …
Korea’s CJ CGV and Lotte Cinemas between them control 65% of the cinema market in Vietnam, a lesson for other exhibitors of smart growth abroad….
CJ interviews Mariam el Bacha, Director of Operations at Malaysia’s MBO Cinemas, about team building, motivating staff, improving customer service, standing out as a brand and Lionel Messi….
Cineworld’s £94m acquisition of Empire Leicester Sq and four more sites has sent shockwaves through the UK cinema business, pointing to more consolidation. …
As expected, AMC Entertainment Holdings, Inc. upped its offer to acquire Carmike Cinemas, Inc. on Monday morning. We predicted as much less than 24 hours before and were nearly spot on with the revised offer AMC would make for Carmike….
On July 15th Carmike Cinemas Inc. delayed a vote on whether to accept an acquisition offer from AMC Entertainment Holdings of USD $1.1 billion. The original shareholder vote was to take place on June 30th but was rescheduled for the…
If you wonder why Hollywood studios continue to churn out superhero sequels, or if you have any doubt as to the popularity of such films, you need only look at the success Fathom Events is having with “Batman: The Killing…
Berlin’s Kino International is the cinema of the month, a piece of East German nostalgia transformed into a retro-chic single-screen art-house cinema of the highest order. …
Doug Trumbull’s new Magi Pod concept showing 3D 4K 120fps movies in an an immersive boutique cinema format could be the most significant challenger to Imax yet. …
AMC is acquiring Odeon & UCI to create the world’s biggest cinema circuit. Celluloid Junkie analysis the deal from every angle. …
Celluloid Junkie spoke exclusively to Ymagis CEO Jean Mizrahi about EclairColor, the company’s new high dynamic range and high contrast mastering and projection technology that impressed at CineEurope. …
Madelene Josephson (SF Bio), David K. Planar (Google Zoo), Tanya Easterman (Cinema First) and Derren Sequoia (Facebook) discussed cinema online collaborations at this engaging CineEurope panel….
ECA’s Melissa Cogavin reflected on 10 years of event cinema, followed by a panel with James Dobbin, Marc Allenby, Monica Törnblom, Franco di Sarro, Simon Tandy, Nicole Heim, Lucy Barclay…
Coca-Cola’s first CineEurope seminar looked at Rebels With a Cause, i.e. what can be done to attract Millennials to cinemas, with talks by Corinne Thibaut, Krista Webb Carney, Jan Runge and Tillman Rothberg….
CineEurope looked at the issue of data-driven innovation in cinemas with a panel of Fernando Evole (Cinépolis Spain), Will Palmer (Movio), Richard Powers (Showtime Analytics), Tonis Kiis (WB) and Jim Zak (comScore)…
CineEurope 2016 brought together Dreamworks’ Jeffrey Katzenberg, Odeon’s Paul Donovan, Carmike’s David Passman and NCG’s Jan Berhardsson to discuss the future of cinema. …
In completing this profile of the iPic Westwood as our Cinema of the Month for June, we were reminded just how important it is to avoid one’s own preconceptions. When we set out to cover the iPic Westwood, an upscale…
The acquisition of Carmike Cinemas Inc. by AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc. was never going to be entirely easy or uncomplicated. It is safe to say, after the events of the past two weeks, culminating in a delayed shareholder vote earlier…
A gunman who took hostages in a Kinopolis cinema in Vernheim, western Germany, has been killed by police special forces. Hostages are said to be injured. …
The first day of CineEurope 2016 saw calls for closer co-operation between cinemas and studios in sharing data and serving customers, but mistrust – both mutual and of 3rd parties – runs deep….
These days every box office record seems to be reported with a string of qualifiers. Biggest midnight screening of an R-rated comedy starring a woman, largest opening of an American action movie in China during February, highest recorded per-screen-average of…
Lotte Cinema faces accusations that its concessions business was used as a cover for slush funds as investigators probe the murky affairs of the parent company Lotte Group. …
Vivendi has opened the first cinema in Cameroon. Canal Olympia is the first of 100 screen planned across Africa by the parent company of TV network Canal+….
As you may be able to infer from the semi-sarcastic headline of this post, we were all set to have some fun commenting on a recent academic study with the protracted title, “Windows of Opportunity: The Impact of Piracy and…
CJ interviews Kim Pedersen, the frank and knoweldgable President of the Danish Cinema Association and VP of UNIC, about future trends, being born into a cinema family and why Danish films are so successful. …
A research paper by Dr Kang Zhao and Michael T. Lash looks at factors that can help predict the box-office success of films, with interesting results. …
English Touring Opera claims live cinema screenings do not grow the audience for opera, but research paints a mixed picture and the ECA defends existing practices. …
CJ Interviews Debbie Stanford- Kristiansen, CEO, of Novo Cinemas about 7-Star luxury, memorable customer experiences and how Novo stays ahead of the game….
US cinema advertiser NCM presents its studio on Millennials and movies, showing a growing engagement in what is a social media and data-driven business….
Cinéma Olympia in Cannes is where film buyers from all over the world congregate each year to do deals. CJ looks at the anonymous but hugely important cinema. …
Imax is partnering Google and Starbreeze to launch a cinema-based virtual reality venture….
CineTechGook James Gardiner shares his insights form CinemaCon and NAB in his latest round of video blog posts that explain the latest cinema tech trends….
Geneva’s last adult cinema is not closing any time soon. And for one strange reason unique to Switzerland, every one of its major cities has a XXX cinema. …
CANNES, FRANCE – Acclaimed filmmaker Woody Allen gives off the impression that he is not one to accept change very quickly, or even willingly. Almost all of Allen’s films open with short, simple credits featuring white text on a black…
Digital Hollywood’s Future of Film conference found new angles on the topic of what’s in store for movies in the age of VR, HDR and Netflix….
Open Road’s independent biographical drama “Spotlight” has a few more prizes to place on its mantle next to the Best Picture Oscar it took home earlier this year. The Tom McCarthy film picked up two trophies at the Golden Trailer…
CJ editors, contributors and industry professionals share their thoughts and takes on this years CinemaCon and NAB, including Screening Room, 120fps and swag. …
At this year’s CinemaCon, if the keynote addresses given on International Day were noteworthy for reporting on the health and well being of the industry as a whole, then the panel discussion on collaboration between exhibition and distribution may have…
Mumbai’s first PVR Icon is our Cinema of the Month for April. See what a five-star luxury screen in the heart of Bollywood looks like. …
Webedia’s Julien Marcel gave a a terrific overview at CinemaCon of digital disruption and how cinemas can use collaboration tools to succeed….
Each year before CinemaCon officially gets underway, the show’s organizers hold a day of seminars and panels focused on the international marketplace. Appropriately dubbed International Day, in the five years since the annual convention first started being held, the international…
AMPAS’ Andy Maltz provided an update on ACES at NAB 2016 and Universal will be first studio to embrace the system fully by 2018. …
NAB2016 saw a demo “Billy Flynn’s Long Halftime Walk” in 120fps 3D 4K. It was like nothing witnessed before. Afterwards the film’s director Ang Lee spoke about pushing the limits of cinema….
IHS’s David Hancock looks at how the experiential nature of cinema going is changing in the post-digital age. …
Fox International Production President Tomas Jegeus talks about the importance of local film productions for the health of the global cinema industry at CinemaCon. …
When CinemaCon officially opens on Tuesday April 12th with the “State of the Industry” presentation, the National Association of Theatre Owners (NATO) will bestow the 2016 NATO Marquee Award upon David Passman, President and Chief Executive Officer of Carmike Cinemas,…
On Monday, April 11th CinemaCon will award Phil Groves from IMAX the CinemaCon Passepartout Award during the International Day luncheon at the annual trade show in Las Vegas. The award is presented each year to an industry executive who has…
CJ talks to TK Architect’s Mike Cummings about the role of the architects in creating great cinemas across the world. …
S. Korea’s CGV has bough Turkish cinema chain Mars in deal valued at $800m as mega consolidation takes hold amongst the world’s top cinema chain. …
CJ Flynn visits Barco Innovation Centre at AEG Regal LA Live Cinema and reflects on the importance of cinema test beds. …
Smart Pricer’s CEO Christian Kluge talks to Celluloid Junkie about dynamic pricing for cinemas, how to price a Star Wars film and more. …
Ymagis has announced its re-structuring and re-branding into CinemaNext and Eclair and the company looks to the post-VPF future. …
Movio’s white paper looks at the evolution of cinema audiences over a blockbusters opening weekend and week, yielding surprising insights….
Celluloid Junkie salutes the Top 25 Women working in the global cinema industry in our first ever annual ranking. …
In conjuncture with our Top 25 Women in Cinema, Celluloid Junkie asks why there are so few females in the top jobs of exhibition. …
In our first ever Cinema of the Month we visit CGV Liberty City Point in Vietnam’s second city and marvel how a 10-screen cinema can fit so neatly in a hotel….
Major box office fraud appears to be behind the success of martial arts blockbuster “Ip Man 3” with Chinese media and authorities finally tackling the well known problem. …
Multiplex tickets in south India will be capped at INR 120 ($1.78) to delight of audiences but could inadvertently hurt local films and push cinemas out of business….
Are movies getting longer? Stephen Follows crunches the numbers and analyses which genres, what directors and whether films are really do stretch on forever. …
AMC has agreed to buy Carmike for $1.1bn, which will create the first global 10,000 screen circuit through parent company Wanda, same day as Russia’s largest cinema chains merge ownership….
Movio is the data analytics company that understands movie going pattern based on analysis of vast amounts of cinema data. This is what they found for an under-served audience. …
CJ Flynn goes behind the scenes at the AMC Dolby Cinema in Burbank to bring us his unparalleled analysis of the next generation movie-going experience….
Gruvi’s Ben Johnson crunches the numbers to show that the opening weekend box office focus can be over-stated in terms of judging a film’s long term success….
European cinema attendance rose significantly in 2015, judging from statistics announced by both UNIC and MediaSalles. But regional variations remain, as do 1,900 analogue screens. …
With Pathe and Cinérive terminating their trial with Gokino.ch the concept of cinema-on-demand is struggling to take off in the age of social media commerce….
Norway’s largest cinema chain Nordisk has launched a cinema discount scheme for quality film, but rival SF Norge is boycotting it in favour of its own promotion….
The first ever summit has been held for the micro cinema business in China. Also known as private cinemas, the sector is growing but still faces issues such as piracy….
India – Could the Indian box office boom be undermined by single screen cinema closing faster than multiplexes are adding new screens? Like the PVR five-screen cinema at Grand Mall in Chennai’s Velachery, there are dozens of multiplexes across India ready…
In 2011 the average ticket price in China was CNY ¥37 (USD $5.62) but by 2015 this had fallen to nearly CNY ¥35 (USD $5.32) despite the growth of Imax and premium screens and the increase in cinema ticket prices…
Europe – 2016 was a pretty good year at the European box office, with the feel good of “Star Wars: the Force Awakens” at the end of the year masking some spectacular flops (remember “Fant4stic 4”?), some troubling attendance figures…
Cinema City launched its ‘Unlimited’ ticket in Poland on 1 December. Priced at PLZ 42 (USD $10.39) for its cinemas outside Warsaw and PLZ 49 (USD $12.12) for its cinemas in Warsaw. The ticket is not valid for special events…
Union International des Cinémas (International Union of Cinemas) UNIC is delighted to announce the publication of the updated edition of Rolv Gjestland’s book, “How to design a cinema auditorium – Practical guidelines for architects, cinema owners and others involved in…