Ever wonder how HK box office really works? Yeah? In part 1, we'll look at the different theater chains around HK. Right now in HK, there are 7 theater chains and 41 theaters in operation. Here's the rundown.
Theater Chains (ranked from biggest to smallest)
1. Broadway Circuit/AMC Cinemas - Current theater count: 13 (AMC Pacific Place, Festival Walk; Broadway Palace IFC/APM, Cyberport, Hollywood, Olympian City, The ONE, Kingswood Ginza, Tsuen Wan, Kwai Fong, Cinematheque, Mongkok) -- Yuen Long will open back up soon.
The 2 theater chains are owned by the same company. Even if you take out the 2 AMC theaters, Broadway is still the largest chain in all of HK. They own about 33% of the theater market and about 40% of revenue. Although Yuen Long closed this month, it is expected to re-open under the Broadway brand soon.
Broadway/AMC's setup is the best in HK. Most of the theaters are in high traffic areas. You've got the high class and high traffic theaters (Pacific Place, Palace IFC) then the high traffic areas in slightly less expensive locations (Festival Walk, Palace APM, The ONE). Mongkok is also a high traffic area and it is in the top 3 for busiest theaters in HK. The rest don't have the same prestige or as many other passersby as those 6 do. Cinematheque is a different beast altogether and 70% of its movies are arthouse or indie. They do show 1 or 2 Hollywood movies here or there, particularly when no arthouse film is coming out or if a mega blockbuster is being released)
2. UA - Current theater count: 11 -- if you disregard the multiple screens (UA Cityplaza & Director's Club, iSQUARE & IMAX, Megabox & IMAX, Airport IMAX, Windsor Cinema, Langham Place, Shatin, Yuen Long, tmtplaza, Citygate, Cine-Art House) -- Sunbeam Theatre is not considered as a regular theater
UA owns the IMAX market in HK and it is one of the biggest IMAX territories anywhere in the world. According to Hollywood, UA iSQUARE IMAX and Megabox IMAX accounted for more than 10% of Avatar's gross. After 8 weeks, the 2 combined for 2.9m. Avatar finished with more than 3m from IMAX alone. That's why Avatar is the only film to record a $10,000 PSA every weekend in its run. Even on its last day in IMAX before Iron Man 3's arrival, it still played to about 80% capacity and it reeled off a $12,000+ PTA just on that day.
Although UA owns the busiest theater in all of HK (Langham Place), other places do not have enough screens (Shatin) or are too remote (Citygate) to overtake Broadway as the biggest chain. The only high traffic areas here are Langham Place, iSQUARE and Windsor Cinema.
There is some good news for UA. After unexpectedly being booted from its prime location, Times Square is set to re-open this summer which would make it the chain with the largest theater count if Yuen Long doesn't re-open before then.
3. Multiplex Cinema Ltd. (MCL) - Current theater count: 6 (MCL JP, Kornhill, Telford, Metro, STAR Cinema, The GRAND)
It boasts the largest theater in HK in The GRAND. While the GRAND has 12 screens, the rest either lack screens (JP) or are fairly remote (the rest). It won't challenge the top 2 in the near future or fall below the rest. If real estate developers keep on developing Tsueng Kwan O, I expect Star Cinema/Metro to get busier.
4. Golden Harvest (GH) - Current theater count: 5 (GH Citywalk, Tsing Yi, Whampoa, Grand Ocean, Golden Gateway)
Mongkok closed down earlier this year so there's a void left by its departure. Grand Ocean/Golden Gateway can be considered as 1 theater but I left them at 2 due to them being in different locations. Largely considered as a 2nd tier theater. Above Newport and Chinachem but lags behind the rest.
5. Newport Circuit - Current theater count: 4 (President, Dynasty, Hyland, Newport)
This theater chain supports Chinese language films along with the latest Hollywood blockbuster. Your best bet to watching a Chinese movie is here because they will show anywhere from small-big Chinese films (some are even exclusively distributed by Newport). They do not offer online ticketing which paints it as a smaller theater chain than the rest.
6. Chinachem Circuit - Current theater count: 2 (Chinachem Golden Plaza, Paris London New York)
The lowest theater count of any chain. Also one of the cheapest which makes it the smallest chain in HK.
No comments:
Post a Comment