An evangelist for the premium format, France’s CGR Cinemas has forged a growing number of international partnerships since the exhibition chain began exporting its proprietary Immersive Cinema Experience (ICE) model in 2017.
Although Jocelyn Bouyssy, the long-time managing director of CGR Cinemas and a driving force behind the launch of ICE Theaters, was ousted in May as part of an abrupt executive shuffle, the premium format looks to have bright days ahead.
At the start of this year, CGR – through its export arm ICE Theaters – had already opened premium rooms in Barcelona, Los Angeles, New Dehli and Jeddah, among others; by December, the premium format will win over new converts in Colombia, Ecuador, Thailand and Estonia, with even more to come.
As part of its strategy, ICE Theaters teams with local distributors and top exhibition chains, lending “legitimacy” to a still-young brand, designed in-house, that outfits a row of LED panels on both sides of an auditorium and fills them with bespoke visuals extending the action onscreen (“It’s like surround sound but for light,” is how an ICE exec describes it).
“We have legitimacy in terms of films and access to films,” says ICE Theaters managing director Guillaume Thomine Desmazures. “And we have legitimacy in terms of clientele, because we work with the number 1, 2 or 3 distributor in each country, so the results are really there. When you look at the box office figures for India, Spain, France or even the United States, the results are very, very, very satisfactory, and the return on investment is very quick.”
In India, ICE teamed with PVR Inox, which holds sway with nearly 1,700 screens across more than 100 cities in India and Sri Lanka, and holds a 43% market share in terms of domestic multiplex rooms. With three ICE-equipped rooms already up and running in New Delhi and Gurgaon, ICE Theaters is set to deliver another 20 locations within the coming five years. Next up is a theater in Kanakapura, just outside of Bangalore, and after that, well, social media commentators might even have their say.
“We’re getting very positive feedback,” says Thomine Desmazures. “As soon as PVR Inox posts an immersive trailer in the ICE format, we get loads of social media posts asking when they’ll get this theater in Bangalore, when it will come Mumbai, and so on. Our occupancy rate has exceeded forecasts, and the average price has risen sharply, so it’s a very popular product.”
Though ICE Theater struck a deal with Ecuador’s Multicines at the CinemaCon this past April, the wheels had already been motion since Multicines executives took in a film at Los Angeles’ flagship ICE-equipped theater ahead of the Las Vegas trade show. “When they came to the stand, it was to discuss the terms of the contract,” adds Thomine Desmazures.
The same came to pass with a Colombian delegation representing top exhibitor Cine Colombia, and with Thailand’s Major Cineplex, which officialized a long-planned deal on the CinemaCon convention floor. Plans are already underway to open a premium room in Bogotá timed to the release of “Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom” this coming December, while the still-under-construction Central WestVille mall in Bangkok will open to the public with an ICE Theater already in tow come November.
In fact, when planning new ICE-equipped rooms, Thomine Desmazures advises prospective partners to build from scratch.
“In principle, we advise new construction over refurbishments, because it’s much more economical for an operator,” he explains. “It costs less to install ICE in a new building than to remodel, dismantle or remake an auditorium in the ICE format. That way there’s no revenue lost. [And seeing as we can supply the materials] It’s the same price whether they use our supplied carpet and seats and wall cladding as those sourced for a more conventional auditorium.”
Closer to home, French company has began negotiations with prospective partners in nearly all neighboring countries, while further afield the team has set its sights on new developments in the U.S. and Australia. In each case, the terms remain flexible.
“We always adjust our business model to suit each territory,” says Thomine Desmazures. “We really take into consideration each exhibitor’s occupancy rate alongside the films they program and their average price. The principle begins with a contribution followed by either a five-or-10-year contract, depending on the operator’s ambitions, with a small amount of CapEx and an OpEx smoothed over the length of the contract.”
And in ICE Theater’s headquarters in La Rochelle – nicknamed “The Bunker” – technicians will be hard at work all year encoding more than 35 blockbusters and tentpole animated fare in the house style, with the hopes to create even more premium format evangelists.
