ICE Theaters Expands International Footprint
variety.comBen Croll 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.
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 senior VP sales and strategy 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.
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