Asia-Pacific region's number one digital screen theater pursues high-end experience, setting off a boom in mergers and acquisitions

In 2015, the number of digital theaters in the world reached 29445, and the total number of digital screens reached 141049, including 74562 3D screens. The screen digitization rate has reached 92.7%. A total of 28 countries have achieved full digitalization of screens.

Original title Three trends in global cinema development: The rise of Asia, cinema mergers and acquisitions, and high-end experience.

In 2015, the number of digital cinemas in the world reached 29445, and the total number of digital screens reached 141049, including 74562 3D screens. The screen digitalization rate has reached 92.7%. A total of 28 countries have achieved full digitalization of screens.

Overall, the development of global cinemas presents several major characteristics:

First, the growth rate of screen construction has slowed down, and digital screens in the Asia-Pacific region ranked first in the world for the first time

. In 2015, the construction and conversion speed of digital screens in various regions around the world slowed down again. The growth rate of digital screens has dropped from 14.5% in 2014 to 10.7%. Especially, the two mature markets of North America and Europe, which started earlier, have become saturated and stable, with growth rates falling from 4.4% and 10.1% to 2.5% and 4.2% respectively.

Although the Asia-Pacific region and Central and South America, as emerging markets, are still in the period of development and construction, their growth rates have declined, from 27.3% and 31.5% in 2014 to 22.5% and 17.9% respectively.

Similarly, the global growth rate of 3D screens has also dropped from 22.2% in 2014 to 15.1%. The only Asia-Pacific region in the world that accelerated the construction of 3D screens in 2014 also cooled down in 2015, with the growth rate falling from 54.3% to 30.3%.

In recent years, the film industry in the Asia-Pacific region has developed rapidly and attracted global attention. After several years of rapid growth, the total number of digital screens in the Asia-Pacific region has reached 50490, ranking first in the world for the first time; North America ranks second, with a total number of 42552 digital screens.

The increase in the number of screens has also brought about box office growth and industry prosperity. In 2015, box office revenue of films in the Asia-Pacific region reached US$14.7 billion, an increase of 16.1% compared with 2014. Compared with North America (US$10.4 billion in 2015 and US$11.1 billion in 2015), the advantages are further expanded.

The development of 3D screens in the Asia-Pacific region has become even more eye-catching. The proportion of 3D screens in all screens has further increased, from 67.7% in 2014 to 72%, while this proportion in North America (41.6%), Europe (47.2%), Central and South America (38.6%) and Africa and the Middle East (32.3%) have declined year after year and gradually stabilized.

The proportion of 3D screens and 3D box office promote each other. As the vanguard of the Asian film market, China's 3D box office revenue accounts for about 40% of total box office revenue, while the proportion in the United States is only 14.6%.

2. Theater lines have set off a boom in mergers and acquisitions, and exploring overseas markets has become an important development strategy for large-scale theaters

. In the past two years, a wave of mergers and acquisitions in movie theaters has been launched around the world, making the film markets in various countries and regions more concentrated: As of the end of 2015, there are 21 theaters with more than 1000 screens globally.

Under the wave of mergers and acquisitions initiated by the three major theaters in the UK (UCI, Woyou Vue, and Cineworld), 63.3% of the country's screens have belonged to the three major theaters, while the three major theaters in the United States (Regal, AMC, Cinemark) The proportion is 44%.

There are 9 theaters with more than 1000 screens in China (these nine theaters are also among the top 9 in Asia), and the number of screens they own accounts for about 40% of the total number of screens in the country.

As Asia's second largest cinema market, the Indian cinema market has become more concentrated after several large-scale mergers and acquisitions in the past two years. The top 5 theaters have a total of 13.2% of the country's screens.

Mergers and acquisitions are not limited to domestic markets. Among the top ten theaters in the world, there are 6 transnational operations, showing a strong trend of internationalization.

Such cross-border mergers and acquisitions and business expansions are more common in Europe, especially in EU countries. For example, Belgian cinema Kinepolis has expanded its business scope to cover Belgium, France, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Spain, Switzerland and Poland, with a total of 48 cinemas and 503 screens, with 1/3 of Belgium and 10% of the Netherlands's market share, and has successfully opened up the Luxembourg market; British

Cinema has acquired JT Bioscopen, the second largest cinema in the Netherlands, and its business coverage will expand to 1859 screens in 10 European countries.

Cross-continental mergers and acquisitions and operations have become common in recent years. A typical example is my country's Wanda Theater Line, which has now become the world's largest theater line: after successively acquiring large international theaters such as AMC in the United States and Hoyts in Australia, Wanda's AMC will also acquire Odeon& UCI Cinemas Group in the UK.

Cinepolis, a Mexican cinema giant in South America, completed the acquisition of 24 cinemas and 83 screens owned by FunCinemas cinema in India.

However, cinemas in these large-scale theaters generally exist in the form of large multi-auditorium theaters. Data shows that the top 20 theaters in the world have a total of 52144 screens, accounting for 1/3 of the total number of screens in the world, but the number of theaters only accounts for 14% of the total number of theaters in the world.

This shows that independent cinemas and non-multi-theater cinemas with average revenue capacity are not included in the scope of large-scale theater acquisitions. Rapidly owning more screens, occupying more market shares, and entering other countries 'markets are the main methods and fundamental goals for large-scale theater operations and mergers.

3. The pursuit of excellent audio-visual quality has become the development direction of cinemas. The promotion and application of high-end projection models have been accelerated

. In recent years, the focus of construction in the field of cinema projection has shifted from purely digital projection upgrades to improving audio-visual quality and viewing experience. Giant screen/special screen, immersive high-tech projection models such as sound and 4D have become the hallmarks of high-end cinemas and flagship cinemas.

At present, there are 2099 cinemas commercial giant screen/special screen (including large size screens, triple screens, and spherical screens) cinemas, 1640 immersive sound cinemas, and 820 4D cinemas in the world. 7.1% of cinemas have giant screen/special screen cinemas, while the ownership rates of immersive sound and 4D are 5.6% and 2.8% respectively.

Giant screen/special screen screening is the preferred high-end screening mode for exhibitors and the most popular model among audiences. In 2015, giant screen/special screen cinemas developed rapidly, with the total number reaching 2099, accounting for the total number of digital screens. 1.5% of the total, an increase of 27% compared with 2014.

North America and the Asia-Pacific region are key markets for the promotion and application of giant screens in recent years. The Asia-Pacific region has a total of 765 giant screens, accounting for 36.7% of the total number of giant screens in the world. Among them, 207 new giant screens were added in 2015, an increase of 37.1%; There are a total of 889 giant screen cinemas in North America, accounting for 42.7% of the global total. In 2015, 126 new screens were added, an increase of 16.5%.

From a technical perspective, the rapid development of giant screen/special screen cinemas is closely linked and mutually reinforcing with the development and application of laser projection technology: in 2015, 73% of newly purchased laser projectors were used for giant screen/special screen projection. In terms of brands, there are 1111 international brands such as IMAX, China Giant Screen, and Barco Escape, accounting for 53.1% of the total. Especially in the Asia-Pacific region, international brands account for 74.8% of the total Giant Screen.

There are currently 7 major international giant screen and special screen brands, of which IMAX entered the market first and is currently the international brand giant screen with the highest market share;

China giant screen has developed rapidly in the past two years and has become the largest screen brand in installation scale only second to IMAX, and has begun to be promoted and applied globally.

Barco Escape, CGV Screen X and Sphere X have launched the market in the past two years, breaking the single-screen viewing format with triple screens and curved spherical screens, and introducing previous special films into commercial theaters.

In 2015, the development of the global cinema's own brand giant screens was also remarkable. The number of houses built exceeded that of international brands, and its market share gradually increased (45.8% in mid-2015 increased to 46.9% at the end of 2015); The

number of cinema's own brand giant screens in North America, Central and South America, Africa and the Middle East has exceeded that of international brands, and the cinema's own brand giant screens in Central and South America accounted for 87.8% of all giant screens.

The three major theaters in the United States, Regal, AMC and Cinemark, Canada's Cineplex theater and the UK's Vue theater have all carried out the construction of their own brand giant screen systems;

Regional theaters and local theaters such as Carmike and Marcus in the United States are not willing to lag behind. my country's Wanda Theater Line, Dadi Theater Line, and Poly Theater Line are also building giant screens of theater brands and have achieved good market benefits.

Editor: Nancy