Just the ticket

摘要

When Richard Gelfond, the boss of imax, goes to China, people sometimes ask for his autograph. That is because for the Chinese, watching films on a screen 20 metres high is still a novelty, and imax is the best-known brand in giant-screen cinemas. No one in Hollywood has yet asked for Mr Gelfond's autograph, but he is happier being a star abroad. China is now the world's second-largest cinema market. Its box-office receipts rose by 37% in 2014, to around $4.8 billion. Along with other emerging economies, it will drive the film industry's growth in the years ahead. imax's roots are in museums and science centres, where audiences goggle at documentaries about sharks, dinosaurs and planets. Its fortunes were boosted when, in 2009, its cinemas did 3D screenings of "Avatar", a film about tree-hugging blue aliens. The film broke worldwide box-office records and introduced imax to millions more popcorn-chewers. Now, the company is in "the sweet spot of what is working well globally in the box office", says James Marsh of Piper Jafftay, an investment bank. The high-budget, high-octane blockbusters that Hollywood spews out these days are ideally suited to imax screens; and more than 55% of the company's 800 screens are outside America, mostly in high-growth markets.