Backtracking to the Age of Literature and Art

Chapter 907 Business Logic
IMAX was a move taken by Deep Space Company very early. In order to play this move well, they deliberately brought Lucas and Spielberg together, and the three parties together won IMAX Company.

In the past few years, IMAX has been in the stage of accumulating power, and it has not brought much income to the three of them, and they even need to continue to invest. However, starting this year, IMAX suddenly has a small explosion, and all theaters are paying attention. On this technology that is not too new.

The viewing effect of the IMAX system is obvious to all. Everyone knows that it can bring a better experience to the audience. Of course, a better experience naturally requires a higher price.

Over the past few years, many theater owners have gradually discovered that it is difficult to increase the turnover of movie theaters, and their income has not improved, and at this time they saw IMAX.Such a good viewing effect can not only attract audiences to the theater, but also increase revenue.

In order to truly bring the audience a top-level movie-watching experience, a lot of changes need to be made when transforming an ordinary movie theater into an IMAX movie theater.

A standard IMAX theater is very different from a normal movie theater. The resolution of the IMAX screen is extremely high, and the audience can be closer to the screen. All seats are within the height of a screen.

Moreover, the inclination of the seats in the IMAX theater is much larger than that of ordinary theaters, because in this way, the audience can better face the center of the screen and have a better viewing experience.Therefore, the interior of the IMAX theater needs a relatively high space to accommodate the super-large screen, ranging in height from four floors to eight floors.

As a result, building a standard IMAX theater generally requires extensive renovations to traditional theaters, or simply building a new IMAX theater.Some old theaters have no conditions for renovation at all.

The reason why IMAX is not popular is not only because the requirements for the theater itself are relatively high, but also because the production and storage of its films are relatively difficult. IMAX stipulates that the film storage environment must be in a 24-hour constant temperature and humidity space throughout the year, and the entire transportation process must use an all-aluminum sealed box, and the inside of the box must provide good shock-absorbing support, because the film is very fragile and easily damaged by bumps Film.

In addition, compared with traditional films, IMAX's reflection is also very particular. Projectionists must wear pure cotton gloves when showing IMAX films to avoid oil, sweat, and fingerprints on their hands from getting on the film. Under the magnification effect of , these stains will be very obvious.

But even though the conditions are so harsh and the cost is so expensive, many theaters have expressed strong interest in this technology, hoping that IMAX can help them transform their theaters. Now IMAX's orders have been scheduled until the beginning of 2002, and the company is also expanding its scale. , to meet the increasing orders.

Many people are staring at how much money "The Martian" made for Deep Space Corporation, but they don't know that IMAX has slowly started to bring profits to Deep Space Corporation in recent years.As long as the current trajectory continues, IMAX will one day become a hen that can lay eggs.

Before Deep Space and their three companies took over, IMAX's original business logic was very simple. On the one hand, it provided film producers with shooting machines, using 70mm film cameras and films that were ten times the size of full-frame cmos, and on the other hand. Providing theaters with dedicated screens and projectors is to eat at both ends and get at both ends.

However, after Yu Dong and his companies sold IMAX, they changed the company's development strategy and asked the company to focus on the development of DMR conversion technology, making those films that were not shot with IMAX cameras into IMAX films through technical means for screening.

The reason for doing this is because IMAX cameras are too expensive. The cost of a camera is tens of millions of dollars, and some models even cost two to three million dollars. The film is also charged separately. Such an expensive price is not everyone. willing to use.

DMR solves the problem on the production side, so that all ordinary movies can hope to become IMAX movies.

The playback end is also full of difficulties. IMAX generally charges up to 300 million US dollars to design and build a movie theater, and the IMAX playback system charges another 200 million US dollars. million dollars.

Such a high price has discouraged many theaters.The reluctance of theaters to renovate will also affect the decision-making of film producers. After all, if there are not many theaters that can show IMAX, why spend millions of dollars to make movies into IMAX?It's no different than throwing money into the water.

However, after Yu Dong and the others took over the company, they directly lowered the price of the playback system from 200 million US dollars to 120 million US dollars, and the construction cost of the cinema hall was also reduced from 300 million US dollars to 220 million US dollars. It cost hundreds of thousands of dollars less before.

At such a price, IMAX hardly makes money, and may even lose money, but only in this way can the market be revived.

Now IMAX's business logic is completely different. They do not make money by selling cameras and building playback systems, but by means of box office sharing, equipment rental and maintenance, and equipment certification.

Now the income from box office sharing is still relatively small, but when more and more movies are willing to be converted into IMAX movies, this part of income will increase, and it will also become the main means of revenue for their company.

It is worth mentioning that the great director James Cameron has been trying to get in touch with IMAX in the past two years. He has shown a strong interest in this technology, and often expresses his optimism for IMAX in public, and at the same time expresses his hope that it can The will to make an IMAX movie.

In a way, Spielberg, one of the bosses of the company, is not as powerful as James Cameron for IMAX.

Before Lucas saw James Cameron constantly promoting IMAX technology on the news, he even called Jimmy and asked Jimmy if he did James Cameron any favors and asked him to promote their IMAX technology everywhere. company.

Of course, James Cameron didn't get any benefits from Jimmy. He was simply very optimistic about the IMAX technology, and he really wanted to use IMAX technology to make a revolutionary movie in terms of film technology.

During this period of time, IMAX is also in contact with James Cameron, and perhaps the two parties can really reach a cooperation.

Deep Space itself is also actively promoting IMAX. At least one of the three films released by their company in 2002, "Lord of the Rings 2", "Harry Potter 2" and "Spiderman", will be produced in IMAX format. Shown in various IMAX theaters.

I believe that from then on, movie fans will gradually feel the charm of IMAX, and gradually shift their attention from the small screen to the big screen.

(End of this chapter)