IMAX bullish on India despite slow growth, sees potential for 100 screens

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Canada’s IMAX Corp, best known for its immersive cinema technology, is bullish on India and sees a potential for close to 100 screens in the country, despite very slow growth here in the last 20 years, a top company executive said.

IMAX, which opened its first theatre in Wadala, Mumbai, in 1999, has just 20 operational screens across nine cities and two ready-to-launch properties that are awaiting government approvals. In contrast, China, which has become the largest market for IMAX, , overtaking the US, has operationalised 700 IMAX screens in the same time. “India has seen a muted growth for IMAX as screen count in the country hasn’t grown like other parts of the world. But it is picking up,” John Schreiner, senior VP, theatre development, IMAX Corp, told ET. He said his company has signed contracts with PVR Cinemas, Inox Leisure and Cinepolis India to launch 20 more IMAX screens in the coming years, which will take the total number of IMAX screens to 42.