Imax CEO Rich Gelfond sees China’s hard line on Hollywood continuing

China has just set release dates for two summer films – Universal’s Jurassic domination of the world June 10 and large production in the local language mozart from space (By the director Detective Chinatown Series) on July 15. This is good news for a giant market opening, said Rich Gelfond, CEO of Imax. But he still doesn’t expect Hollywood’s increased price control to ease. Jurassic news. China has refused to release many high-profile American films, and Marvel’s recent omission is perhaps the most conspicuous.

During a question and answer session on Sunday, Gelfond called 2021 a “really fun year” for American films in China. The CEO is particularly interested in this market given the considerable exposure of his company.

First, “the Chinese had their remains of unreleased films, so they weren’t going to do a lot of Marvel and other films,” he said. There was also “a huge and unsuccessful PVOD experience where the original copies were distributed globally”.

“China is a high-piracy area and people haven’t even bought them on PVOD, they got them for free from torrent sites. So the Chinese government said, “Are we going to include these films when they’re not doing business on a theatrical level?” “At the moment, the studies seem to shorten the 45-day window for blockbusters,” she said.

“He was allowed this year Batman in. Fantastic Beasts: Dumbledore’s Secrets, Emergency. jurassic world, mozart “And a lot of other local films are dated,” he said. You said there were “broader global issues between the United States and China” and that meant American films were “subject to broader discussion”. At the same time, “the studio is under pressure not to be too accommodating, because there has been a negative reaction: [as in] “Are you making a film for China or for the world?” So there will be fewer such films.

At Imax China, “if there are gaps in the program, we will fill them very well in a local language that matches the dynamics of the market”, towards films in the local language, far from Hollywood.

In the state, Gelfond was optimistic, of course he would be today. Imax projection Top Gun: Maverick Last night, New York’s AMC Lincoln Square ran out of $ 30 tickets before the expected explosion of Tom Cruise’s mega-film.

Imax is also looking for a bank, which Gelfond has called “the Avatar Effect “with the sequel by James Cameron Avatar: Path of the water At the end of this year. The success of the first large format film alone initiated a significant expansion of Imax. “I would be very surprised if it didn’t happen. Avatar The effect is back, “he said.

Gelfond revealed last month that the company had created an internal work group dedicated solely to its capitalization. Avatar Publication.