Rich Gelfond
Albert L. Ortega/Getty Images
The Asia-Pacific region has proved a vital bright spot for Hollywood’s streaming platforms in 2022, reliably delivering subscriber growth to services like Netflix and Disney+ while major markets of the West either slow or plateau. This bullishness in the East also happens to be shared by the brand that most clearly represents the polar opposite of the connected home TV — giant-screen operator Imax. Before the pandemic, as much as 50 percent of Imax’s box office revenue was generated by its theaters in Asia. With Hollywood tentpoles and local-language blockbusters flowing into theaters again, Imax has seen a big bounce-back in its Asia business throughout 2022.
Ahead of the CineAsia show in Bangkok, where exhibition executives will convene to discuss trends in the region’s major theatrical markets, The Hollywood Reporter connected with Imax CEO Richard Gelfond to discuss Asia’s varying rates of business recovery, whether the new Avatar will help renew Hollywood’s access to China and the strategic dilemmas that continue to prevent Netflix from embracing the big screen.
When you look across Asia, what are you seeing in terms of post-COVID market recovery?
I think you have to separate Asia into two pieces. One is China, and the other is the rest of Asia. For the rest of Asia, we’ve been doing extremely well. As of Nov. 15, we had already exceeded our 2019 full-year numbers in Japan, India, Hong Kong and Singapore — and that’s with Avatar: The Way of Water still to come. And 2019 was the best year in Imax history for worldwide global box office. So Asia, without China, has been a real high point for us — particularly in Japan. Our trailing 12-month per-screen average is close to $2 million a screen, which is just a remarkable result. I don’t think we’ve come close to that in any other country in the world.
How do you account for that success in Japan?
Previously, people there had seen Imax as a platform for releasing Hollywood films and making them really special. But since the pandemic, we’ve leaned into becoming a platform for blockbuster Japanese films as well. So our year-to-date box office in Japan through October was 3 percent higher than it was for all of 2019. We released Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero and had very high indexing. And just [recently], we did something we had never done before in Japan and split the schedule, opening both [Makoto Shinkai’s anime tentpole] Suzume and Wakanda Forever in Imax in the same weekend — and both performed very strongly.
Let’s turn to the big one — China. There have been unprecedented headwinds this year: the COVID lockdowns, the tightening of censorship control and a reduction in the amount of Hollywood product allowed into the market.
Unfortunately, because of the COVID lockdowns and release delays, there really wasn’t an adequate supply of films in 2022. And that includes both Hollywood and local-language film. In terms of Hollywood films, I do think it will get back to “normal” — the question is when. If you’re a studio, the timeline — whether it’s two weeks or six months — that’s a pivotal thing for you, because you have sunk costs in your film. But we’ve been in China for 20 years, and we’ll be there another 20 years. And while there’s been no official word yet, I’m hopeful Avatar will get into China in late December. [On Nov. 22, Disney revealed it will open there Dec. 16.] And if it does well, that could actually help accelerate the importation of Hollywood films into China again.
Richard Gelfond, says Imax has had success with local-language films in Japan such as anime hit Suzume.
COURTESY OF COMIX WAVE
Do you think 2023 could be the year when Netflix starts doing larger theatrical releases?
Among the studios, there is no longer disagreement. They know that their major movies need a theatrical release, both to recoup their investment and in order to perform well on their streaming services. The studios have had a theatrical model forever, so they can just switch it on. But for Netflix, since they don’t have IP like Marvel or DC or Mission: Impossible, marketing and releasing a big, original tentpole successfully will be very expensive. I wouldn’t speculate on where they will land on this, and their executives are very smart people, but it’s not surprising that we hear talk of different camps within the company sort of fighting it out to figure out whether they need to make a transition.
Interview edited for length and clarity.
This story first appeared in the Nov. 30 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. Click here to subscribe.