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Cinemark
Adding 40 Screens Locally in 2002
Brazil Hotbed For Expansion
SAO PAOLO, Brazil – Having displaced locally based exhibitor
Severiano Ribeiro as Brazil’s dominant exhibitor, Dallas-based
Cinemark International now plans to add 40 screens at four
Brazil sites in 2002 and as many as five sites a year for
the next several years.
Cinemark currently operates 258 screens nationally; Ribeiro
170 (with 15 more to debut this year); and Brazil’s third-largest
exhib, Encino, Calif.-based United Cinemas International,
99.
Cinebox, a European-based concern new to the Brazilian market,
also plans to open an average of 30 screens annually in the
coming years.
Screen count has risen 44 percent from about 1,000 screens
in 1997 to a current estimated 1,600-plus, while admissions
have also risen from 56.6 million in 1999 to 67.8 million
between January and November 2001. 
54 Screens, Five Multis
Major To Become
Biggest Thai Chain
BANGKOK, Thailand – Major Cineplex (MC) plans to build
54 screens at five sites in Thailand, putting itself on course
to become the largest circuit in the country with a total
screen count of 105.
Chief rival Entertain Golden Village (EGV) operates 88 screens
in Thailand and has revealed no expansion plans.
MC announced in February plans to float shares on the Thai
stock exchange in June, with the initial public offering of
20 million shares – at a value of five baht each —expected
to drive the circuit’s growth.
Currently, MC and EGV each enjoy about a 40-percent market
share.
23,000
Vids and DVDs Seized
Yugos Protect
Foreign Copyrights
BELGRADE, Yugoslavia – In an effort to crack down on
rampant audio and visual piracy in Yugoslavia, local authorities
in February seized 100,000 illegal items.
Plans were made to publicly destroy the pirated items, which
included 23,000 videos and DVDs, in the Yugoslavian capital
of Belgrade.
To further restore order to foreign copyrights, the government
has also fined nearly 300 firms and individuals and initiated
criminal proceedings.
During the decade under former president Slobodan Milsoveic
in which international sanctions were placed on Yugoslavia,
unlicensed copies of films, songs and computer programs were
available within days of their release elsewhere in Europe
and the United States.
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28-Year
High For Admissions
Box Office Princely
For United Kingdom
LONDON – Some 141 million United Kingdom movie tickets
were sold in 2001 – the highest number since 1972 –
and strong blighty box office continued into 2002.
Admissions in January rose 29 percent to 15 million over the
same period last year, due largely to the first installments
of the “Harry Potter” and “Lord of the Rings”
franchises, the number two and three U.K. box office champs
of all time, respectively.
Other Hollywood-financed films such as “Monsters, Inc.,”
“Spider-Man,” and the next installments of the “Star
Wars,” “Austin Powers” and “James Bond”
series are expected to help the nation’s upward trend
continue through 2002.
Admissions
Increase by 26 Mil
Screen Upgrades
Boost German B.O.
BERLIN – The increase in German admits from 152 million
in 2000 to 178 million in 2001 is being attributed to the
capital improvements made to Germany’s 4,700 screens,
of which nearly 2,500 were renovated or newly built within
the last six years.
The 26-million increase in admissions for 2001 marks the first
time Germans, on average, bought more than two tickets each
in a single year.
German box office increased to 987 million euros in 2001,
while local product grabbed a market share of 18.4 percent
– the largest German share since 1986, when record-keepers
began to keep track. Nine German films drew audiences of larger
than one million.
UCI
Buys Sites for $18.5 million
Ster Sells Assets In
3 European Markets
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa – UCI Central Europe BV will
pay $18.5 million for Ster Century’s multiplexes in Hungary,
the Czech Republic and Slovakia.
A joint venture between UCI and venture capital and private
equity fund Argus Capital Group, UCI Central Europe BV was
established in the late ‘90s to develop multis in eastern
and central Europe. Under the current agreement, UCI is involved
in the provision of management and operational services.
The agreement terms for Ster Century’s disposal of its
sites in Hungary and the Czech Republic were for a cash consideration
of $16.7 million, with a completion date expected in April.
Ster Century’s Slovakian sites were sold for $1.8 million,
with a completion date set for June.
Ster Century Europe still retains its holdings in the United
Kingdom, Ireland, Greece, Spain and Poland.
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