Major premieres LED screens
Major Cineplex Group Plc, Thailand’s biggest cinema chain, has joined Samsung Electronics Co in launching the first LED movie screens in Southeast Asia, aiming to take the lead in offering the most innovative and exclusive cinemas locally and regionally.
The Samsung Cinema LED screen has begun operating at Paragon Cineplex.
Major Cineplex chief media officer Niti Pattanapakdee said the company keeps developing services by offering innovative technology to tap the changing behaviour of audiences.
Major Cineplex now offers 2D, 3D, Imax and 4DX cinema technology to ensure leadership in the local cinema market.
Unlike traditional projector screening, the LED screen is operated by a laser system, Mr Niti said, adding that the technical leap marks a new chapter for Thai cinemas.
“Cinema LED screens will overhaul the movie-watching experience with their picturesque screening quality that normal projector systems can’t do,” Mr Niti said.
The LED movie screen boasts 4K resolution with high dynamic range (HDR) technology. The peak brightness feature allows 10 times the brightness of normal projector screens.
Boonlerd Viboonkiat, vice-president for enterprise business at Thai Samsung Electronics, said the company began developing LED movie screens because Samsung believes it will revolutionise Thailand’s cinema sector and please moviegoers.
Mr Boonlerd said the LED movie screen from Samsung debuted in Thailand as the first country in Southeast Asia because of the growth potential of the cinema market here.
Mr Niti said Major Cineplex plans to expand to 35 cinemas (100 screens) in 10 provinces, including hypermarkets and lifestyle malls, because the company wants to be accessible for every target group, especially teenagers and first-jobbers.
Thanks to non-expensive pricing and effective promotions to reach moviegoers in remote areas, Major Cineplex expects the rising number of cinemas in the 10 provinces to produce strong growth for incinema ads, driven by local products being advertised in each location.
Major Cineplex began selling the ad slots last December.
Last year, Major Cineplex generated 10 billion baht in revenue, of which 5 billion baht came from movie ticket sales.
The remaining 5 billion baht was generated through snacks, drinks, advertising and event roadshows.
During the first nine months of 2017, Major Cineplex posted a net profit of 1.11 billion baht on revenue of 7.83 billion baht.
The group expects ad revenue to be driven by 330 high-quality movies scheduled for release this year.
Of the total, 195 are Hollywood films, 80 are other Asian and the rest are Thai.
On the first day of screening Avengers: Infinity War, Major Cineplex raked in more than 100 million baht, one of the highest opening totals of the past few years.