Cinema’s golden age of big-screen experiences to come at a premium

Hoyts Cinema and IMAX have unveiled plans to cash in on the box office boom, announcing a partnership that could more than double the current number of locations and add up to five more screens across the nation.

James Manning

Village Cinemas at Knox Shopping Centre in Melbourne has installed one of the largest 3D screens in Australasia.

2 min read

4:59PMJuly 20, 2025

The Australian Business Network

Australia’s movie theatre chains are ushering in a new golden age of cinema where the emphasis is on offering a premium big-screen experience at a premium price point and racking up premium profits.

IMAX cinema screens – and their cutting-edge project and audio technology – have proven so popular with Australian moviegoers that its big-screen theatres in Sydney and Melbourne are among the most profitable in the world.

The country has been marked as a priority target for expansion, with IMAX global chief executive Richard Gelfond telling The Australian demand for its screens far outstripped its existing footprint.

Australia already ranks in 10th spot for IMAX box office takings, even though it has only four screens, including theatres in Canberra and on the Gold Coast.

It is a tiny number given the company boasts more than 1800 IMAX screens in some 90 countries, with the lion’s share based in China (800) and the US (372).

IMAX and Hoyts Cinema last week unveiled plans to cash in on the box office boom, announcing a partnership that could more than double the current number of locations and add up to five more screens across the nation.

The IMAX experience has come a long way since the six-storey screen at Darling Harbour, Sydney opened in 1996.

The first new IMAX screen to be opened under the agreement will be in the Hoyts Melbourne Central multiplex, costing about $2m to build into the existing facility and scheduled to be operational in time for the premiere of the next instalment in the highly successful Avatar series, Fire and Ash, by director James Cameron.

The announcement came after IMAX also entered into a new deal with Event Cinemas in June, in a move that they will see them open another four screens together across the country, while Village Cinemas is scheduled to have yet another new IMAX screen up and running at Victoria’s Westfield Fountain Gate by November.

IMAX chief executive Richard Gelfond.

Mr Gelfond said IMAX planned to eventually open as many as 40 screens across the country by the end of the decade as it zeros in on the nation’s appetite for its big screen experience, with the major cinema chains all competing to lock down the best locations.

“All of the major exhibitors in Australia are in the IMAX business. Our experience in other countries is that once you get a number of chains involved and people compete for the locations, you ramp up much faster,” he said.

With moviegoers expected to pay up to 40-60 per cent more for IMAX movie tickets, Mr Gelfond said it was critical to deliver a product that went beyond the screen and attracting advertisers was not even part of the business model.

“If it was up to us, we would have as little advertising as possible,” he said. “That’s up to the exhibitor. Too much [advertising] detracts from the experience.

“For Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer, cinemas were able to get a premium price because the image was so special and it looked so good and there were higher costs around it. It’s also a function of supply demand. With the Avatar franchise, because it’s so associated with IMAX and it looks so good, you’re able to get a little bump upwards.”

Mr Gelfond said major releases, such as Brad Pitt’s F1: The Movie and Sandra Bullock’s Gravity, made 20 per cent-plus of their box office at IMAX theatres even though they accounted for less than 1 per cent of available screens.

He expected demand for IMAX would continue to grow with Nolan’s next, Odyssey, Greta Gerwig’s Narnia, and instalments in the Toy Story, Avengers and Star Wars franchises on the way.