3-D screens open as cinema battles for market share
Village Roadshow presented yesterday its first two three-dimension digital screens (Real D), which will operate at Village World in Palaio Faliron and at Village Park in Rendi. Tickets for screenings cost -10, including special 3-D glasses. «In the last few years, cinemas have not undergone any significant changes. We believe we have to move on, so Real D screens are the first step in this direction,» said Village Roadshow CEO Harry Antonopoulos. The cost of transforming a screen into a Real D one is estimated at -250,000. Besides the urge for a shift, Antonopoulos pointed at the financial side of the move: «Technological progress has increased the share of entertainment at home through home cinema or DVD players. Furthermore, ever-increasing piracy has inflicted significant damage on the movie industry. Three-dimensional projections are the answer, as this is something that cannot take place at home and cannot be copied.» By the end of 2007, Village Roadshow will also transform two more screens into Real D, one at The Mall Athens and one at Mediterranean Cosmos in Thessaloniki. However, there is a saturation threat in the cinema multiplex market, particularly in Athens, said Antonopoulos, along with a lack of Greek production that has kept annual ticket numbers at 14 million. This is why Village Roadshow will now position itself only at major shopping centers – it is already negotiating the creation of five or six screens at the shopping center that is under development at the Galatsi Sports Center – placing special emphasis on digital projection screens, which is the future of the sector.
