Tom Powell
SPAIN’S two biggest Imax cinemas are set to close after years of making losses.
The cinemas, in Madrid and Barcelona, are owned by Teatromax, which claims to have never made a profit.
Three high-resolution, giant-screen cinemas remain in Spain, located in Palma de Mallorca, Valencia and Leganes, near Madrid.
“We have held on against all odds until now, but we just can’t keep hoping things will improve,” Juan José Castelló, Teatromax CEO, told El Pais.
The cinemas will certainly be closed by the end of September, although it could happen as early as this week.
Spain is not an exceptional case, as about 150 Imax theatres have closed around the world over the last two years.
“Imax technology has not kept up with the pace of technological change, and has still failed to come up with laser projectors, as we were hoping,” says Castelló.
Imax first arrived in Spain in 1992 in Sevilla, but that cinema closed in 2005.
Not surprising really. Although the Imax experience is certainly very impressive, there just are not enough films made in this format to bring regular punters in. With the type of technology that people can now have in their own homes (3D, High definition, surround sound, giant screens) It isn’t a great alternative to sit in an auditorium smelling of popcorn and people, listening to their moronic chatter and their stupid phones going off.
The sharp increase in IVA will not have helped.
i remember going to the Imax in South Carolina
absolutely blew you away
it was incredible for its time
but cinemas rely on people going again and again
and there was never enough imax films made
IMAX has been left behind in the dust. They no longer have the biggest and brightest technology and their sound system is arcane. Dolby Atmos will put the best IMAX sound systems to shame and when you add Christies newest projection system, IMAX is now a tier two experince which is the most expensive for viewers to go too as well as extremely expensive for theater owners to invest in.
Your photo in the top corner is of a digital IMAX, like the one in Mallorca, which is still the best way to see IMAX Hollywood films (see http://www.imax.com) the two theaters that closed did not convert to digital or showed hollywood content. Reminds me of the demise of Blockbuster to Netflix. (Errata: The Seville theater closed in 1999 but building demolished in 2005)