Entertainment

Omicron Variant doesn’t spoil moviegoers, says Imax CEO – The Hollywood Reporter

The arrival of the omicron variant has yet to wow the audience, judging by the strong pre-sales for Spiderman and Matrix Imax CEO Richard Gelfond speaks at an investor conference on Tuesday.

“The public is not afraid of this variation. Obviously they bought those tickets, they intend to use them. So it’s real world data,” Gelfond told the UBS Global TMT Conference during a webcast session. With Hollywood-famous giant screen exhibitor releasing movie theater in cinemas, pre-selling to Sony’s Spider-Man: There’s no way home and Warner Bros. ‘ Matrix: Revive is powering Imax for a strong closing in 2021.

Gelfond emphasized that consumers pre-purchased tickets for both tours after the omicron variant arrived, so fans of both franchises factored that into their purchasing decisions. At the same time, Gelfond said the worldwide spread of the COVID-19 omicron variant, which is likely to peak in the second quarter of 2022, will coincide with a Hollywood movie set to hit theaters at that time.

“I hope that whatever happens to this variant will be dealt with by that time. So I don’t really think it will have a material impact,” Gelfond argued. Imax has upcoming releases for three Marvel movies like Black Panther: Wakanda Forever and Thor: Love and Thunder, Pictures like DC Comics Batmanand sequels for Top Guns and Avatar.

“Next year is going to be crazy about the genre of Imax movies coming out,” Gelfond told the investor conference. That said, the Imax boss is unlikely 2022 could be a record year for the box office globally as the show industry has yet to come out of the grip of the pandemic.

“I like to think so, but when I woke up two weeks ago and heard about a new variant and they didn’t know exactly what it was going to do, I held back a bit of enthusiasm,” Gelfond said of next year. will set another record . He also discussed the theater market in China, where Imax has many cinemas and has diversified into showing local content pictures.

Gelfond said of US-China relations in 2021: “Relations were not at their peak, but he added that the impact of the pandemic last year had more to do with fewer Hollywood movies showing in China. more and local content is delayed more. The film will be shown in local cinemas this year.

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