ICE Theaters Scales Up to Meet Global Premium Demand
variety.comBen Croll As global exhibitors look to capitalize on the public’s appetite for four-quadrant blockbusters, many have turned to premium formats as a way to juice premium fees.
Riding this wave of upmarket investment, France’s ICE Theaters has nearly doubled its international reach, opening immersive cinemas across three continents this year alone.The reach should soon extend even further now that ICE Theaters and India’s PVR Cinemas have finalized a deal to open three premium rooms over the next 12 months.This international focus has been a fairly recent development, as ICE Theaters – the export arm of Gallic exhibitor CGR Cinemas – only started rolling out its premium format onto the world stage just three years ago.
Developed in-house and field-tested in France, the company’s premium Immersive Cinema Experience (ICE) is a proprietary design that outfits a row of LED panels on both sides of an auditorium and fills them with bespoke visuals extending the action onscreen. (“It’s like surround sound but for light,” is how an ICE exec describes it.) The theaters are also equipped with Dolby Atmos sound, Laser 4K projection, and either half-or-full recliner seats.
In 2019, the French company began exporting its premium model (offered through revenue share, 0% rate financing, or by a pure sale of equipment to the tune of $525,000) as part of a package that includes both goods and services. “We send all our equipment, and that’s quite a bit,” says ICE Theaters senior VP sales and strategy Guillaume Thomine Desmazures. “Each panel can measure up to [14 x 4 feet].
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