It is not a word. But he believes his massive movie screens — 1,505 of them in 80 countries — can “eventicize” movies, make them premium, something that cannot be replicated at home. And that is why, as cinemas face off with the streaming services, Gelfond is not worried about his business.
“If they respect the windows, we’d like to work with them,” Gelfond said. The problem is that Netflix has historically not respected windows — cinema speak for the amount of time new releases are shown in a theatre. Usually, it’s three months. But Netflix, Gelfond said, wants to show exclusively in theatres for two or three weeks before putting their films online. And if theatres allow Netflix a small window, the fear is that Hollywood studios will start demanding the same.
Imax itself doesn’t own theatres. Gelfond gets frustrated by this misconception, which he said is common, particularly among the investor set. But Imax is “a different animal.”