Palace box office sales climb on 3D fervour

Jamaicans, lured by three-dimensional or 3D films, spent a new record J$614.5 million at the movies over one year, according to the latest data from Palace Amusement, which dominates the cinema market.

The total spend included box office receipts of J$431.5 million and J$183 million on confectioneries, including popcorn, candy and sodas.

The increased activity pushed Palace group's net profit up 51 per cent to J$14.2 million for the year ending June 30, 2011.

The record spend by movie watchers occurred amid the largest capital spend by Palace in at least four years at J$65.3 million, up 264 per cent over year-earlier levels. Most of the investment went towards upgrading 3D screens, based on announcements made by Palace in its previous annual report for 2009-10.

"The group is still on track with the phased implementation of digital 3D screens at all cinemas by 2012. Retooling remains at some US$150,000 per screen," said the cinema company in its 2010 annual report.

The 2010-11 expenditure is equivalent to a five-screen upgrade. Queries to Palace were unanswered up to press time.

"3D films have proven to be a hit among the young audiences. That has helped them," said Cinemato-graphy Authority board member Michael Edwards in a Financial Gleaner interview on Sunday.

The Cinematography Authority assigns ratings for movies shown in Jamaica.

Palace benefited from "a convergence of factors," said Edwards. These include: the decline in the street-dance culture since the Tivoli unrest in May 2010, and blockbusters that included superheroes and sequels being easier sells.

Palace has also found 3D films to be a more effective defence against piracy, due to the difficulty of replicating the experience.

The result was that annual attendance at its cinemas grew seven per cent, to some 840,500 movie watchers. That was a rare increase as annual attendance has been in decline since 1994 when ticket volume hit 1.2 million. The decline was accelerated by the proliferation of J$100 bootleg DVDs and streaming web movies.

In the 2010-11 year, Carib 5 in Kingston earned the bulk of box office receipts at J$223 million, followed by Palace Multiplex in Montego Bay at J$100.3 million, Palace Cineplex in Kingston at J$77.9 million, and Odeon Cineplex in Mandeville at J$30.2 million.

At the same time, food sales at those cinemas were roughly J$97.7 million, J$38.1 million, J$34.6 million and J$12.5 million, respectively.

steven.jackson@gleanerjm.com