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Wednesday, July 4, 2001
By Jennifer Hamm
Moviegoing in Prague is not only becoming more popular, it's becoming taller.
The country's first IMAX theater is slated to open in Prague by early 2003, said Mooky Greidinger, chief executive of Israel-based IT International Theaters Limited.
"IMAX really offers a good combination of entertainment and education," said Greidinger, whose company has an exclusive deal with Canada's IMAX -- known for its eight-story-tall screens -- to open its theaters in central Europe.
"Especially in territories where families are not traveling so easily all over the world, to have a good look at Egypt or the Grand Canyon or New York, it's a great opportunity," Greidinger said.
The theater will be part of the planned Flora Plaza, an 80,000-square-meter (861,000-square-foot) shopping center in Prague 3, at the corner of Vinohradska and Jicinska.
Greidinger is optimistic that IMAX will be a hit here. Audiences have been flocking to the new IMAX theater in Warsaw, the first in the region, since it opened eight months ago. One million people are expected to visit it by autumn, far exceeding the original expectation of 600,000.
There are already dozens of IMAX theaters in Western Europe and 225 worldwide. As many as seven are planned for this region in coming years, Greidinger said. The next will be opened in Krakow, by the end of the year, and more are planned for other parts of Poland and for Budapest.
Other European IMAX theaters have carried price tags of between $10 million and $12 million (390 million Kc to 468 million Kc).
IT International isn't the first company to try to bring IMAX to this region. IMAX struck a deal with Montreal's Mindplay International in 1998, but the deal apparently fell through and IT International took over the exclusive arrangement later that year.
IT International operates 110 screens in Israel and 100 in Central Europe, including the Multikino Galaxie multiplex.
IMAX's films are on subjects ranging from Michael Jordan to African elephants to the Titanic.
-- Jennifer Hamm
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The Prague Post, a weekly newspaper published in the Czech Republic.
Unauthorized reproduction is strictly prohibited.
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