Imax and Golden Screen Cinemas are expanding their partnership with six new theaters — all with laser projection — in Malaysia. The new auditoriums will open in five new locations, including Aurum TRX, nestled in the heart of Kuala Lumpur. This sixth new locale will consist of one upgrade to the Southkey Megamall location in IOI City Mall. That makes 13 signings for the large-screen company in 2023 to date, making Malaysia their top international growth market.
GSN, the leading movie theater exhibitor in Malaysia, has worked with Imax since 2019. This brings the total of large-screen locales with GSC to nine. All will feature their laser systems by 2027.
“As the first local cinema exhibitor to offer IMAX with Laser theatres to cater to the needs of action movie enthusiasts, our continued partnership with IMAX underscores our continuous commitment to bringing immersive cinematic experiences to moviegoers,” said Golden Screen Cinemas Chief Executive Officer Ms. Koh Mei Lee. “With a total of nine GSC locations equipped with IMAX with Laser, this creates greater opportunities for us to showcase locally produced content in premium movie format.”
“With the strong performance of ‘Avatar’, ‘Oppenheimer’ and now local language content, Malaysia has been an incredible success story for IMAX this year — underscoring our growth potential across international markets and the diversity of ways cinema is thriving worldwide,” said Imax CEO Rich Gelfond. “GSC is an excellent, world-class exhibition partner for IMAX, and we look forward to expanding our partnership and working together to serve Malaysian audiences and drive further growth in the market.”
Malaysia has consistently ranked among the top 25 global markets for Imax box office earnings. This is despite having just 11 locations in operation. This has spurred the company to move further into local films in Malaysia. They debuted their first Malaysia release, “Malbatt: Misi Bakara” in August 2023.
Christopher Nolan’s “Oppenheimer” recently became the number two all-time release in Malaysia. James Cameron’s “Avatar: The Way of Water” holds the number one all-time box office position in the market.
