Walt Disney Co has held talks with other studios about using its new Infinity Vision brand for large-screen movie formats, often described as a competitor to IMAX Corp, to market their films, according to people familiar with the matter. The report, by Bloomberg, was published by Moneyweb.
The people, who asked not to be identified because the discussions were private, said Disney has met Skydance Corp’s Paramount Pictures, Comcast Corp’s Universal Pictures, Lionsgate Studios and Sony Pictures Entertainment to discuss Infinity Vision. The studios have shown early interest, they said, and some are waiting to assess the impact of Infinity Vision’s marketing on Disney’s own Avengers: Doomsday, which opens the weekend of 18 December. Including the presentation standard in the marketing for blockbusters from Hollywood’s major studios would lend credibility to the nascent brand.
The certification unites hundreds of theatre chains’ existing large-screen formats, such as AMC Entertainment Holdings’ XL and Cinemark Holdings’ XD, under one brand. Disney partnered with theatre chains to debut Infinity Vision in April, when auditoriums had to meet standards including a screen width of around 50 feet, laser projection and the 7.1 surround-sound system from Dolby Laboratories. About 5 500 screens worldwide meet the standards, roughly three times the number of IMAX venues.
IMAX shares fell as much as 6.2% in New York after Bloomberg’s report, before paring losses. Alicia Reese, an analyst at Wedbush who recommends buying IMAX stock, said Disney may struggle to convince other studios to take part, pointing to Universal’s relationship with IMAX and the recent success of Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey. She also raised the prospect that the government may view the initiative as anti-competitive. “If Disney can convince these other studios, they would have to prove to regulators that they won’t bias bookings in favour of themselves over smaller studios not involved in the collaboration,” Reese wrote in a note to investors.
Jennifer Rie, a senior antitrust analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence, said: “Based on the information available now, antitrust risk seems low, but if the arrangement results in a foreclosure of IMAX or agreement to refrain from distributing films through IMAX, this could raise antitrust issues.”
Disney’s ambition to grow the label is partly the result of Avengers: Doomsday not having exclusive access to IMAX’s screens. IMAX has an agreement to screen Denis Villeneuve’s Dune: Part Three, from Skydance’s Warner Bros. film studio, which opens the same weekend. The report does not say that any agreement with a studio has been signed.
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