One week after the Globus Max cinema chain entered a stay of proceedings, and just before the beginning of school vacations, the Yes Planet chain will inaugurate this week its sixth multiplex cinema, located in Zikhron Yaakov. The new multiplex, built at a cost of NIS 85 million, is located on the top floor of the Mul Zikhron complex, and covers 6,000 square meters, with 12 screens and a VIP section.
Moshe (Mooky) Greidinger, CEO of Cineworld Plc, which owns the Yes Planet and Rav Chen theater chains in Israel, said that the theater was located in a central traffic artery, would be open seven days a week, would serve communities within a large radius, and would constitute a major leisure anchor in the area, whose residents have until now had to travel for over half an hour in order to see a movie. The Mul Zikhron complex is an open shopping center opened in 2008 at the foot of the town of Zikhron Yaakov.
Yes Planet is operated by Cineworld, the second largest movie chain in Europe with 2,136 screens and 226 movie theaters in in nine countries. The company's Israeli branch operates nine movie theaters around Israel under the Yes Planet and Rav Chen brands. The chain has opened three new theaters in the past two years: Yes Planet Jerusalem in the Sherover Cultural Center, Yes Planet Beer Sheva in the Ispro Center, and now Yes Planet Zikhron Yaakov. These are in addition to Yes Planet Rishon Lezion, Yes Planet Haifa, Yes Planet Ramat Gan, and the older Rav Chen theaters.
Forum Film, the company's distribution arm, is the largest film distributor in Israel. It distributes the films of Disney Studios, 20th Century Fox, and Sony, and belongs to the group that owns Yes Planet. Globus Max, the second largest distribution company in Israel, is currently in a stay of proceedings, and the third largest is United King, which distributes mainly Israeli movies and independent films.
A 2016 survey by the Czamansky Ben Shahar firm showed that there were 56 movie houses in Israel containing 350 screens, compared with 59 movie houses containing 313 screens in 2006. The number of tickets per screen grew from 29,000 annually in 2006 to 45,000 per screen in 2016.
According to the survey, the leading movie theater chain is Israel Theaters, with 34% of the total screens, including Yes Planet (26%) and Rav Chen (8%). The second largest is Globus Max (25% of screens), followed by Cinema City with 24%. There are also a number of smaller operators, including Lev (6%). 16 million movie tickets were sold in 2016.
Published by Globes [online], Israel Business News - www.globes-online.com - on June 27, 2017
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