THE ECONOMIC slowdown may have pushed Filipinos to cut back on unnecessary expenses like travel and shopping, but are keeping the habit of going to the movies, according to SM Cinemas.

In an interview, Edgar C. Tejerero, senior vice-president of SM Cinema, said movie patrons have increased by 3% to 4% from January to June this year. Average annual gross ticket sales remains at P2.5 billion.

The SM group yesterday launched its second IMAX theater — whose ticket price is at least P100 higher than that of regular cinemas — at SM City North EDSA. Officials said another IMAX theater will open in Cebu before the year ends, and another in Taguig next year.

The group also plans to open a second ‘Director’s Club’ exclusive theater at the Podium mall next year, which will have at least 60 seats. The first 36-seater Director’s Club at the SM Mall of Asia continues to experience a 90% occupancy rate.

‘A lot of our [movie] patrons are discriminating [moviegoers] who are no longer satisfied by the small cinemas, and [the IMAX theater] is benefiting from these people. In fact, many of them who watch a movie in a regular theater end up watching the same movie again at IMAX,’ Mr. Tejerero said.

Their first SM IMAX theater, opened in 2006, has a 72% to 78% occupancy rate. The group has changed its strategy in the 576-seater theater to featuring at least 10 Hollywood films yearly and reducing the number of educational shows to just five.

Mr. Tejerero said the P120-million IMAX theater in SM North EDSA would fill a ‘big vacuum’ in the northern part of the metropolis, since customers for the IMAX in the Mall of Asia are mainly from the south.

The new IMAX theater can accommodate 472 customers. The ticket price ranges from P250 to P400. The new theater however is only 14 meters high, lower than the 24-meter-high IMAX at the Mall of Asia but still higher than the eight- to 10-meter-high regular cinemas.

Mr. Tejerero said the IMAX theater in Cebu would open in November or December, with at least 500 seats. Plans for an IMAX in Taguig are still at the pipeline. There are still no plans for an IMAX at SM Megamall in Ortigas.

Unlike ordinary movie houses, IMAX theaters are equipped with the ‘most advanced digital theater system,’ with ‘crystal-clear images, laser-aligned digital sound and customized theater geometry which maximizes a viewer’s field of view, making him feel as if he is inside the movie.’

SM Cinemas have a total of 127,000 seats nationwide in 206 movie theaters.