THE SM GROUP is launching countryside theaters this year to serve demand in remote provinces where the group has yet to establish a shopping mall.
 
SM Lifestyle Entertainment, Inc. President Edgar C. Tejerero said in a briefing the company is targeting to put up Blink cinemas in 44 cities and municipalities across the Philippines within the next three to five years.
 
SM Lifestyle is adopting the franchise model to expand the Blink cinemas, Mr. Tejerero said, but the franchise fee has yet to be decided. So far, the venture has attracted 12 parties in various areas.
 
The venture was born out of a visit of SM Group officials to Mexico — a country that has 8,000 cinema screens to serve a population of 160 million compared to the Philippines which only has 700 cinema screens for its 100 million population, Mr. Tejerero said.
 
“When we analyzed the whole archipelago, there are a lot of areas where we can’t put any more malls or they are logistically challenging so we decided to come up with countryside cinemas so we can extend the reach of content, whether it’s foreign or local,” Mr. Tejerero said.
 
Located on 600 square meters (sqm) to 800-sqm lots, the Blink cinemas will house an average of two cinemas with a seating capacity of 100 each. Ticket prices would be pegged at P120 each, or roughly half the cost in key urban cities.
 
SM Lifestyle has written to local government units for partnerships so that the Blink cinemas will be located near plazas, the capitol and churches to draw in the crowd. They will carry films simultaneously airing in Metro Manila branches, but as a bonus, the cinemas can beam content for educational purposes.
 
“Piracy in the provinces is quite high because they have no means to watch content. Movies are usually delivered after a month or two, but if you can watch a movie the same time as Manila, you’re getting rid of the pirated copies,” Mr. Tejerero said.
 
Apart from the countryside theaters, SM Lifestyle is opening this year four regular cinemas within its SM malls in Trece Martires, Cavite; San Jose del Monte, Bulacan; SM Ortigas at the site of the old Ever Gotesco property and the Conrad Hotel at the SM Mall of Asia complex in Pasay City.
 
The new cinemas will add 5,600 seats to its capacity to nearly 150,000 seats by end-December, Mr. Tejerero said. SM Lifestyle will have 336 screens within SM Malls and 18 screens within WalterMart.
 
SM Cinema operates the largest chain of cinemas in the country with a market share of 60%, but it is targeting to increase its share to 65% with the launch of “print-at-home” tickets next month.
 
SM Lifestyle Entertainment integrates the lifestyle and entertainment services of the SM Prime Holdings, Inc., the real estate holding arm of the Henry Sy-led SM Investments Corp.
 
Shares in SM Prime rose 65 centavos or 3.11% to close at P21.55 each on Thursday.