Film buffs in the southern side of Metro Manila no longer need to travel far to experience three-dimension (3-D) digital movie entertainment as an IMAX Theater recently opened in SM Southmall in Las Piñas.

The IMAX Theater in SM Southmall is the fourth of its kind that SM Cinema — the country’s largest movie exhibitor — has opened.

SM Cinema opened the country’s first IMAX Theater at the SM Mall of Asia in 2006. This was followed by similar IMAX theaters at SM North EDSA in 2009 and in SM Cebu last year.

Edgar C. Tejerero, senior vice-president for SM Cinema, said the presence of people willing to pay extra to watch 3-D movies in the vicinity of SM Southmall made opening an IMAX Theater in the area “more compelling.”

“Equipped with the IMAX digital projection system, the IMAX Theater in SM Southmall will surely deliver the ultimate 3-D experience to all moviegoers,” Mr. Tejerero said in a statement.

SM Cinema plans to open IMAX Theaters in SM Clark by December, in SM Davao and in Fort Bonifacio next year, and in SM Megamall in 2013, he said.

IMAX (short for Image MAXimum) is a motion picture film format and projection standard created by Canada’s IMAX Corp. IMAX has the capacity to record and display images of far greater size and resolution than conventional film systems.

The IMAX technology can project moving images in the third dimension (thus the term 3-D), which gives the illusion of depth as seen by the viewer.

Mr. Tejerero said the IMAX Theater in SM Southmall, which formally opened to the public on July 14, has a seating capacity of 480. Its screen is 30% bigger than standard movie screens at 22 meters wide, and 12 meters high.

Like in other IMAX Theaters, tickets to the SM Southmall IMAX Theater cost P300 to P450 each, more than double the P150-P175 admission ticket in standard movie houses.

SM Cinema is under the management of West Avenue Theatres Corp., and is one of the affiliates of Sy-led SM Prime Holdings, Inc. (SM Prime), the country’s leading mall developer and operator.

SM Cinema boasts of its more than 60% market share nationwide, with as high as 90% market share in key cities outside Metro Manila.

Based on SM Prime’s financial report submitted to the Securities and Exchange Commission, SM Cinema ticket sales decreased to P570 million during the first three months of 2011, from P590 million during the same period last year.

SM Cinema blames the sales drop to the lack of foreign blockbuster movies shown during the first quarter of the year. — Jeffrey O. Valisno