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By Vivien Schweitzer
03 May 2007
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The Metropolitan Opera's high-definition simulcasts were among the new offering that helped Canada's Cineplex Entertainment cut its 2007 first-quarter loss to C$3.8 million from C$8.9 million a year-ago, reports the Canadian Press.
"We had originally launched the opera in 24 locations with one screen each," said Pat Marshall, a spokesperson for Cineplex Galaxy Income Fund (Cineplex's corporate umbrella), told the CP. "And we very quickly expanded that ... to the point where our Sheppard Grande theater in Toronto had four screens sell out" simultaneously. Separate revenue figures for the special events weren't publicly disclosed.
She added that the opera simulcast attracted audiences who hadn't been to a movie theater in years.
The Metropolitan Opera's simulcasts into movie theaters, part of general manager Peter Gelb's effort to bring the art form to a wider audience, launched on December 30 with a 100-minute English-language adaptation of Mozart's Magic Flute in the now-famous staging by Julie Taymor.
While there will be no more live transmissions from the Met this season, an encore presentation of the March 24 simulcast of Rossini's Barber of Seville has been scheduled for May 15. For more information, visit www.metopera.org and click on the "Live in HD" box near the bottom of the screen.
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