16 screentrade | Spring 2011 | www.screentrademagazine.com

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With the biggest cinema complex in the Middle East now open at Rishon LeZion, Israel’s fourth largest city, the challenge was one of how to max-imise attendance at this

26-screen, 4,000-seat state-of-the-art facility. The site, operated by New Lineo Cinemas, is situated amid a 450,000 sq.ft. leisure and retail park which includes 23 specialty restaurants and bars.

Embracing the latest available technology, it is difficult to find enough superlatives when trying to describe all that the Rishon complex can offer. Beginning with what is certainly a massive foyer space, visitors are presented with close to 50 [linear] metres of retail counter space, selling a quality range of concession fare including Ben & Jerry’s ice-cream amongst a number of other premium-branded products.

The foyer, replete with colour-change-illuminated flooring, mirrored-ceilings and a host of ‘prop’ elements, generates greater visual impact than an organised firework display. It has one of the largest, most com-prehensive, multi-media systems available,

Spectacle & Entertainmentat the Rishon LeZion Cinema, Israel

The screen entrances and auditoria decorations

provide as much spectacle as the films themselves

Leading concession-builder, Derek Galloway, explains how one Israeli cinema is benefitting from terrific visual impact, while also making best use of industry downtime. Call it Alternative Content, but not as we know it.

17www.screentrademagazine.com | Spring 2011 | screentrade

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One of 26 themed auditoria

Spectacle & Entertainment

including the world’s largest digital signage wall. This system delivers a steady stream of content to more than 300 LCD-screens and can be switched in an instant from presenting menu and product information to advertising and movie trailers. Capable of streaming audi-ence-specific content, menu-offers can also be tailored to audiences of particular film genres.

Sophisticated With such levels of signage sophistication, the complex is regularly booked by organisations using the foyer for their product-launches, the digital signage as part of the advertising pres-entation, as well as the all-digital auditoria for commercial presentations. Furthermore, New Lineo at Rishon enjoys a seven-strong Sales & Marketing team to help promote the complex beyond attendance by regular cinema-goers.

EducationalThe company has developed and marketed a number of initiatives designed to increase occupancy, while also including an educa-tional programme called UniverCity, which provides film-based lectures on [currently] 89 subjects from ancient civilisations to genet-ics to Italian culture. Supported by external professors – many from the nearby University of Tel Aviv – the 9,000 students already en-

rolled substantially boost attendance during the cinema’s quieter periods. Together with special events designed to encourage appre-ciation of Cinema among very young chil-dren, and a host of other promotional activi-

ties, Cinema City Rishon is already poised to welcome more than 3m visitors in year-one.

EntertainingAbsolutely no detail has been overlooked in presenting a movie experience so far ahead of its domestic competitors – and even screen-entrances and auditorium decorations offer as much spectacle as the films themselves. As the imagery here shows – from themed statuary (present throughout the complex), to a massive dinosaur exhibit adjacent to the 2,500-space car park – the entire complex pro-vides spectacle and entertainment from first arrival through every stage of the attendance experience, and even beyond.

Derek Galloway is the MD of Martek who de-signed, manufactured and installed all of the site’s retail areas – including box offices, concessions, bars and VIP areas – while supplying the majority of concession-related equipment. Since 2001, Martek has worked with New Lineo on each of its multiplex developments in Spain, Portugal and Israel.

www.martek.co.uk

Main foyer; with colour-changing illuminated-floor-ing along with close to 50m of retail counter space

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One of 26 themed auditoriums