Fun in the city: 3D cinemas in Saddar’s Atrium Mall from Dec 24

People will be able to watch Narnia, Avatar and Gulliver’s Travels.

KARACHI: The first chain of 3D cinemas is set to open in Saddar’s Atrium Mall by Dec 24 with a lineup that includes Avatar, The Chronicles of Narnia and Gulliver’s Travels.

The project is the brainchild of Regent Properties and Mandviwalla Entertainment and will be located on the third floor of the Atrium Mall behind Avari Towers. Tickets will start at Rs300 for the traditional cinema, Rs400 for digital cinema and Rs500 plus Rs150 for the eyeglasses for the 3D screens.

The Atrium Cinema can seat about 700 people at a time and has three independent multi-screens. The seating capacity for cinema A would be 168, 192 for cinema B and 356 for cinema D, which is also additionally equipped with D-Cinema projection. The three multi-screen cinema complex will be equipped with state-of-the-art Digital and 35 MM projection, including the Dolby Digital and DTS Surround Sound. It will be wheelchair-friendly and will also provide Assistive Listening Devices for hearing-impaired viewers. The complex is being equipped with DCI-Compliant, D-Cinema and Digital Cinema technology with 3D capability.

The Avatar Special Edition (Digital 3D) will have nine minutes of additional never-before-seen footage. This film is being distributed locally by Paramount Communications & Mandviwalla Entertain-ment, who also released 20th Century FOX’s Avatar last December in Pakistan. Other premieres at the Atrium will include 20th Century FOX’s The Chronicles of Narnia: Voyage of the Dawn Treader (Digital 3D) and Tees Maar Khan, which is locally distributed by IMGC Global Entertainment.

Mandviwalla Entertainment director Syed Rehmani told The Express Tribune that while some aspects of the 3D system had been brought to Pakistan in the past, the one they have invested in is the latest. “A 3D cinema culture would help revive the already dead film industry in the country,” he said. “It can open doors to local and international investors.”

Also, the 3D film would be a “solid answer” to piracy as 3D movies are on hard discs and every disc is protected with a specific code.

In case of theft or damage, no other person can run the movie except the selected projector because the movie’s supplier ensures that the copy can only be played on a client’s projector. The owner of the mall and Atrium Cinemas, Zahid Younis Habib, added that DCI-Compliance is a tool, which aids movie manufacturers. By using DCI-Compliance, certain specific data about the movie such as the number of shows and the rate of business in terms of revenue can be recorded because of the specific codes.

There is a possibility they take the project to other parts of the country, but there are no immediate plans to expand.

The key people behind this project include CEO and director of the mall and cinemas Zahid Younis Habib, Mandviwalla Entertainment director Syed Rehmani, the builders of the mall and cinemas Iqbal Machiyara and Rizwan Machiyara, the cinema’s interior designer Naheed Mashooqullah, technical engineer Hussain Chagla, and the head of the Atrium Cinemas project Nadeem H Mandviwalla.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 7^th, 2010.