National playing Kino
Exhibs create joint venture Cine-Bridgen
National Amusements, a majority shareholder in Viacom, which also owns and operates more than 1,350 screens in the United States, U.K. and Latin America, is a long-established, major player in the business.
By contrast, Kino Star Ventures, an offshore-registered company set up only recently, is a partnership between two Moscow-based Americans.
Paul Heth, who developed and operated the Kodak Kinomir screen in Moscow in conjunction with Eastman Kodak, is chairman and CEO of Kino Star; Peter Gerwe, who set up and oversees the Russian TV network CTC, is a minority partner.
“We will bring a completely new and unique motion picture experience to the moviegoer by introducing new technologies, creating a unique use of space and developing direct customer relationships,” National Amusements president Shari Redstone and Kino Star’s Heth said in a joint statement.
The joint venture is considering several U.S. properties, likely followed by activity in Latin America and Central and Eastern Europe.
The concept, provisionally titled Cine-Bridgen, sprung out of a meeting between Heth and Redstone four years ago.
Heth will be based in Boston but will remain a frequent visitor to the Russian capital.
Independently of National Amusements, Kino Star is developing a six-screen, 2000-seat Moscow site, skedded to open at the end of this year.
