Monoplex spearheads mini-theatre growth in S. Korea

Cinema Background

In March 2022, RNR, the unique and leading Korean cinema solution provider launched An Yeong Chae X Monoplex, the world's first dine-in cinema with “Hanok” style. Hanok is an architectural term describing Korean traditional houses. The An Yeong Chae X Monoplex is located on the basement level of the Lakmon shopping mall. The dine-in cinema is positioned as a VIP-class one-screen mini-theatre with 40 seats focused on a high standard of customer satisfaction and repeat visits. To achieve these goals, moviegoers can bring in their meals while watching the day-and-date feature-length movies. The mini-theatre provides luxurious seating and private space; families up to four members can reserve a private room to enjoy the movie without worrying the children will disturb the other guests.

The An Yeong Chae is built with the Monoplex concept created by RNR. The Monoplex concept stands out from mainstream cinemas by building a mini-theatre with the existing shop/retail space to create a unique moviegoing experience. The Monoplex concept offers cinema novice shopkeepers the capability to quickly start a mini-theatre business by providing cinema licensing, design, cinema operating system, movie distribution service and professional cinema equipment, including Supra-5000 RGB+ laser phosphor cinema projector. As of June 2022, there are around eight mini-theatres in operation built with the Monoplex concept, such as Milkbook by Monoplex which is a kid’s bookshop and café, and Art Salon by Monoplex which is a brunch café/glamping site.

Challenges

An Yeong Chae X Monoplex is located on the basement level of the Lakmon shopping mall where the mall is not built for commercial cinema – limited ceiling height and non-existent of a projection booth. Most DCI-compliant cinema laser projectors available in the market would require a projection booth or a large hush box, making the conversion of a shop to a commercial cinema impossible. 

Solutions

The DCI compliant Supra-5000 RGB+ laser phosphor cinema projector was specifically designed for mini-theatres with limited ceiling height and boothless installation. Supra-5000 was selected as the perfect projection solution to meet the An Yeong Chae X Monoplex’s building constraints by offering a compact size, light weight, and low ambient noise (less than 35dB) projection system. Supra-5000 is hung on to the auditorium ceiling with a VESA ceiling mount without the need of a hush-box.

Furthermore, the Supra-5000 is equipped with a professional cinema audio processor to reproduce an incredibly deep, rich listening experience designed for 5.1 and 7.1 PCM uncompressed surround sound functionality. The Supra-5000 audio capability is further enhanced by the installation of an Audio IO (Input-Output) Box AIB-2000, which is a built-in 8-channel premium quality digital-to-analog converter (DAC). It also provides an interface with external audio equipment such as analog amplifiers, booth monitor, microphone, and other media players.

MinCheol Seok, CEO of RNR Co., Ltd. chooses the Supra-5000 cinema laser projector over the other cinema projectors as a part of the Monoplex concept. He explained, “The feature-packed Supra-5000 is an all-in-one audio-visual equipment comprising laser projector, media server and cinema audio processor without machine noise. The Supra-5000 is easy to operate with a wireless tablet. The other salient feature of the Supra-5000 is the remote and concurrent ingest and screening of movies which is so important for the operation of Monoplex.”

Results

Since the launch of the An Yeong Chae X Monoplex, both new customers and returning patrons have increased substantially through positive word-of-mouth without mass promotion. The social media are overwhelmed with moviegoers’ enjoyable experience of “Hanok” mini-theatre. The nearby food and beverage tenants also benefitted from a significant increase in sales due to the opening of the mini-theatre.

“It is so good to have such a comfy and luxurious boutique cinema at this affordable price”
“The cinema interior is really pretty, and I plan to watch movies only at the An Yeong Chae in the future.”
“This is the first movie theatre where pregnant women can lie down and watch a movie comfortably. It is superb!”
“It is chill and really nice to be able to watch a movie while having my favourite meal.”

MinCheol Seok said, “In a rapidly changing world environment such as the pandemic and streaming content, the era of multiplexes that only provide large-scale, uniform values is being challenged. I think the concept of a boutique cinema that provides unique movie-watching experience with desirable amenity will grow with the customers. The Supra-5000 laser cinema projection system makes the Monoplex transformation possible.”