InvestKinoProject to underline Russian movie theatre sector's enormous potential at ShoWest, Las Vegas, on 22 March 2004

First time a Russian company sponsors the International Day Breakfast and Seminar at key industry convention ShoWest signals confidence in the Russian movie-going sector. InvestKinoProject, one of Russia´s most innovative movie theatre and entertainment chain companies, today announces that it will be sponsoring and leading the International Day Breakfast presentation and participating in the morning seminar at the ShoWest convention to be held in Las Vegas on 22 March.

Moscow & London (PRWEB) February 22, 2004 --InvestKinoProject, one of Russia´s most innovative movie theatre and entertainment chain companies, today announces that it will be sponsoring and leading the International Day Breakfast presentation and participating in the morning seminar at the ShoWest convention to be held in Las Vegas on 22 March. The seminar is entitled Russia: A Burgeoning Market" and InvestKinoProject is the first ever Russian company to sponsor such an event at ShoWest. ShoWest is the worlds largest motion picture convention, attracting 5,000 players in the movie industry from more than 45 countries worldwide (www.showest.com)

Aleksandr Timofeev, CEO of InvestKinoProject, said: Our sponsorship of the International Day Breakfast on 22 March at ShoWest reflects our confidence in the strong growth of the Russian movie-going market. The last seven years have seen box office returns in Russia rocket 1300% from USD14m in 1996 to USD190m in 2003. We are making movies accessible to a larger part of the population in Russia, as well as an enjoyable experience and are looking forward to showing the potential of the Russian market directly to major movie producers at ShoWest".

Mitch Neuhauser, Co-Managing Director of ShoWest, said: We are delighted that InvestKinoProject will be on hand to address the U.S. and International markets on the Russian motion picture theatre industry at ShoWest. While the US boxoffice remains the world's single largest, with takings of USD 9.5 bn in 2002, (42% of worldwide boxoffice takings), the rest of the world accounted for USD 13 bn (58% of worldwide box office takings). Russia has a great movie tradition and the US and international movie makers should be keeping a close eye on developments in Russia and examining the best way to distribute movies in the fast growing Russian market."

Aleksandr Timofeev added: There is still a lot of catching up to do compared to the US and major European countries, offering great growth potential. What makes Russia especially attractive is the fact that Russians are literally a nation of movie junkies. We love films, and before the collapse of the Soviet Union we had one of the worlds highest attendance rates, at 19 visits per year per person in 1985. Compare that with the current attendance rates of 1.28 per person per year in Russia at the start of 2003, (although up from 0.8 in 2001), and the scope for growth is hard to miss".

Growth in Russia is expected to come both from Moscow as well as the larger regional cities. There are 13 cities in Russia with populations over 1 million, and 20 cities in Russia with populations between 0.5 million and 1 million. InvestKinoProject is especially focussed on regional expansion, where for the first time in 2002, box office returns from the regions surpassed those in Moscow.

A seminar and panel discussion on the Russian movie theatre sector and movie industry entitled Russia: A burgeoning market" will be held at 9:30 am on 22 March. InvestKinoProject will be presenting on a number of topics, and an outline programme is as follows:

Mr. Aleksandr Timofeev, CEO InvestKinoProject, Moscow

The Russian movie market. Overview, positioning and opportunities in the world market"

Mr. Oleg Berezin, CEO Nevafilm, Saint Petersburg

Development of Russian movie market - trends and forecasts. Digital movie initiatives in Russia".

Ms. Natasha Lazareva, Advertising and Distribution Director, InvestKinoProject, Moscow

The dynamics of movie distribution in Russia and the role of Russian movie production".

Mr. Sergei Selyanov, Movie Producer, Russia

The Russian movie industry -- future development"

Mr. Aleksandr Golutva, First Vice-Minister of Culture, Russian Federation

Government support for the development of Russian film production and policies on copyright protection."

The panel will also include the above-named market experts together with Larry OReilly, Senior Vice-President, Theatre Development and Film Distribution, IMAX Corporation and Paul Heth, President, Rising Star Media.

The ShoWest website can be found at http://www.showest.com

Notes to Editors

About InvestKinoProject

InvestKinoProject is one of Russias most innovative movie and entertainment chain companies. Focussed on bringing a high-quality movie and entertainment experience at affordable prices to Russias major cities and regions, InvestKinoProject has developed the Kinoplex concept. The Kinoplex offers an integrated movie and entertainment environment under one roof all managed by InvestKinoProject.

Facilities include a choice of up to 11 screens offering the latest world technology in film projection, a choice of eateries including coffee house, restaurant and disco-bar, merchandising, concessions, internet cafés and free services including a childrens crèche. InvestKinoProject is the only entertainment centre operator in Russia to have been awarded the ISO 9001 Quality Management Standard. InvestKinoProject was founded in 2000 by Aleksandr Timofeev and Vladimir Murov, two Russian businessmen who developed the Kinoplex concept after carefully exploring the trends and potential of the Russian movie market. InvestKinoProject´s senior management are recognised experts in their fields and are led by CEO Aleksandr Timofeev.

InvestKinoProject recently received a USD40m injection to fund further growth in Russia from Cube Private Equity, an international private equity group.