WA cinemas: Big players splash millions on efforts to get West Aussies back into cinemas

Forget Elphaba versus Glinda, or the Na’vi versus colonialism, because the big screen showdown of the summer blockbuster season will be fought by Australian cinema giants, and WA is the key battleground.

With the State’s economy the envy of the nation, and many West Aussies flush with FIFO money, the demand for premium cinema experiences is proportionally greater here than anywhere else in the country.

This was underlined last week by competing announcements from cinema giants Event and Hoyts, revealing expanded offerings in the short and long term to get bums on theatre seats in the lucrative WA market.

Leading the announcements for both chains is the return of the IMAX format to WA for the first time since 2019.

Once exclusively the domain of museums and documentaries, IMAX is arguab