SM Cinema Sells Five Formats Across a Thin Premium Map

SM Cinema sells five theater formats across more than 389 screens, but IMAX sits in eight malls and ScreenX in one. The July 2026 chooser guide treats those rooms as a menu.

For most of the chain’s over 79 branches, the menu is still Regular Cinema.

Five Formats, Uneven Reach

SM Supermalls laid out the five theater formats in a July guide that names IMAX, SCREENX, Directors Club, Event Screen, and Regular Cinema. The copy asks readers to pick a room by mood. The map underneath that copy is lopsided.

SM Cinema, the country’s largest film exhibitor and a unit of SM Lifestyle, Inc. under SM Prime Holdings, said it runs more than 389 screens across over 79 branches nationwide. Regular Cinema is listed at every branch. The branded rooms are not.

SM CINEMA’S FIVE FORMATS AT A GLANCE

Those ticket bands come from cinema booking systems checked on September 27, 2026, except ScreenX, which SM priced at ₱700 when the format opened, and Event Screen, which is hired by the hour. The July guide still reads as if the five options sit side by side in the same mall. They do not.

IMAX With Laser Now Runs in Eight SM Malls

The July guide names seven IMAX sites: SM Aura, SM Megamall, SM Mall of Asia, SM North EDSA, SM City Clark, SM Lanang, and SM City Cebu. Two months earlier, SM had already said something larger.

On May 29, 2026, the company said laser upgrades complete at eight branches, adding SM Iloilo to that same list after SM Lanang in Davao and SM City Clark in Pampanga reopened. The system is IMAX with Laser, a 4K laser projector with a new optical engine, custom screens, stadium seating, and IMAX precision sound.

THE EIGHT IMAX WITH LASER HOUSES

• Metro Manila: SM Aura, SM Megamall, SM Mall of Asia, and SM North EDSA.
• Luzon beyond the capital: SM City Clark in Pampanga.
• Visayas: SM City Cebu and SM Iloilo.
• Mindanao: SM Lanang in Davao.

Eight IMAX halls inside a circuit of more than 389 screens is a flagship product, not a network. A branch in Baguio or General Santos can sell a ticket. It cannot sell that screen.

Iloilo Runs IMAX, the July Guide Skipped It

SM Iloilo is the tell. IMAX’s own theatre page still lists SM Iloilo City with Laser and stadium seating, and the house was on the IMAX timetable on October 3, 2026, including Avengers: Endgame Encore. The consumer guide published in July never names it.

That gap is small on paper and large at the box office. Iloilo is one of the few IMAX rooms outside Metro Manila, Cebu, Clark, and Davao. Leaving it off a “where to watch” list sends Ilonggo readers back to Regular Cinema even when the laser house is open.

The same July guide listed Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey among the films that belong on a giant screen, a title whose IMAX print of The Odyssey is scarce even worldwide. SM’s Philippine IMAX rooms are digital laser houses, not 70mm. They are still the chain’s largest frames, and they are still concentrated in a short list of malls.

The Wraparound Room at Mall of Asia

SCREENX is easier to count. SM opened the country’s first ScreenX theatre on November 17, 2025, at the 2nd Level of the Entertainment Mall at SM Mall of Asia, in partnership with Seoul-based CJ 4DPLEX. The format throws extra picture onto the side walls for a 270-degree view. Wicked: For Good was the first title. Tickets were ₱700.

CJ 4DPLEX said at the launch that ScreenX then had over 435 auditoriums in 40 countries. The Philippine count is still one. Zootopia 2 and Avatar: Fire and Ash were named as follow-on titles. Concert films have since used the same room, including SB19’s Simula at Wakas fan premiere on October 2, 2026.

The extra peso does not always buy the extra on the flyer. An afternoon ScreenX show at Mall of Asia was sold with an A3 poster, then staff said the poster was for 7 p.m. onward. The picture can still feel like a live gig. The merch tied to the ₱700 ticket does not travel with every timeslot.

CJ 4DPLEX listed SB19 Wakas at Simula: The Trilogy Concert Finale for cinemas beginning October 7, 2026, in 2D, SCREENX, 4DX, and Ultra 4DX where those rooms exist. In the Philippines, ScreenX still means a trip to Pasay.

Where Directors Club Quietly Outscales IMAX

Directors Club is the format the July guide buries in a single line, “select SM Cinema branches nationwide.” It is also the premium product SM has actually planted in volume.

When SM City Dasmariñas opened Directors Club rooms in September 2025, the launch was billed as the 25th branch for the format and brought the recliner halls to 54 screens. Each of the two new rooms had 40 push-button recliners with personal lights, laser projection, Dolby Atmos 7.1 sound, and butler service from Snack Time. Opening tickets were ₱570, including popcorn and a drink.

That is a different product from IMAX. The screen is not the point. The seat is. Booking systems checked later put a plain Directors Club ticket at ₱580 to ₱590, typical ₱590, without treating the snack bundle as part of the fare.

Fan clubs and studios already treat those small rooms as private halls. On October 3, 2026, Star Cinema staged Always Yours, Never Mine block screenings in SM Aura Directors Club 3, and a Forgotten Island block used SM Mall of Asia Directors Club. The houses hold a few dozen people. That is why they get booked for proposals, barkada nights, and talent appearances the giant IMAX rooms cannot host.

Fifty-four recliner screens, as of that September 2025 count, already dwarf eight IMAX halls. The guide still leads with IMAX. The seat map leads with leather.

Watch Parties Now Book in Seven Malls

Event Screen is the other quiet spread, and it reaches malls IMAX never will. The July guide lists seven sites: SM Aura Premier, SM City Bataan, SM City Bicutan, SM City Cebu, SM City Tanza, SM City Tuguegarao, and SM City Urdaneta.

SEVEN MALLS WITH AN EVENT SCREEN

• Metro Manila: SM Aura Premier and SM City Bicutan.
• North Luzon: SM City Bataan, SM City Tuguegarao, and SM City Urdaneta.
• South Luzon: SM City Tanza.
• Visayas: SM City Cebu.

SM Cinema Cebu opened its Event Screen in July 2024 as a modular room for karaoke, private movies, gaming, meetings, and product launches. The screen is 5.4 meters wide and 3.2 meters high. It holds 10 to 20 people. Hire rates were ₱1,500 an hour for 10 people and ₱2,500 an hour for 20, with a laptop, KTV, mics, a webcam, and PS5 controllers in the kit.

Aura even numbers the rooms. Star Cinema used SM Aura Event Screen 2 for a Reign Parani block screening on October 3, 2026. Tuguegarao and Urdaneta get a private hall this way. They do not get IMAX, and they do not get ScreenX. The “premium” label in those cities is a 20-seat box you rent, not a three-wall wraparound you wander into.

What a Ticket Costs by Format

The format premium sits on top of a chain that already prices 2D by mall, not by brand. A pull of booking-system prices from September 27, 2026, found Always Yours, Never Mine at ₱210 at SM City General Santos and ₱510 at SM City Bicutan, 2.4 times the fare for the same film in the same seat class.

THE CIRCUIT IN ONE SNAPSHOT

• Screen count: More than 389 screens across over 79 branches, per SM in July 2026.
• Typical 2D seat: ₱400, inside a ₱210 to ₱510 range, with SM’s own typical also ₱400.
• Directors Club: ₱580 to ₱590, typical ₱590.
• IMAX: ₱750 to ₱850, typical ₱850.

ScreenX held at ₱700 from the November 2025 opening through SM’s October 3, 2026 listing for Linkin Park: Unshatter, which was ₱400 in Regular Cinema and ₱700 in ScreenX. An IMAX ticket at the typical ₱850 is more than double a typical ₱400 2D seat. That spread only exists in the eight malls that have the laser house.

Ayala Malls Cinemas tracked at a typical ₱250 for 2D on the same day, range ₱250 to ₱390. SM is the large net with the wide band. The cheap provincial 2D seat and the ₱850 IMAX seat are both SM tickets. They are not the same night out.

A 10-System Pact Dated April 2024

The scarcity is not an accident of old kit. On April 29, 2024, IMAX Corporation and SM Cinema announced a deal for 10 IMAX with Laser systems: three new locations and seven upgrades. Remaining sites were due before the end of 2026. The firms have worked together since 2006. Excluding that deal, they then ran nine locations in the Philippines.

SM Cinema is a vital component of one of the most successful and forward-thinking retail developers in the world and we are excited to more than double our footprint in the Philippines in collaboration with such an excellent, consumer-focused partner.

Rich Gelfond, CEO, IMAX Corporation, April 2024 announcement

IMAX also said the Philippines ranked among its top 30 highest-grossing markets globally since 2022 and was one of its top-performing Southeast Asian markets in 2024. SM Supermalls President Steven T. Tan tied the pact to the country’s rising weight in global entertainment.

HOW THE PREMIUM STACK WAS BUILT

1. 2006: IMAX and SM Cinema begin their partnership.
2. April 29, 2024: Pact for 10 IMAX with Laser systems, three new and seven upgrades, remaining work due before the end of 2026.
3. July 24, 2024: Event Screen opens at SM City Cebu.
4. November 17, 2025: First Philippine ScreenX theatre opens at SM Mall of Asia, tickets ₱700.
5. September 2025: Directors Club at SM City Dasmariñas billed as the 25th branch, 54 screens in the format.
6. May 29, 2026: SM says IMAX with Laser upgrades are complete at eight named branches, including Iloilo, after Lanang and Clark reopen.
7. July 18, 2026: SM publishes the five-format consumer guide and lists seven IMAX malls, omitting Iloilo.

By late May 2026 the laser conversion of the named eight was done. The three new locations in the 2024 pact were not named in that reopen note. Until those rooms open, the public IMAX map is still eight malls, and the July chooser still prints seven.

That is the same wider bet on premium screens the chain has been making while cheap nights stay at home. IMAX is the billboard. ScreenX is a single wraparound room in Pasay. Directors Club is the recliner network that already numbers in the dozens of screens. Event Screen is how a private hall shows up in Tuguegarao.

At SM Lanang, the IMAX house is still the reason some locals keep going when they have little patience for the rest of the multiplex. The July guide will not tell you that. It will tell you there is a format for every moviegoer. On the ground, Regular Cinema is the format for almost every mall, and the giant branded rooms remain a short list you have to travel for.