Category Archives: Business

SmartJog and Ymagis Team Up To Deliver D-Cinema Content

Posted by J. Sperling Reich | February 18, 2010 3:51 pm

Ymagis and SmartJog Partner

SmartJog and Ymagis issued a joint press release yesterday announcing they had reached a non-exclusive partnership agreement and will integrate their technologies to offer theatre owners a more robust digital cinema offering. The pairing seems as if it would be complimentary given that SmartJog specializes in high speed delivery of digital content and Ymagis focuses on digital cinema deployment.

What this means is that when Ymagis installs digital cinema equipment at one of their theatres, they will also be deploying SmartJog’s digital content delivery solution. During the first phase of the partnership, the SmartJog Gateway will be integrated into the Ymagis Cinema Central Server, which is a theatre management system. Content will arrive through the SmartJog Gateway and be handed off to the Ymagis TMS. This solution requires a theatre to make room for a separate piece of network connected equipment. The second phase of the partnership will integrate the software which runs the SmartJog Gateway directly into the Ymagis Cinema Central Server, allowing for content to be delivered straight to the TMS without need for additional hardware.

One bonus that comes with the partnership is that the two companies will be able to share their respective content delivery networks. This means Ymagis would be able to send content to any theatre in SmartJog’s network, even if the exhibitor wasn’t signed up with them. Both companies are based in France so it’s no shock that integration and deployment will begin in that country. Most, if not all, of the exhibitors Ymagis works with are in Europe.

Popularity: 8% [?]

Posted in Business, Digital Cinema
Tagged as SmartJog, Ymagis

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TI’s 4K Announcement Causes Waves - Wither 2K Now?

Posted by Patrick von Sychowski | June 18, 2009 9:22 am

The announcement on Celluloid Junkie that Texas Instruments is developing 4K projector solutions is causing waves throughout the industry. The story was picked up by both THR.com (DLP making the jump to 4K) and Variety (TI leaping into 4K fray), which despite their headline both acknowledge that TI was effectively forced into this situation by the Sony tie up with Regal and AMC.Perhaps the best other coverage came from Eric Taub in the New York Times:

TI has always said that 2K is good enough, with tests showing that consumers can’t see the difference.

TI has been against 4K, until they were for it. On Thursday, the company announced that it would now market 4K technology, which will be incorporated into their next-generation projector technology to be manufactured by a variety of partners.

The company will continue to sell 2K projectors to the majority of its customers, according to Nancy Fares, business manager for TI’s DLP Cinema Products Group.

Ms. Fares said that this is not a case of TI trying to play catchup to Sony, which recently announced a number of large contracts to install its 4K projectors in AMC, Muvico, and Regal Entertainment cinemas. Texas Instruments has been working on 4K technology for two years, she said.

And when TI said that most consumers can’t see the difference between a 2K and 4K image, the company is sticking to its guns.

Their 4K technology will only be installed in about 20 percent of its customers’ theaters, the “brightest and biggest” with screens 70 feet and larger in size.

TI has meanwhile put out a press release providing details:

Read More »
Popularity: 22% [?]

Posted in Business, Digital Cinema, Technology
Tagged as 4K, Barco, Christie, Cinemark, New York Times, Osborne Effect, Texas Instruments

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It’s Official: TI Targets 4K; Cinemark Makes Deal

Posted by Carolyn Giardina | June 17, 2009 11:21 pm

dlp_logo1 It’s official: On the heels of our previous Celluloid Junkie post on this subject, TI announced that it plans to develop 4K as an extension of its next-gen DLP Cinema projection technology.

The new platform—which TI said would comply with the DCI spec—is slated to launch at the end of the year and initially support 2K. TI aims to offer 4K sometime in 2010.

Meanwhile, Barco inked a deal to deploy TI’s developing 4K technology to the Cinemark theater chain—a notable move, as additional DCIP members Regal and AMC both recently announced deals with Sony.

“Regal and AMC are no stranger to DLP Cinema,” said Nancy Fares, business manager for DLP Cinema Products Group. “I hope this will give them an option to think about.”

Fares reported that a 1.2 inch 4K chip would be developed and released first, “but there are not limitations.” She added that TI would also continue 2K development. 4K, she said, would offer choices, including support for 2D screens as big as 100 feet, and 3D screens as big as 75 feet. It’s not expected that the developing technology will be able to be retrofitted to the current system.

Popularity: 21% [?]

Posted in Business, Digital 3D, Digital Cinema
Tagged as AMC Theatres, Barco, Christie, Cinemark, Cineplexx, DLP Cinema, Greater Union Filmpalast, NEC, Real D, Regal, Texas Instruments

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Daily Cinema Roundup-Thursday 27 May

Posted by Carolyn Giardina | May 28, 2009 12:59 pm

–With his contract recently extended until 2013 and “Monsters Vs. Aliens” one of the year’s top grossing films so far, DreamWorks Animation CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg has now revealed plans to release five feature films every two years, adding an additional film every other year to its existing two picture a year release schedule.
With today’s news, DWA’s release slate through 2012 now includes eight feature films, including five original films and three sequels based on the company’s existing franchises, Shrek, Madagascar and Kung Fu Panda. And as previously announced, all DWA features will be produced in 3D.
This commitment to 3D content should come as good news for stakeholders, but it could also mean added pressure on theater owners to install digital cinema and 3D capabilities, as well as on those working to advance 3D for the home market.

DWA’s schedule includes:
–“How to Train Your Dragon,” based on the book by Cressida Cowell, will be released on March 26, 2010. It will star a cast that includes Jay Baruchel, Gerard Butler, America Ferrera, Jonah Hill and Christopher Mintz-Plasse.
–“Shrek Forever After” will be released on May 21, 2010. It features the original cast, including Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy, Cameron Diaz and Antonio Banderas.
–“Oobermind” (formerly “Master Mind”) will be released on November 5, 2010. It will star Robert Downey Jr. and Tina Fey.
–“Kung Fu Panda: The Kaboom of Doom” will be released on June 3, 2011. Returning is a voice cast that includes Jack Black, Angelina Jolie, Dustin Hoffman, Jackie Chan, Seth Rogen, Lucy Liu and David Cross.
–“The Guardians” (working title), based on the forthcoming books by William Joyce, will be released on November 4, 2011.
–“Puss In Boots” (working title) will be released on March 30, 2012 and star Antonio Banderas as Puss In Boots and Salma Hayek as Kitty, Puss’ love interest.
–The next Madagascar sequel is due to be released on May 25, 2012. It will find the zoo animals continuing to get back to New York. This time the road takes them through Europe.
–On Nov. 2, 2012, DWA plans to release one of three original projects currently in pre-production at the studio.

–There is more on this news announcement in a Reuters article, reporting that Katzenberg spoke yesterday at the Cowen and Co. Technology and Media and Telecom Conference and predicted that he could get its production budgets down to $130 million (including 3D) for the 2011 films. (“Monsters Vs. Aliens” was estimated to cost $175 million.) The Reuters article also said that Katzenberg expects a positive shift it distribution costs, come 2012 when DWA’s distribution contract with Paramount expires.

–In related box office news, at press time DWA’s debut 3D title “Monsters Vs. Aliens” is just shy of an impressive $194 million in the domestic box office—the highest grossing digital 3D release to date. It had also been the biggest money maker of the year so far, but today it was just passed by the Starship Enterprise. “Star Trek” reached $194.8 million. “Monsters” will surrender the majority of 3D screens this weekend to Disney/Pixar’s “Up.”

–Dolby announced new 3D installations this week: The Empire Leicester Square in London has become Europe’s first auditorium to use the new Dolby 3D Digital Cinema large screen system.
The company reported that the new Dolby 3D large screen solution combined with Barco’s digital cinema twin-projector allows exhibitors to project Dolby 3D onto standard, non-silver screens ranging from 12.5 to 21 metres, surpassing the previous size limit of 12 metres. The Empire Leicester Square, one of the UK’s oldest and largest cinema venues, offers a 20-metre screen.
In related news, Dolby reported that Sundance Kabuki Cinemas in San Francisco has installed Dolby 3D Digital Cinema in its 160-seat auditorium, in time for Disney/Pixar’s “Up” opening.

–Universal Studios Home Entertainment will release director Henry Selick’s stop-motion animated feature “Coraline” on Blu-ray Hi-Def combo pack, 2-Disc Collector’s Edition DVD and single disc DVD on July 21.
All editions feature both the 2-D and 3-D versions of the film and four pairs of 3-D glasses, making “Coraline” the next 3D home release to watch. In theatres, digital 3D release “Coraline” made $75. 2 million in North America and $85.2 million worldwide.

Popularity: 41% [?]

Posted in Box Office, Business, Digital 3D, Equipment Vendors
Tagged as Coraline, Dolby, Dreamworks Animation, Kung Fu Panda, Monsters vs. Aliens, Shrek, Star Trek

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Digital Faces Critical (Archiving) Dilemma

Posted by Carolyn Giardina | May 14, 2009 2:34 pm

digital_dilemma_cover1

“The Digital Dilemma”—a 2007 report from AMPAS’ SciTech Council that examines the challenges of archiving and accessing digital motion picture materials—was the subject of the SMPTE’s Hollywood Section May meeting, held at the Academy’s Linwood Dunn Theatre in Hollywood.

The report concludes that there is no long-term strategy for archiving and preserving digital assets that doesn’t require large capital investment.

Andy Maltz, director of the SciTech Council, reported that in 2008 the worldwide box office reached $20 billion, but he estimated that only 0.0015% of that amount was spent on addressing this dilemma. He emphasized that much more needs to be done.

During the evening, Maltz presented an overview of the report and an update on its impact since its release. He generated applause and laughter from an audience that has been inundated with 3D format talk when—in outlining the discussion objectives—he quipped “there will be nothing about stereoscopic movies tonight.”

Actually, he wasn’t entirely correct. He addressed AMPAS’ need to preserve digital content, citing as an example the increasing number of 3D titles that originate from and are/will be released in the digital realm. He also cited the ASC/DCI Standard Evaluation Material (Stem) and all Oscar-nominated films, which are archived by the Academy.

“Current technologies and practices are inadequate,” he said. “Periodically you will need to copy the digital media. Storage technology and operating technology will become obsolete.”

As to current investment, the report suggested that it costs $1,059 to preserve one film archival master for one year. In contrast, it estimated that annual cost of preserving a 4K digital master to be $12,514.

The SciTech Council is now working on what it calls a Digital Motion Picture Archival Framework, which would include the development and standardization of a file format, directed research, education and a follow up report on “The Digital Dilemma” for indie filmmakers and executives at public archives.

A very worthwhile read, “The Digital Dilemma” report can be downloaded from the AMPAS web site (here).

Popularity: 37% [?]

Posted in Business, Digital Cinema, Technology
Tagged as AMPAS, Archiving, Digital 3D, Digital Cinema, Digital Dilemma, Preservation, Scitech Council, SMPTE

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The Commoditization of VPFs, or, Why Having a Deal With Hollywood Studios Isn’t The Big Deal It Used To Be

Posted by Patrick von Sychowski | April 1, 2009 7:50 am

Scrabble Entertainment has announced virtual print fee (VPF) deals with five Hollywood studios (”Hello Scott from SPE, in the back.”) to roll out digital cinema in India. This may be the last notable VPF deal for some time, if not for ever.

Scrabble has signed up Walt Disney Studios, Warner Bros., 20th Century Fox, plus Paramount and Universal, with only Sony Pictures yet to come on board. At the press conference in Las Vegas on the second day of ShoWest 2009, three of the studio representatives joined Scrabble’s CEO Ranjit Thakur on stage to praise his efforts. Tom Molter from Warner Bros said that WB has supplied more digital cinema titles internationally than any other studio (definitely true for India) and was looking forwards to doing more of this with Scrabble. Julian Levin from Fox praised Ranjit’s determination and effort, acknowledging that negotiating with the Hollywood studios is a “very difficult and complicated process.” Lastly Jason Brenek from Disney was happy that Scrabble digital cinema roll-out would include 3D installations, understandable given Disney’s 17 3D titles over the coming three years. Jack Klein from Christie was also up on stage. Christie is the 2K digital cinema projector supplier of choice for Scrabble, but what is not discussed is that Christie is said to have helped behind the scenes to facilitate the VPF deals for Scrabble. Universal and Paramount were not on stage, though they had signed up as well (Paramount’s logo was on the banners, though Universal’s was missing), though this may be due to the fact that both are represented jointly in India by the (elsewhere largely defunct) UIP, with Paramount branding, in India, meaning that there is some untangling to be done still.

Screen International covered the agreement:

Scrabble has signed contracts with Twentieth Century Fox, Warner Bros, Walt Disney Studios and Paramount Pictures that become effective on April 1, and the company is in the process of finalising deal points in the agreement with Universal Pictures. The agreements are based on the self financing virtual print fees model, which is essentially a pay-per-use or booking system. Read More »
Popularity: 41% [?]

Posted in Business, Countries, Digital Cinema
Tagged as India, Paramount Pictures, Scrabble Entertainment, VPF

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DTS Digital Cinema Back From The Not-Quite-Dead With Qube Deal

Posted by Patrick von Sychowski | March 29, 2009 11:45 pm

DTS Digital Cinema and Qube Deal DTS Digital Cinema has been going through a bumpy ride in the past year, but appears to be seeing a light at the end of the tunnel. One year ago DTS Inc. spun off its two non-licence division. DTS Digital Images reverted to being Lowry Digital under the new ownership of Reliance/Adlabs. DTS Digital Cinema had a question mark over it until it was eventually acquired by the United Kingdom’s Beaufort International Group. Almost immediately the company closed down its server manufacturing arm and people in the industry started speculating - as we are prone to do - whether the company would survive. [Full disclosure: the co-editor of Celluloid Junkie, J. Sperling Reich works for DTS DC, but we take care not to mix paying day jobs with non-paying blogging, so he kept a stoic silence about how the company was doing any time we talked.]

DTS Digital Cinema has now staged something of a small comeback through a smart deal with Real Image Media Technologies, the Indian makers of the Qube server. Here are the key bits from the press release:

DTS Digital Cinema and Qube Cinema have announced a co-branding strategic alliance to develop and market numerous digital cinema products including a digital cinema server, a theatre management system, an enhanced digital cinema mastering solution and other allied products. The alliance will bring together the best of both companies’ strengths to form a strong commercial and technology presence in the digital cinema marketplace. Qube will bring to the relationship, their experience of having developed cutting edge digital cinema products such as the Qube XP-D digital cinema server, QubeMaster Pro encoding suite and the QubeCast media delivery system. Besides providing sales and marketing presence and expertise in many regions around the world, DTS Digital Cinema will lend the partnership experience in developing motion picture technology, such as 5.1 digital surround sound, as well as the content management software knowledge that helped develop their Theatre Management System, Satellite Delivery System and Digital Booking System. Together the two companies will develop numerous digital cinema products, starting with the DTS Digital Cinema DC-20 powered by Qube, a digital cinema server that meets DCI specifications and will be on display at ShoWest 2009. Read More »
Popularity: 35% [?]

Posted in Business, Equipment Vendors
Tagged as DTS Digital Cinema, Qube, Real Image Media Technologies

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Q & A: Mark Christiansen Talks About Paramount’s VPF Deal

Posted by J. Sperling Reich | March 17, 2009 11:01 pm

Paramount's Mark Christiansen

Since January 22nd, when we first posted our story on Paramount’s direct-to-exhibitor virtual print fee agreement, we have received quite a bit of correspondence on the topic. Some typed out their thoughts in the comments section of the post, (and thank you for that). Many of your emails asked questions about the agreement that we were simply unable to answer as we did not have enough information. So, we felt it would be best to turn to the most qualified person to answer some of these questions; Mark Christiansen, Paramount’s executive vice president for motion picture distribution.

We compiled all of your questions into an email and sent it off to Mr. Christiansen. He was kind enough not only to respond, but also to let us post the VPF agreement for your review. At the time of his response in February, Mr. Christiansen said the feedback he was receiving about the deal was entirely positive and he was happy to report that between 10 and 12 exhibitors had already made commitments to sign the agreement. He understandably declined to state exactly which exhibitors given that details were still being worked out.

You might think some of Mr. Christiansen’s responses are rather brief, though please keep in mind he was answering these questions via email. When necessary we’ll provide our own interpretation of his responses, which are noted as such. Please do not mistake this for Mr. Christiansen’s own opinions or responses.

Celluloid Junkie: Why did Paramount wait until now to put together a VPF they can offer direct to exhibitors? Why not last year or earlier?

Mark Christiansen: DCI compliance testing was not available. We wanted to have a testable specification in place before going directly to exhibitors.

Popularity: 45% [?]

Posted in Business, Digital Cinema
Tagged as Mark Christiansen, Paramount Pictures, Virtual Print Fee

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Booming U.S. Box Office Makes Headlines

Posted by J. Sperling Reich | March 16, 2009 11:16 pm

John Fithian of NATO

These days, with the global economic crisis at full force dominating headlines, it seems mainstream media will jump on anything that even smells like positive news. So, it’s no wonder with North American box office earning a billion dollars in January and an additional US $800 million in February that media outlets would break their tradition of only covering box office grosses on Monday mornings in favor of feature stories about how moviegoers have returned to theatres.

A spate of articles in various publications was kicked off on February 25th by Andreas Fuchs’ Film Journal piece in which John Fithian, president of the National Association of Theatre Owners (NATO), holds forth in a “state of the industry” interview. A good portion of the lengthy piece is devoted to the current state of the digital cinema transition, which Fithian still believes will heat up in 2009 despite any financial woes. Fithian then goes on to describe the exhibition industry as being “recession-resilient” though stopped short of calling it “recession-proof”:

“The cinema is a relatively inexpensive way to be entertained. If people don’t have money to go on a big vacation, they take a mini-holiday at their local movie theatre. So the environment of challenging times is generally good for us, but that doesn’t mean it always works. You need to have good movies. People are not going to escape the burdens of the day by going to see a bad film.”

While U.S. box office set an all time record in 2008 with US $9.79 billion in grosses, Fithian points out that admissions were actually down 2.5% Read More »

Popularity: 36% [?]

Posted in Business
Tagged as Box Office, Carmike Cinemas, Film Journal, John Fithian, New York Times, USA Today

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How much did AMC pay for 54 Sony 4Ks?

Posted by Patrick von Sychowski | October 19, 2007 3:39 am

The tail end of ShowEast brings the announcement that AMC Theatres will install 54 of Sony’s 4K projectors in four of its new cinemas. The press release gives the details of how many projectors will go into which multiplexes and when:

Sony will provide 54 SXRD 4K digital cinema systems at new AMC theatres in Dallas (12 screens); Indianapolis (14 screens); Riverside, Calif. (16 screens); and San Diego (12 screens). Work will begin next month, with the theaters scheduled to open in December.

The theaters will feature a combination of Sony’s SRX-R210 10,000 lumen* model and the SRX-R220 18,000 lumen* unit. The systems, which were specifically designed for theater applications, will be paired with Sony’s LMT-100 Media Block servers.

“This inaugural effort with AMC Entertainment is the latest example of the exhibition and motion picture industry’s continued adoption of 4K digital cinema technology,” said John Scarcella, president of Sony Electronics’ Broadcast and Business Solutions Company.

But if you read the whole press release there is something missing. A quote from AMC. No ‘We are thrilled to be working with Sony to bring our patrons the highest quality digital….yadi…yada…’ And this tells us off that there is something unusual about this announcement and deal.

More specifically, how much did AMC pay for these projectors and on what terms were they installed?

Sony SXRD It seems strange that AMC, which is part of DCIP, should decide to suddenly install fifty odd projectors when they are presumably just months away from concluding VPF negotiations with the Hollywood studios, which will form the basis for funding the rollout in 2008. It’s also not as if there is pressure to install 4K projectors in time for an upcoming 4K film release, like there is for 2K projectors for the digital 3D version of ‘Beowulf‘ this autumn. Which leads me to guess that AMC must have got these projectors from Soy on very favorable terms. Perhaps even free. Because DCIP has already been testing the 4, so it is not as if AMC needed a beta field test. For Sony, this gives them more prestige than the single US exhibitor deployment with Muvico. They must also be hoping that this will put them in a better position for when DCIP places its order for 2008.

Having said that, good things are being said about Sony’s Theatre Management System (TMS), plus the Hollywood studios have made clear that they will not pay VPFs for equipment going into new cinemas, where no 35mm projector or print is being replaced, and these are all new sites. Still, we will have to wait for AMC’s next 4K filing to get any details on what AMC did or didn’t pay for this. Until then, any article about the AMC-Sony deployment should end with the disclaimer ‘Financial details of this transaction were not disclosed.’

Popularity: 29% [?]

Posted in Business
Tagged as , AMC Theatres, DCIP, Muvico, Sony, SXRD

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