Category Archives: Digital Cinema

Sundance Goes Digital With Assistance From Barco

Posted by J. Sperling Reich | March 20, 2012 11:30 pm

When Barco emailed a press release last Thursday with the subject “Sundance Film Festival expands digital cinema footprint with Barco projectors” I initially figured it must be an error. Sundance is held in Park City, Utah and takes place in January each year. If Barco was looking to get press for this year’s festival they are a little late and if they were trying to get ahead on next year’s event they are way too early.

In fact, the release was about the 2012 festival. Turns out Barco is not only helping theatre owners convert to digital, but they are also giving a hand to film festivals who will ultimately have to adopt the technology. For this past year’s festival Barco provided four additional digital cinema projectors to go with a number of others Sundance was using previously.

You may be wondering why we’re paying any attention to a corporate announcement that comes six weeks after the event in its subject line. Yet the real importance of the release is not necessarily that Barco is supplying film festivals with digital projectors (though it’s great that they are). Rather it is the meaning found between the words and sentences of the press notice that truly matters. It’s not written in black and white, but more of an invisible gray.

For those who may not be familiar with the Sundance Film Festival (i.e. non-film buffs or intelligent life forms from other planets), it is the premiere independent film festival in North America. Along with those in Berlin, Cannes, Telluride, Toronoto and Venice, it is one of the largest such festivals held each year. It has become known as the launching pad for such filmmakers as Darren Aranofsky, the Coen Brothers, Spike Lee, Christopher Nolan, Robert Rodriguez, David O. Russell, Bryan Singer, Kevin Smith, Quentin Tarantino and countless others. “Precious”, “Blood Simple”, “Little Miss Sunshine”, “sex, lies, and videotape”, “Reservoir Dogs”, “The Blair Witch Project”, “American Splendor” and “Super Size Me” are just a few of the indie-films which were first shown to the public at Sundance.

Popularity: 1% [?]

Posted in Digital Cinema, Events
Tagged as Barco, Boston Light & Sound, Digital Cinema, Film Festivals, Park City, Sundance Film Festival

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Is Cinedigm A Digital Cinema Bellwether?

Posted by J. Sperling Reich | April 16, 2011 7:16 pm

The time before, during and after any motion picture industry trade show is one filled with an endless stream of press releases. Any journalist covering the space receives dozens, if not hundreds, of emails from marketing departments and publicists during these periods filled with press releases. At some point, it becomes easy to read between the lines of such press releases, to determine which ones are truly important. But if one were to take a step back, it can also be easy to spot industry trends through the releases certain companies publish.

This was certainly the case at CinemaCon this past March, especially when it came to press releases distributed by Cinedigm. In the weeks leading up to the conference, the digital cinema deployment entity announced agreements with such exhibitors as Cinemaworld and B&B Theatres. AMC Theatres chose the company’s exhibition management system to help run their North American venues.

Then, during CinemaCon, announcements came that Goodrich Quality Theatres, Guzzo Cinemas, and Wehrenberg Theatres were all entering into deployment agreements with Cinedigm. This was interspersed with news about deals with Sonic Equipment Company and content distribution in Latin America. Shortly after the convention Cinedigm reported they had also signed Clearview Cinemas up to a deployment agreement.

Earlier this week Cinedigm thankfully aggregated much of the news about their deployment agreements into a single press release so that folks like me could keep all the information straight. It turns out I had good reason to take notice of how busy Cinedigm’s PR department has been lately – during the last quarter they signed deployment agreements with 32 exhibitors accounting for 1,402 screens at 142 sites. This is the largest number of exhibitors and screens signed during any quarter of the company’s history.

Popularity: 1% [?]

Posted in Digital Cinema, Integrators
Tagged as B&B Theatres, Cinedigm, Cinemaworld, Clearview Cinemas, Digital Cinema, Goodrich Quality Theatres, Guzzo cinemas, Sonic Equipment Co., Wehrenberg Theatres

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Cinema Digitaal Selects Arts Alliance Media For Netherlands D-Cinema Rollout

Posted by J. Sperling Reich | April 13, 2011 12:54 pm

Cinema Digitaal, the organization overseeing the rollout of digital cinema in the Netherlands, has selected Arts Alliance Media to as their integrator to convert more than 500 screens throughout the country to digital.

Under the exclusive arrangement AAM will install and maintain digital cinema equipment and technology in a wide range of cinemas encompassing large exhibition chains and smaller art house venues. Circuits not participating in the rollout include Pathe, Euroscoop and Utopolis, as they will be handling their own conversions.

AAM will also provide their VPF deals with five Hollywood studios and is in the process of finalizing similar deals with the 14 local distributors that make up the NVF.

Cinema Digitaal was founded by the Dutch Association of Cinema Operators (Nederlandse Vereniging van Bioscoopexploitanten, NVB), the Dutch Film Distributors’ Association (Nederlandse Vereniging van Filmdistributeurs, NVF) and the EYE Film Institute. The Dutch government is funding 14 percent of the project with additional funds coming from the Netherlands Film Fund (Nederlands Fonds voor de Film) and bank financing.

With no VPF deals of their own, Cinema Digitaal needed to partner with an entity that had such agreements covering the Netherlands. Thus, it was really a choice between AAM, XDC and Ymagis.

Popularity: 1% [?]

Posted in Countries, Digital Cinema
Tagged as Arts Alliance Media, CinemaDigitaal, Digital Cinema, EYE Film Institute, Giovanni Dolci, NVB, NVF, The Netherlands

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CinemaCon 2011: Digital Funding Partnership Pacts With XDC For D-Cinema Deployment In UK

Posted by J. Sperling Reich | April 2, 2011 10:17 am

At the outset of CinemaCon this past Monday Steve Perrin gave an interesting presentation titled “Harnessing The Power of the VPF”. As the Chief Executive of Digital Funding Partnership (DFP) Perrin is in a position to know a thing or two about virtual print fees. He’ll have some help in this department now that DFP has entered into an agreement with XDC for the deployment of digital cinema in theatres throughout the United Kingdom.

The Cinema Exhibitors’ Association created DFP in 2009 to help small and mid-sized theatre owners in the UK secure funding for digital cinema conversions. The group is a legal entity consisting of approximately 400 screens at 130 mainstream and specialized cinemas operated by more than 100 theatre owners.

Perrin spent more than a year studying the country’s booking patterns, box office receipts and endless market data in an attempt to determine whether VPF deals would work for independent cinemas in the UK. In doing so he confirmed that VPFs work best for large theatre circuits which play mostly mainstream content. Smaller cinemas showing less mainstream content at varying turn rates are not as attractive to local or international distributors, making it difficult, if not impossible, for theatre owners to gain access to VPF deals.

Popularity: 1% [?]

Posted in Countries, Digital Cinema, Trade Shows
Tagged as Cinema Exhibitors' Association, CinemaCon, Digital Cinema, Digital Funding Partnership, Steve Perrin, United Kingdom, XDC

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Kodak Gets FDA Approval For Laser Projection Technology

Posted by J. Sperling Reich | February 25, 2011 4:33 pm

Kodak Laser Projection System

Kodak’s plans to create a light engine for digital cinema projectors that can compete with Texas Instruments DLP chip reached a crucial milestone earlier this week. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the variance application clearing the way for the commercialization of Kodak Laser Projection Systems which feature Kodak Laser Projection Technology.

Maybe, like me, you’re wondering what the FDA has to do with regulating anything that isn’t a food or a drug. Don’t they have eggs to inspect and clinical trials to oversee? Well yes, they do, however they also oversee any manufactured device that emits radiation. For the most part that means lots of medical equipment and x-ray machines, though laser light displays also fall into this category.

Much in the way pilots and drivers need licenses, a federal license demonstrating basic laser knowledge and safety is required to operate high powered laser systems. For instance, night clubs with laser light shows need to obtain variances for their lighting equipment. I’m not sure exactly what kind of variance Kodak applied for, but according to Les Moore, Kodak’s chief operating officer for Digital Cinema:

“The FDA variance serves as a template to be followed by manufacturers that we license to incorporate this new laser technology.”

Popularity: 4% [?]

Posted in Digital Cinema, Technology
Tagged as DLP Cinema, Kodak Digital Cinema, Kodak Laser Projection Systems, Les Moore, Projection

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Dutch Cinemas To Go Digital By 2012

Posted by J. Sperling Reich | December 9, 2010 10:18 pm

Less than a year after the formation of The Foundation for Digitizing Dutch Cinema (Stitchting Digitalisering Nederandse Cinema), the group has found some of the financing required to convert Netherlands’ cinemas to digital. The organization was formed in July of this year by the Dutch Association of Cinema Operators (Nederlandse Vereniging van Bioscoopexploitanten, NVB), the Dutch Film Distributors’ Association (Nederlandse Vereniging van Filmdistributeurs, NVF) and the EYE Film Institute, which is the Netherlands new film center.

In July the three groups announced a €38 million (USD $50.6 million or GBP £32 million) plan to rollout digital cinema in 520 of the Netherlands’ 755 screens (243 venues) by the middle of 2012. The largest Dutch theatre chain, Pathé, is not participating in the plan because their French parent company, EuroPalaces, is handling its own conversion.

The foundation has established CinemaDigitaal, a new organization to oversee and supervise the rollout. The Dutch government will fund 14 percent of the project with the remainder coming from an undisclosed contribution from the Netherlands Film Fund (Nederlands Fonds voor de Film) and bank financing which CinemaDigitaal is in the process of securing.

Though there has been some debate in the industry over whether national funding will be allowed by the European Union, the Dutch Ministry of Education, Culture and Science has had ongoing discussions with EU officials regarding the proposed model. The Dutch government’s participation falls below the de-minimus limit for state aid and is being made possible through an ongoing national information technology initiative (Programma Implementatie Agenda ICT-Beleid, PRIMA). As well, the government’s support is earmarked for non-commercial theatres.

Popularity: 3% [?]

Posted in Countries, Digital Cinema
Tagged as Centre National de la Cinématographie, CinemaDigitaal, EuroPalaces, EYE Film Institute, Foundation for Digitizing Dutch Cinema, NVB, NVF, Pathe, The Netherlands

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IBC Highlights Developments In Digital Cinema

Posted by J. Sperling Reich | September 19, 2010 1:13 pm

Digital Screen Penetration (June 2010).png

Digital Screen Penetration of Total Screen Base

There is no question that the IBC conference, held annually in Amsterdam, is primarily aimed at broadcasters and those that supply or service them. After all, the B in IBC stands for broadcasters. However, the conference has always managed to find room for the motion picture industry in some form. Over the past decade that has mostly meant dedicating a day’s worth of seminars to digital cinema or stereoscopic production.

For IBC2010, the conference turned to David Monk, the the CEO of the European Digital Cinema Forum (EDCF), who put together a three hour panel titled “State Of Play: Developments In Digital Cinema”. (Full disclosure: I was a member of the panel). Monk chose David Hancock to start off the proceedings in an effort to provide some context for the many speakers that were to follow. As a senior analyst for Screen Digest, there are few who know the world of digital cinema as well as Hancock and so I wanted to relay some of the key points of his presentation.

Hancock’s presentation, titled “Digital Cinema: The Tipping Point Is Coming”, was filled with valuable numbers, statistics and informative graphics. He began with the following:

There are 109,000 modern cinema screens worldwide. Of these, 22,000 have been converted to digital. This means the industry is 21% of the way through the digitization of the world’s cinema screens.

According to Hancock’s research, digital cinema growth began in earnest in 2005 after recommendations for standards were released. Initially it was the United States that took the lead in rolling out digital as the rest of the world only tested the waters with the new technology. Digital roll outs in Europe began in earnest during 2008. ” Over the past 18 months the number in the territory has nearly tripled.

Popularity: unranked [?]

Posted in Digital Cinema, Events
Tagged as David Hancock, David Monk, EDCF, IBC, Screen Digest

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Screen Digest’s David Hancock Discusses Europe’s D-Cinema Funding Shortfall

Posted by J. Sperling Reich | July 7, 2010 12:35 pm

Europe's Digital Shortfall (Courtesy Screen Digest)

On June 21st, just in time for Cinema Expo, Screen Digest published a report titled “Digital Cinema Moves Into The Mainstream“. Twelve pages in length and with 10 tables and charts, the report uncovered a significant “digital shortfall” in the amount of financing required to convert all of Europe’s screens to digital. David Hancock, a senior analyst at Screen Digest, authored the report and we asked him to shed some light on its key findings. (The interview appears after the jump).

Details From The Report
Not counting Russia there are roughly 32,600 screens throughout Europe for which a digital rollout will cost EUR €2.1 billion (or USD $2.65 billion). Of those screens 23,800 are covered for digital conversion through virtual print fees offered by Hollywood studios. Upwards of 5,000 screens will be handled directly by theatre owners themselves. Theoretically that means there is funding of EUR €1.65 billion (or USD $2.1 billion) for d-cinema conversions, leaving a gap of EUR €450 million (or USD $568.4 million) to cover all Europe’s screens.

And who is being left out of the funding equation? Well, it’s mostly art houses, seasonal theatres, repertory venues and mobile cinemas.

The United Kingdom and The Netherlands have set up special funding groups to help solve this problem. Support funds have also been established in such countries as the Czech Republic, Finalnd, France, Germany, and Sweden. On region in Poland plans to pull money out of a tourism fund and Italy is giving tax credits to any theatre which converts. The European Union is offering assistance through its MEDIA Programme.

Driven mostly by 3D content, the number of European screens equipped for d-cinema at the end of the first quarter in 2010 had risen 16% over 2009 to 5,333, or a full 15% of the region’s screens. Presently 75% of all digital screens in Europe are 3D capabe. Thanks to competition among France’s largest exhibitors, the country leads the 3D screen count with more than 700. The U.K. and Germany are second and third hovering around the 500 screen mark.

Popularity: 12% [?]

Posted in Digital Cinema
Tagged as Arts Alliance Media, Digital Finance Limited, Europe, European Commission, MEDIA Programme, Screen Digest, Sony, The Netherlands, UK Digital Funding Partnership, XDC, Ymagis

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Director’s Fortnight Highlights Digital Divide

Posted by J. Sperling Reich | May 14, 2010 3:48 am

Last night I had the privilege of attending the opening night of the Director’s Fortnight at the Cannes Film Festival. The film being shown was “Benda Bilili” a fantastic documentary about a Congolese band made up of homeless parapelgics who go on to win international acclaim. Before the lights dimmed however the audience was addressed by the head of the Société des réalisateurs de films, the French Director’s Guild which organizes the Cannes sidebar.

After handing filmmaker Agnès Varda a lifetime achievement award, Malik Chibane (at least I believe it was him) turned to the audience with a serious word of caution. He was speaking in French and between what I understood and what was translated by the person standing next to Chibane I figured it was worth repeating here.

Keeping in mind, I’m paraphrasing, Chibane told the audience that “Benda Bilili” was being shown in 35mm and a film projector, which is how films had been shown for the past 100 years. However, this won’t always be the case. Very soon cinemas throughout France will undergo a digital conversion and films will be delivered on hard drives. He warned that such technology will actually decrease the diversity of films being shown in theatres, especially for French films. He stated that small theatres wouldn’t be able to convert to digital cinema, just those showing big blockbuster films.

Then as the film started a short 20 second promo put together by the SFR was shown. Again it was in French so I’m paraphrasing, but effectively the message of the animated spot was that a lack of diversity undermines the movies and that digital cinema threatened French culture. The trailer is embedded at the head of this post. Read More »

Popularity: 19% [?]

Posted in Countries, Digital Cinema
Tagged as Benda Bilili, Cannes Film Festival, Director's Fortnight, France, La SRF, Malik Chibane

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Texas Instruments On Track With 4K

Posted by J. Sperling Reich | March 26, 2010 12:50 pm

Both at ShoWest and in the weeks leading up to the conference, I was able to speak with some of the folks over at Texas Instruments working on the company’s digital cinema offerings. They were happy to report that development of their 4K chip was right on schedule and some of the first 4K DLP projectors should be available for purchase in the first part of 2011, if not a little sooner.

For those who are just tuning into our industry, TI is the group that has been making DLP chips for cinemas since 1999. Each DLP chip is an array of 2.2 million microscopic mirrors that move and rotate at high speeds to reflect the appropriate light and provide 2K image. Projectors based on the company’s DLP digital micromirror device (DMD) have been installed on over 19,000 movie theatre screens worldwide, giving them at least 90% of the digital cinema install base.

However, last year for the first time TI’s dominance in the market was threatened when two of the world’s largest cinema chains, AMC Theatres and Regal Cinemas, announced they would be installing Sony’s 4K digital cinema projectors. While the DCI spec may only call for 2K, the marketing advantage of 4K was hard to overcome with exhibitors who were looking for a future-proof solution. So in June of last year TI announced they would be developing a 4K DLP chip for their OEM manufacturers, which include Barco, Christie and NEC. No development timeline or release date for the new chip was given. Read More »

Popularity: 37% [?]

Posted in Digital Cinema, Equipment Vendors
Tagged as 4K, DLP Cinema, Projectors, Series 2, Texas Instruments

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