The popcorn has been swept away, the 3D movie banners folded, the quiet talk about how cinema is holding up in the recession has faded - ShoWest 2009 is over.
While VNU will continue to host the Las Vegas-set cinema trade show and exhibition for one more year before NATO is rumoured to take the show back (and move it to Ceasar’ Palace) in 2011, there was something of an End Credits roll feel to the confab. The number of attendees was down, the studios were (with two exceptions) largely absent, the parties scaled back and nowhere was there any open celebration of the fact that this year’s box office easily looks set to cross $10bn.
So who did well in this year’s conference? Digital Cinema? Old hat. 3D? Sure, “Monsters vs. Aliens” did well, but that was to be expected. Instead it would seem that ShoWest 2009 will go down as the year that Sony and its 4K SXRD technology took its decisive step into the limelight. No, it was not a case of audiences waking up and suddenly finding 2K resolution inadequate and demanding 4K, as Sony still hasn’t figured out how to create a pixel-fetish driven demand amongst cinema goers (free hint: don’t call it ‘4K’ - call it an ‘8 megapixel projector’ versus DLP’s ‘2 megapixel’ - sure, it’s not correct, but since when did that stand in the way of aggressive marketing?).
No, it was three interlinked announcement that helped crown Sony Electronics (not SPE - Sony Pictures Entertainment) the unofficial King of the ShoWest hill. Read More »
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On the eve of ShoWest, the largest trade show for the motion picture exhibition and distribution industry, AMC Entertainment is set to announce that it will install Sony’s 4K digital projectors on all of their screens. According to Variety and the New York Times, the world’s second largest cinema chain will begin installing the equipment in the second quarter of 2009 and complete the rollout by 2012. Presently AMC has 4,628 screens across 309 theatres.
The circuit is no stranger to Sony’s projectors having already installed 150 units to date.
The announcement comes on the heels of last Thursday’s news that AMC chose RealD as the 3D technology provider for 1,500 of its screens. The cinema chain already has 29 screens capable of showing 3D films. Together the two announcements are the culmination of the agreement made public in February that Sony and RealD would team up to merge the two companies’ technologies into a combined 3D product offering.
Besides being the kind of news the industry was hoping to hear at ShoWest, given the stalled digital cinema rollout, this is a huge win for Sony. As the Times points out, there has been little competition for Texas Instruments, which as installed it’s DLP projection technology on nearly 5,500 screens. Read More »
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Sony's 3D Dual Lens Adaptor Prototype
Long criticized for their inability to project 3D films, at least inexpensively, Sony may have finally found an appropriate solution for its 4K projectors. Earlier today Sony announced they would be working with RealD to merge the two companies’ technologies into a combined product offering.
Sony already manufactures a 3D dual lens adaptor for their 4K projectors which splits pre-polarized images into two 2K images. Unlike DLP projectors that use “triple flash” (144 frames per second alternating for each eye), Sony’s 4K projectors serve up a simultaneous image to both the left and right eyes when used with the adaptor. RealD will add to this mix a special customized optical filter that will enable Sony’s projectors to throw images onto silver screens as large as 55 feet while maintaining a light level of 4 foot-lamberts.
In a second deal, Sony gave RealD the “exclusive” rights to distribute Sony’s 3D lens adaptor for projectors installed in the United States, Canada and Europe. Of course RealD will also be offering the rest of their 3D kit to go along with Sony’s gear, especially there new 3D EQ technology which provides “ghostbusting” directly on digital cinema servers. The technology is meant to better separate the left and right eye images and eliminate the ghosting of 3D images, known as cross talk, which RealD’s system accentuates. Up until recently, content owners had to create special digital cinema packages that were pre-ghostbusted for RealD installations, a fact they were not altogether happy about.
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Deluxe and Sony have both announced senior management appointments in their digital cinema divisions.
Deluxe has appointed former Loews Cineplex VP John Wolski to look after the exhibitor side of their digital cinema operation.
From the press release:
Deluxe Digital Cinema, a unit of Deluxe Entertainment Services Group Inc., has announced that John Wolski has joined as its new Vice President of Exhibitor Services. Wolski will be leading Deluxe’s relationship management with the exhibition community, helping to build a national satellite network, and representing Deluxe at major industry events and standards bodies.
What is most interesting about this is the implicit admission that Deluxe is now seriously exploring satellite distribution for their digital cinema films. Read More »
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