Tag Archives: Ymagis

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

July 7, 2010

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

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Cinema Expo Thoughts: Manel Carreras of Ymagis and Michael Karagosian of MKPE

By J. Sperling Reich

July 6, 2010

Last week I mentioned that we would be running a series of posts featuring comments about last month’s Cinema Expo conference from leading members of the industry.

Today we’ll continue with Manel Carreras, Sales and Business Development Director at Ymagis, as well as Michael Karagosian of MKPE Consulting. Full disclosure: I used to work with Manel Carreras at DTS Digital Cinema and I presently work with Michael Karagosian on certain consulting projects.

First up is Mr. Carreras:

Manel Carreras of Ymagis

Although the trade show part of Cinema Expo International was much “smaller” with short hours, even shorter “effective” hours and wider corridors and more empty spaces than ever before, the high quality of attendees meant no time wasting, and this was good. We were busy during trade show hours and before and after these.

CEI is always a good opportunity to catch up with colleagues and check the pulse of the industry across Europe. This year the lack of important press releases during the show, was perhaps a reflection of the problems exhibitors experience with financing their systems and poor projector deliveries: one manufacturer didn’t even have a unit at the show!

Technology wise I am not sure there was that much to excite anyone. I was disappointed, as expected, with the new 3D system. I guess its still a prototype. This show was full of promises and declarations of intentions, now we have to see these delivered.

I did not manage to attend any seminars and only half a projection, but I heard very good feedback from some of the exhibitors about the movies coming up.

Finally digitization is really happening (in Europe), going well beyond the first 3D installs and starting to incorporate d-cinema as a 35mm replacement.

Popularity: 8% [?]

Posted in Events, Trade Shows

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Ymagis Experiences Growth Spurt In Deals With UGC, Utopia and OCine

By J. Sperling Reich

June 20, 2010

In the past few weeks Ymagis, like their European counterpart Arts Alliance Media, has announced a number of new deals with exhibitors. What better time to review them all than on the eve of Cinema Expo, which begins tomorrow in Amsterdam.

For anyone who may need a brief refresher on who Ymagis is, they are a European digital cinema integrator and deployment entity of sorts. Based in Paris, France, they differentiate themselves from other European integrators by focusing on the management and administration of virtual print fees (VPF) being paid by distributors rather than on the financing and installation of digital cinema equipment.

This is not to say Ymagis doesn’t arrange for financing and deploy d-cinema systems in theatres. They most certainly do. In fact, Ymagis arranged the financing for the deal they announced on May 11th with the French based theatre chain UGC. The announcement was really a formality since Ymagis began converting UGC’s nearly 600 screens in March of this year. UGC operates 36 theatres in France, three in Belgium, four venues in Italy and another six in Spain. Attendance at UGC’s theatres throughout Europe tops out at more than 40 million.

The deal is one of the more important ones Ymagis has landed, not only because its with one of France’s largest theatre operators, but also because they arranged financing for the conversion through Banque Populaire Group, LCL-Crédit Agricole and Banque Palatine.

Reached via email, Ymagis chief executive officer and founder Jean Mizrahi detailed the unique way his company works with exhibitors:

“We have a flexible model. In some cases, exhibitors prefer to finance the equipment themselves. In other cases, they want us to take care of it. Right now among the 1400 screens we have signed throughout Europe, half of them have chosen to self finance, the second half we’re financing. We receive the VPFs and though the exhibitors do not know how much we receive from the distributors, we redistribute the largest portion of this revenue directly to them.

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Popularity: 13% [?]

Posted in Integrators

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SmartJog Continues Partnership Spree With XDC and Fox

By J. Sperling Reich

March 26, 2010

Is it just me, or has anyone else noticed that SmartJog has been on a roll lately when it comes to partnerships? After announcing an agreement with Ymagis in February, they formed a partnership with XDC just before ShoWest and earlier this week entered into a deal with Twentieth Century Fox to deliver digital cinema content.

The agreement with XDC mirrors the one SmartJog signed with Ymagis in that XDC will deploy SmartJog’s technology in theatres it has contracted with. Specifically, each cinema will receive a SmartJog Gateway server which will act as a central library storage device that receives the content. The two companies will integrate their solutions to better automate the delivery of digital cinema content. What wasn’t clear from the press release was whether XDC would eventually integrate SmartJog’s technology directly into their own theatre management system (TMS).

SmartJog’s solution will enable XDC, which operates primarily in Europe, to deliver digital content into its theatres directly from their mastering facility in Liège, Belgium. Additionally, XDC will also be able to deliver content to any of the more than 160 cinema complexes in SmartJog’s digital cinema network throughout Europe. Commenting on the agreement, Fabrice Testa, XDC’s Vice President Sales and Business Development was quoted in the release:

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Popularity: 33% [?]

Posted in Business, Digital Cinema

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SmartJog and Ymagis Team Up To Deliver D-Cinema Content

By J. Sperling Reich

February 18, 2010

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: 20% [?]

Posted in Business, Digital Cinema

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