Friday 5 March 2010

The Latest Cinema and Exhibition Industry News for March

Hello All,

It's amazing where the year is disappearing too, it's March already and I've spent a large part of the last month trying to sort out finding somewhere else to live, which has meant I haven't been able to spend so much time on the writing the news. However, I think that I have more or less caught up and the results are below and available: http://www.madcornishprojectionist.co.uk/news-mar10.php.

There are a couple of notices I would like to draw your attention to, a projectionist training course at Shepherd's Bush Vue on 23rd of March and a hands-on event on May 22nd at the Newport cinema, an event which should be very interesting, details are below:

BKSTS CTC Projectionists Day Out, Newport

Venue: Clarence Place, Newport, Gwent, Wales, United Kingdom NP19 7AB
Time: 11:00am
Price: £7.50

Enjoy the chance to look around the burgeoning new cinema museum, before it offi cially opens, where you will be able to get ‘hands-on’ with a wide range of classic cinema equipment and to talk with friends and colleagues on a completely relaxed trip to South Wales. Come along and get involved!

Additional Info:
It is not often that those in the projection business can get together for long enough to talk about the business, to catch up on what is happening to old friends, and to generally ‘chew the fat’ about how things used to be and whether or not they will be getting better, so for some time the Cinema Technology Committee has been thinking about how to organise a day out that would appeal to as many people as possible. An article to be published shortly in Cinema Technology about Chris Plaister’s efforts with a team of volunteers at the old Odeon in Newport raised the suggestion, that Chris readily agreed to, that the Odeon Newport, packed as it is with a wide range of classic cinema equipment and memorabilia, would be an ideal venue for such a get-together. We have therefore arranged that Chris and his team will make the place open to Cinema Technology readers and friends from 1100 to 4pm on Saturday May 22nd. Attendees will be able to wander round at will and examine and touch many of the old projectors and the vast range of other cinema and TV equipment that has been assembled as the core of a potential cinema museum. The intention is for this to be a ‘fun day’ and certainly not a formal training course, but having all that equipment available, some of it working, will also give us the chance to put on some ‘educational’ events. For those who have attended our Projectionists’ Training courses this year it will also be a unique chance to get involved with ‘hands-on’ experience of some of the important topics that our lecturers covered during those courses and to see the recommended methods put into practice.
https://nt12.orbital.net/bksts/training-details.asp?id=8
BKSTS CTC Projectionist Training Course, Shepherd's Bush Vue

23rd March 2010 Venue: VUE Cinema, West 12 Shopping & Leisure Centre, Shepherds Bush Green, London W12 8PP
Time: 9:30 am
Price: £7.50
For information, details on booking and an outline of the course then please follow the link.
https://nt12.orbital.net/bksts/training-details.asp?id=7


2010-03-05
Year 11 and We’re Still Talking About Rollout - Eleven years have passed since the first public introduction of digital cinema at ShoWest. The industry has since come a long way…and it has still a long way to go. With nearly 100 percent worldwide digital screen growth in 2009, and with the three major circuits in the US set to rollout in 2010, one might get the sense that digital cinema is on a roll. While the US is on track to convert approximately 50 percent of its screens, there is still the remaining 50 percent to think about, as well as the rest of the world.
Source: Digital Cinema Report

2010-03-05
Village Cinema to go 3D - FILM lovers in Gerrards Cross are about to take a step into the future thanks to new 3D technology being installed at the villages cinema.
Source: Buckinghamshire Advertiser

2010-03-05
Funds Pour in to Purchase St. Albans Cinema - Donations and investments have been pouring in to help James Hannaway, who restored the Rex Cinema in Berkhamsted to its former glory and wants to repeat the achievement in St. Albans, purchase the former Odeon Cinema in London Road.
Source: 0

2010-03-05
Alice truce is just the beginning - In 1983, U.S. exhibitors were so angered over Universal releasing "Pirates of Penzance" simultaneously on the bigscreen and pay per view that only 92 theaters played the film.
Source: Vareity

2010-03-05
Exhibitors silence on digital projection speaks volumes - BECTU has signalled that it will now seek meaningful talks with Odeon and Cineworld management to address the impact of digital projection on staff.
Source: BECTU Press Release

2010-03-05
Concern over cinema snacks - Film fans should be given more information about how many calories they consume during a trip to the cinema, the Food Standards Agency (FSA) has said.
Source: Google News

2010-03-05
AAM opens digital content services facility in Paris - Arts Alliance Media (AAM) has opened a French digital content services facility in Paris, to complement the end-to-end facility that already exists in London.
Source: Business of Cinema

2010-03-05
Christie Projector Selected by Great Escapes Theaters - Christie is a global leader in digital cinema. Today they announced that Great Escapes Theaters recently purchased 174 digital projectors for their theaters. The theater chain is the 14th largest in North America and has installed Christie projectors in the past for the premier of Avatar.
Source: Aboutprojectors.com

2010-03-05
Alice and the disappearing cinema window - The title of this blog may sound like a recently discovered third volume of of Alice tales by Lewis Carroll but the row that has threatened to rob us of Tim Burtons latest flight of fanasty has signalled another shift in the uneasy world big screen cinema and home viewing.
Source: EADT.co.uk

2010-03-05
Financing Package Takes Shape for More 3-D Screens - Details of a prospective financing package for the deployment of 14,000 new digital theater screens are beginning to emerge. The long anticipated build-up by the Digital Cinema Implementation Partners — a consortium operated by the AMC, Cinemark and Regal theater chains — will allow theaters to increase the number of 3-D screens beyond the 5,100 total that has been projected by this year’s end.
Source: NY Times

2010-03-05
Nordic Digital Alliance to Digitise Norwegian Screens as Part of Film & Kino Rollout - Nordic Digital Alliance (NDA), the joint venture run by Arts Alliance Media and a Norwegian consortium of businesses, has been awarded the contract to roll out digital cinema across the largest region of Norway (the West region), as part of the nationwide rollout scheme run by Film & Kino.
Source: Dcinema Today

2010-03-05
Holographic 3D Digital Projection Explained -
Source: YouTube

2010-03-05
Berliners brave the elements to experience cinema history - Film fans braved snow for an outdoor screening of Fritz Langs legendary movie Metropolis in front of Berlins Brandenburg Gate. The 1927 classic included 25 minutes from the original that were feared lost forever.
Source: DW-World.de

2010-03-05
35mm to 4K digital projection - Cinema conversion - Thought some of you might like to see some photos of the current work being done at the cinema where I work as the chief projectionist. Having worked here for 14 years this past week has seen what must be the single biggest change in this cinemas history - a complete conversion to digital cinema, no 35mm will be left in the building this time next week.
Source: Cultmovieforums.com post

2010-03-05
Cornish mines archive film discovered - Archive film dating from the 1920s has been discovered, which shows the day-to-day life of workers in Cornwall.
Source: BBC News

2010-03-05
Labour activist: We still need a multiplex cinema in St Albans - The restoration of the Odeon in London Road, which is teetering on the edge of reality, should not blur ambitions for a multiplex cinema in St Albans, a Labour activist has insisted.
Source: St Albans Review

2010-03-05
Christie First to Ship and Install ‘Series 2’ DLP Cinema Projectors - Christie® is pleased to confirm full production, shipping and installation of the latest generation of 4K-ready DLP Cinema® projectors, the Christie Solaria™ series, beginning with the Christie CP2220. The Christie CP2220 digital cinema projector features Texas Instruments’ (TI) (NYSE: TXN) next generation Series 2 DLP Cinema technology. Shipments began early January to North and South America, Europe and Asia and are now installed and showing feature films worldwide, including Australia, Canada, Korea and the United States. With orders arriving daily, Christie continues its lead in digital cinema deployment resulting in 70% of all digital cinema installations worldwide since the introduction of DLP Cinema projectors – which Christie was also the first to market.
Source: Digital Content Producer [blog]

2010-03-05
Warner Bros. Pictures International Partners with ODEON & UCI Cinemas Group to Support the Expansion of Digital Cinema into UK - LONDON - (Business Wire) Continuing its commitment to deliver high quality entertainment across multiple formats, Warner Bros. Pictures International (WBPI) has entered into a comprehensive digital cinema deployment agreement directly with Digital Deployment Associates Limited to advance the conversion to digital cinema in ODEON sites throughout the UK. Under the agreement, Warner Bros. will supply digital feature films to DCI-compliant digital projection systems installed at all ODEON sites, and the Studio will make financial contributions supporting the digital conversion. The announcement was made jointly today by Veronika Kwan-Rubinek, President, Distribution, Warner Bros. Pictures International (WBPI), and Rupert Gavin, CEO of ODEON and UCI Cinemas Group.
Source: Earthtimes.org

2010-03-05
St Albans cinema dream tantalisingly close to realisation - THE cinema dream in St Albans is tantalisingly close to realisation, with a grand total of nearly £800,000 in the kitty.
Source: St Albans Review

2010-03-05
Barco posts €68m loss in 2009 - Barco has suffered a loss of €68.9 million in 2009, and seen its order book drop nearly 20 per cent and sales drop 13 per cent in its latest quarterly results. The company posted a loss of €54.1 million (EBIT) for Q4 2009 including provisions for restructuring. In the one ray of light from the results, the company saw a large increase in digital cinema sales (up from €37m to €100m).
Source: AV Interactive

2010-03-05
Alcons Introduces the CRMS Pro-Ribbon Reference Surround System - Alcons introduces a reference-quality sound reproduction system with fully matched loudspeaker, processing and amplifier components. It is designed to offer the most realistic (surround) sound-for-picture reproduction possible, making it the ideal choice for high-end home theatre theatres, Digital Cinema mix/screening rooms, post-production facilities, dubbing stages and quality-conscious cinemas with less than 100 seats or room depth less than 15m/45ft.
Source: DCinema Today

2010-03-05
Sony Electronics Announces Digital Cinema Deal with Warner Bros. Studios - Sony Electronics’ Digital Cinema Solutions and Services (DCSS) group has entered into a non-exclusive digital cinema deployment agreement with Warner Bros. Studios that will provide operational and financial resources to exhibitors to encourage them to feature Sony’s 4K SXRD™ projection technology in both 2D and 3D digital cinema-enabled screens across the United States and Canada. Future plans include other key international markets.
Source: DCinema Today

2010-03-05
The Carlton Cinema to be Saved - A few months ago came news that the Carlton Cinemas would close and on December 6th they did just that. But now comes word that the days of films screening near the corner of Yonge and Carlton is not a thing of the past. Last week, Magic Lantern Theatres, owner of the Rainbow Cinemas theatre chain, purchased the space and plan to refurbish and then re-open it this June.
Source: Blogto.com

2010-03-05
Unique Cinema Systems win 9 out of 10 Digital Cinema regions in Norway - The much awaited result of the Norwegian Film & Kino tender process was announced today, with 9 of the 10 regional zones, representing more than 300 screens, being won by Unique Cinema Systems.
Source: DCinema Today

2010-03-05
Cinedigm Announces Agreement with Times Square Cinema For Phase 2 Deployment Program - Cinedigm Digital Cinema Corp. (NASDAQ: CIDM), the global leader in the digital cinema industry, today announced Times Square Cinema, a Texas six-plex, has signed an agreement to deploy digital projection systems as part of Cinedigm’s 10,000 screen Phase 2 digital cinema deployment program.
Source: DCinema Today

2010-03-05
New plan for digital cinema - An alternative way of helping French cinemas go digital has been put forward by the Centre National de la Cinematographie, Gauls government-backed film and TV funder.
Source: Variety.com

2010-03-05
Cinema Tarantino: Quentin Saves the Art House - It’s no surprise that Quentin Tarantino loves movies like spaghetti loves Westerns. What is less well known is that while he was busy blowing up a Nazi-occupied cinema in Inglourious Basterds, he was simultaneously saving the last full-time revival house in Southern California, The New Beverly Cinema
Source: Vanityfair.com

2010-03-05
Alice in Wonderland Film Controversy - Get a full list of links to the various stories relating to the release of Alice in Wonderland and the potential cinema exhibitors boycott of the film because Disney wanted to reduce the DVD window from 17 weeks.
Source: Google

2010-03-05
Fifth screen planned for Reel Cinema in Blossom Street, York - PLANS have been drawn up to create a fifth screen at York’s Reel Cinema as bosses continue with a rolling refurbishment of the former Odeon.
Source: York Pres

2010-03-05
Curtains close for Showcase Cinemas at ailing mall - FAIRFIELD — After a little more than an eight-year run, Showcase Cinemas at Cincinnati Mall has closed.
Source: Journal-news.com

2010-03-05
Gerrards Cross Odeon to get 3D projector - THE Odeon cinema in Gerrards Cross is to get a digital projector, allowing it to show 3D films.
Source: thisislondon.co.uk

2010-03-05
PEP said to be planning float of Hoyts cinemas - he private equity owner of the Hoyts cinema chain, one of the smaller exhibitors in New Zealand, is said to be planning a share float later in the year.
Source: nbr.co.nz

2010-03-04
Radio 2 Comedy - Cinema - Cinema is a brilliant new sitcom from Simon Nye, the writer of Men Behaving Badly and How Do You Want Me?
Source: BBC

2010-03-03
Technicolor cuts first film 3-D screen deal - LOS ANGELES — Technicolor, the French telecoms and film technology company once known as Thomson SA, has reached its first deal to give a theater chain the ability to show 3-D movies without the need for a digital projector.
Source: The Associated Press

2010-03-03
Digital Cinema building momentum as 3D drives market - There are 16,405 digital cinema screens around the world, an increase of 86.4 per cent on 2008, with further growth to come in 2010 as digital 3D pushes the market towards a 35mm-free cinema sector. This means that 14.8 per cent of the world’s modern cinema screens are digitized, and 9,000 are also equipped with digital 3D (55 per cent of total digital screens). The eventual and inevitable conclusion of full digital cinema will take the best part of another decade to complete, although some countries will be all-digital well before then.
Source: Screen Digest Press Release

2010-03-03
Technicolor Provides Host of Services for 2009 Oscar(R) Nominated Features - Technicolor (Euronext Paris: 18453) /quotes/comstock/13*!tch/quotes/nls/tch (TCH 1.42, +0.11, +8.44%) today announced that its industry-leading services were instrumental to 30 of the 2009 Academy Award(R) nominated theatrical features.
Source: Marketwarch.com

2010-03-03
GDC installs first ever digital cinema servers with series 2 DLP Cinema Projectors - GDC Technology has introduced the new S2 Upgrade for all SA-2100 Digital Cinema Servers, the first digital cinema servers to be commercially deployed with the new generation of Series 2 DLP Cinema projector.
Source: businessofcinema.com

2010-03-03
Movie exhibitors' stocks seeing big gains - NEW YORK -- With the Oscars putting a spotlight on last year's creative accomplishments in moviemaking, films' commercial successes have the nation's top movie circuits riding a hot streak on Wall Street.
Source: Hollywood Reporter

2010-03-03
Parkway Cinemas to close in May after 20-year run - After a 20-year run, Bloomington's Parkway Cinemas will fade to black this spring, the first casualty of an over-saturated market.
Source: Pantagraph.com

2010-03-03
St Albans Cinema £79,000 off target - CINEMA entrepreneur James Hannaway was this afternoon just £79,000 short of the money needed to buy the old Odeon building in St Albans.
Source: The Herts Advertiser

2010-03-03
New call to rescue city centre cinema - Calls have been made to re-open an historic former Preston cinema which has been put up for sale.
Source: lep.co.uk

2010-03-03
Cinema City plan to put film focus on Glasgow - Glasgow is set resume its historic title of ‘cinema city’ as part of a new tourism campaign.
Source: Eveningtimes.co.uk

2010-03-03
Warner, Odeon make UK digital cinema deal - Warner Bros Pictures International and Odeon have made an agreement to speed up digital cinema conversions across the UK.
Source: Digitalspy.co.uk

2010-03-03
Arts Alliance Media Announces Opening of French Digtal Content Services Facility in Paris - Arts Alliance Media (AAM) – Europe’s leading provider of digital cinema technology, content and deployment – announced today that it has opened a digital content services facility in Paris, to complement the end-to-end facility that already exists in London.
Source: DCinema Today

2010-03-03
Filmstrips gone with the wind - It is a digital age and Creekside Cinema is ready to join in.
Source: mtairynews.com

2010-03-03
Portsmouth picturehouse faces an uncertain future - It's been hailed as a masterpiece, is up for an Oscar and BAFTA and proved a winner at this year's Golden Globes.
Source: portsmouth.co.uk

2010-03-03
Harwich: Palace to go digital - A NEW campaign has been launched to bring Harwich's iconic cinema into the digital age.
Source: Harwich Manningtree Standard

2010-03-03
Bafta Awards 2010: not Cameron's night - Well, they gave Avatar more Bafta awards than they gave Titanic, which won zero from ten in 1998. [see also these stories on the BAFTA awards]
Source: The Telegraph

2010-03-03
Saffron Screen's "Going Digital" film - - Our local community (not for profit) cinema promotional film; written, directed and produced by pugmen-mikrofilm to kick off their fundraising campaign. Other versions and probably outtakes to follow... www.saffronscreen.com


Source: Direct email

2010-03-03
Academy Board of Governors Bestows 2009 Scientific and Engineering Award to DLP Cinema Team for Color Accuracy - On Saturday, February 20, the Academy Board of Governors bestowed the 2009 Scientific and Engineering Award (Academy Plaque) to four individuals responsible for the color accuracy of Texas Instruments DLP Cinema projectors.
Source: Digital Cinema Info

2010-03-03
Facebook Group for the St Albans Odeon Campaign - A fairly active facebook group as been setup for this campaign.
Source: CTA-UK email list


Google News Reader

You can also view the news via Google Reader Shared Items, this service provides more stories, more frequently updated, but with less quality of information. You can also subscribe to the RSS FEED of the same information

http://www.madcornishprojectionist.co.uk/news-mar10.php

Regards

Peter

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