Sony Pictures will celebrate the 40th anniversary of legendary director Steven Spielberg's epic science fiction adventure Close Encounters of the Third Kind with a series of special events. As a highlight of the celebration, the film has been restored and remastered in 4K and will be returning to the big screen in the United States and Canada.
The Universal Pictures International release Atomic Blonde had its world premiere July 17 at Theater am Potsdamer Platz. The event was presented in Sony 4K using the SRX-R15DS dual projection system.
Samsung Electronics today announced that it has installed its first commercial Cinema LED Screen at Lotte Cinema World Tower in Korea. The high dynamic range display is the result of collaboration between Harman Professional Solutions and Samsung Audio Lab.
Sony Digital Cinema 4K has launched Finity, a new campaign to promote the company’s Premium Large Format projection systems. European customers in the UK, Germany, Ireland, and Turkey have already committed to the new offering that combines Sony’s HDR-ready 4K dual projection technology with a complimentary suite of tailored branding assets and marketing support. Exhibitors equipped with the current family of Sony high-contrast SRX-R500 series dual projection systems have no need for any additional investment.
Filming big cats in Kenya isn’t easy. Unlike actors, these magnificent animals don’t follow cues or take direction. Catching, focusing and framing your shots is paramount. You really need to see what’s going on. That’s why ACS 2017 Australian Cinematographer of the Year Abraham Joffe turned to the Atomos Shogun monitor recorders with their daylight-viewable high brightness screens for his latest project. Every Flame and Inferno series recorder has a seven-inch display with an incredible 1500 nits of brightness. “When we are out here in the African bush we are often in pretty strong light. Even without a hood I can see what’s going on on the screen,” Joffe said. “Atomos is the best screen on the market in my opinion and it’s a piece of kit that would stay in my bag wherever I go around the world.”
Director of photography Bobby Bukowski (When We Rise, Weeds, The Messenger, Arlington Road) has completed production of the upcoming Netflix series Gypsy, starring Naomi Watts and Billy Crudup. Bukowski shot the 10-episode dramatic series with Panasonic VariCam 35 4K camera recorders. “The greatest gift of the VariCam is the impetus to drop old habits, reinvent techniques and redefine who you are as an artist,” said Bukowski. “It’s wonderful and exciting to look at your craft through a different prism.
Novo Cinemas, part of the Elan Group in Qatar, has launched a new flagship cinema at Mall of Qatar, in Al Rayyan, Doha. The new cinema features 19 screens, including an IMAX Laser theatre that features the largest IMAX screen in the MENA region and seats 530 people. It also includes an upgraded sound system featuring 12 channels plus sub bass that delivers lifelike sound from all directions, including overhead, to fill the cinema with astonishing clarity, richness, detail, and depth. I spoke recently with Novo Cinemas CEO Debbie Stanford-Kristiansen about the new theatre and, in particular, her belief in the importance of lobbies.
FutureWorks Media, one of Asia’s most prominent post-production houses, has renewed its partnership with Barco. A tour-de-force in international and domestic film and television solutions, FutureWorks has recently invested in a Barco 4K post-production projector at its Mumbai facility.
If there is one thing for which the recently opened Odeon Sambil Dolby Atmos multiplex in Madrid stands out, it is the number of technological firsts clocked up by its twelve theatres. It is the first multiplex in Spain with all its screens equipped with 4K projectors – all from Christie – and also the first to include Dolby Atmos and Christie Vive Audio sound in all its theatres, and the only multiplex in Spain with more than one laser screen. In this case, Sambil has two screens equipped with laser projection, both with Christie Solaria CP42LH RGB projectors.
Christie has announced that James Cameron’s Lightstorm Entertainment has renewed an exclusive, five-year agreement with the company for sharing know-how and technology to propel the future of immersive cinema experiences. “To push the boundary of digital cinema, one needs visionary, like-minded collaborators and that description fits Christie to a tee, given its long cinema heritage and impressive list of industry ‘firsts’ in the projection and visual display realms,” said Cameron. “Several years ago we began our relationship, which has worked well, so I’m pleased to be forging ahead again with Christie at my side.”
