San Diego’s Reuben H. Fleet Science Center home to the world’s first IMAX dome theatre recently underwent a renovation that focused largely on its sound system. The Fleet Center often runs six different films per day requiring very different audio settings for each performance.
Warner Bros. Pictures International has entered into digital cinema deployment agreements directly with several key cinema circuits to advance the conversion to digital cinema throughout Asia including: Golden Harvest Cinemas Hong Kong and Vie Show Cinemas Taiwan of Orange Sky Golden Harvest Group; Multiplex Cinema one of Hong Kong’s leading cinema circuits; and The Grand the territory’s largest cineplex. The Studio will make financial contributions towards their recoupment.
XDC says it has taken a major step forward by reaching virtual print fee digital cinema deployment agreements with all six major US film studios for a total of 8 000 digital screens in 22 European countries. As only five percent of the European movie screens have already been digitalized digital cinema is expected to grow tremendously in the coming years thanks to the VPF system and a strong market demand for 3D movies and alternative content. XDC intends to deploy its 8 000 screens by 2015.
NEC has extended till March 31 the availability of financing incentives for theater owners looking to upgrade cinema projector capabilities to digital. With the increased number of 3D movies scheduled to be released over the next few months now’s the time for theater owners to improve their technology and benefit from the increased box office revenue associated with 3D movies says Jim Reisteter general manager digital cinema division NEC Display Solutions.
Sol Negrin will receive the Presidents Award from the American Society of Cinematographers during the 24th Annual ASC Outstanding Achievement Awards. The celebration will be held at the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza Hotel on February 27th. Sol Negrin has not only made an impact with his six-decade career as a cinematographer says ASC president Michael Goi but his constant efforts to organize industry events and teach the next generation of image makers their craft is selfless and without compare.
At the One World on HD event Band Pro Film and Digital introduced a new brand of ultra-high performance PL mount prime lenses designed to deliver optical performance for true 4K imaging and beyond. After three years of design and prototyping the new T1.4 lenses still code named “Mystery Primes” within Band Pro are fully developed and three focal lengths were demonstrated on the F35 camera at the event last month. The series of prime lenses available exclusively worldwide from Band Pro will eventually total 15 different focal lengths ranging from 12mm to 150mm.
The Blue Ocean Film Festival & Conservation Summit will relocate its global ocean-focused event to the Monterey Peninsula beginning in 2010. The initial Monterey festival – with the aquarium as the presenting sponsor – is planned for August 25-29. Blue’s international film competition call for submissions will open in mid-January and film festival passes for the inaugural Monterey event will go on sale in late February.
The Maryland-based cinema chain R/C Theatres has signed an agreement to participate in Cinedigm’s Phase 2 digital cinema deployment program. R/C Theatres is the first National Association of Theatre Owners Cinema Buying Group member to commit to the program. The CBG represents more than 600 members that collectively have over 6 000 screens.
Cinematographer Geoffrey Boyle recently finished another installment in the Swedish-language film series based on Swedish crime writer Henning Mankell’s fictional character Kurt Wallander. The ongoing series Wallander airs on Swedish and Nordic television channels then moves to the BBC and is released on DVD. Boyle credits Element Technica’s Mantis camera support for expediting shooting of the last two episodes. “We did the first 10 days handheld with the Red and I was in pain every night ” says Boyle. “Once I got the Mantis everything changed.
Garrison Keillor host of A Prairie Home Companion brings the beloved radio show to select movie theatres in communities nationwide with a special live performance on Thursday February 4th. The event will originate from the famed Fitzgerald Theater in St. Paul Minnesota where the show has been performed since 1978. An encore presentation will be shown in select movie theatres on Tuesday February 9th. Presented by NCM Fathom Prairie Home Productions American Public Media and BY Experience A Prairie Home Companion with Garrison Keillor – Live in HD!
