Consortium
Staffs Up
DCI Recruits Two New Execs
HOLLYWOOD – Digital Cinema Initiatives on Dec.
3 appointed two new executive directors to help establish
a business model for the deployment of digital cinema.
Howard
Lukk became DCI’s director of technology, while
Steve Tsai joined as director of business development.
Lukk left his position as chief engineer at postproduction
facility IVC and will work closely with DCI chief technology
officer Walt Ordway.
Tsai,
who previously served as Sony Pictures Entertainment’s
director of corporate development, Asia, will be helping
DCI meet its business and technical goals.
DCI,
previously known as NewCo (In
Focus, June 2002), was formed
by 20th Century Fox, MGM, Paramount, Universal,
Sony, Buena Vista and Warner Bros. to establish technology
standards
and assist exhibitors and studios with the transition
to
digital cinema. 
Rolling Stock Entertainment
Regal To Spice Up
Pre-Show Programs
ENGLEWOOD, Colo. – Continuing its pursuit of alternative
content, Regal CineMedia (RCM) announced Nov. 13 plans to
create 20 minutes of pre-feature rolling stock entertainment
programming and advertisements.
As part of the NBC/RCM multi-year marketing exchange (In
Focus, January 2003), NBC is set to supply a portion of Regal’s
pre-show entertainment.
RCM
parent Regal Entertainment Group (REG) plans to replace
prevalent low-resolution, static filled pre-show programming
with high-qualityadvertisements, REG co-CEO Kurt Hall told
The Hollywood Reporter. “I am hopeful that the lines
between advertising and entertainment will begin to blur
as ‘made for cinema’ campaigns will become
the rule rather than the exception,” said Hall.
Turner In The Multiplexes
REG Forms Program
Alliance With TBS
NEW YORK - Regal Entertainment Group (REG) subsidiary Regal
CineMedia (RCM) and Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. (TBS)
have entered a multi-year programming and marketing alliance.
As part of RCM's Digital Content Network, Atlanta-based TBS
will create short-form entertainment programming to be shown
prior to feature presentations, as well as on-screen and
in-lobby marketing and advertising products.
A similar deal was struck last year between Regal and NBC
(In
Focus, January 2003). TBS will also supply content from
its Cartoon Network and Turner Network Television channels.
"
With the terrific programming provided by TBS, Inc. properties
and our other content partners, we'll be offering moviegoers
a significantly improved and enjoyable preshow presentation," said
RCM marketing and sales president Cliff Marks.
Historic Hollywood Facility
ETC Named DCI
Testing Site
HOLLYWOOD – The Entertainment Technology Center (ETC)
at the University of Southern California’s Digital
Cinema Laboratory was on Dec. 10 named the official testing
site of Digital Cinema Initiatives.
A neutral
research center, funded by Hollywood studios and high tech
companies and dedicated to evaluating new entertainment
technologies, ETC will work with DCI, a joint venture of
seven major studios, to “establish uniform, open and
voluntary standards for digital movie release that will be
scalable into the future.”
“The Entertainment Technology Center has become the industry’s
de facto digital cinema test bed,” said DCI chief
technology officer Walt Ordway. “There was no need
for us to reinvent the wheel, because the center provides
a state-of-the-art
facility, expertise and non-partisan stance we need to
move our work forward.”
“To
aid with the design and testing of digital cinema is among
the highest purposes of the Digital Cinema Laboratory,” said
ETC chief exec Charles S. Swartz. “We are thrilled
that DCI has shown its faith in our ability to help solve
the central technical issues facing digital cinema today
and to make digital cinema a reality for all.”
DCI
will use the site to focus on final mastering, distribution
and exhibition. Competing digital solutions
will be compared
to each other as well as to film. The overall goal,
according to an ETC press release, is to “develop a global, interoperable
digital cinema standard that will be the basis for suppliers
to compete to provide equipment at a reasonable cost.”
Founded
in 1993, ETC describes itself as a “stand-alone,
neutral research organization devoted to identifying pivotal,
emerging entertainment technologies and creating programs
to analyze and test them.” ETC’s Digital
Cinema Laboratory is a state-of-the-art screening
facility at the
historic Pacific Hollywood Theatre (In Focus, March
2001).
DCI
was formed last March. Its primary purpose is to “establish
and document an open architecture for digital cinema components
that ensures a uniform and high level of technical performance,
reliability and quality control.”
Utilizes Windows Media 9
BMW, Microsoft Launch
‘Digital Cinema Series’
HOLLYWOOD – BMW launched the first feature-length
film of its “Digital Cinema Series” Nov. 15.
Nearly 25 locations screened Artisan Entertainment’s
musical documentary “Standing in the Shadows of Motown.”
“Motown” was the first of the series’ eight features
encoded in Microsoft Windows Media 9 Series to be projected
digitally nationwide. All features are paired with one
of the new BMW shorts from the critically acclaimed “The
Hire” series.
“The
BMW Films Digital Cinema Series will provide great independent
films for theatregoers, and Windows Media 9 Series
will deliver the high-quality video and surround sound
that today’s
audiences demand in theatres,” said Dave Fester,
general manager of Microsoft Windows Digital Media.
DCS
utilizes “dark chip” digital light
processing (DLP) projection along with the plug-and-play,
integrated
solution running on PCs featuring the Intel 2.8
GHz Pentium 4 processor. The systems were provided to the
participating
DCS exhibitors at no cost.
