Expanding the Deal

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Mon, 04/13/2009 - 20:00 -- Nick Dager

Paramount Offers Direct Financing to International Theatres In an effort to increase revenue for its current 3D hit Monsters vs Aliens and for subsequent 3D releases Paramount Pictures has announced it will offer digital cinema financial support directly to exhibitors in the international markets. The move is expected to accelerate the rollout of digital and 3D projection systems in theatres outside of North America. Roger Pollock Paramount’s executive vice president of international theatrical distribution and operations made the announcement at ShoWest. Similar to the deal announced by Paramount Pictures in the US in January the international deal enables exhibitors to seek financing for digital cinema systems locally as an alternative to joining in an integrator agreement which requires significantly more upfront capital. In addition the agreement enables exhibitors to own and control their equipment and to switch to an integrator-supported agreement at a later date if desired. The new agreement is open to independent theatres that do not belong to any integrator groups an important consideration in the more fragmented international markets. While NATO fears that such agreements could lead to chaos in the marketplace in the long term individual exhibitors in the US like the idea. The owner of one small independent chain told Digital Cinema Report that he is seriously considering making a deal with Paramount. He did not want his name to be used but said “Are there things I would change in it you bet.  Am I willing to live with it if I can count on using a common agreement for all (or even almost all) the studios? You bet. Having a single common agreement would cut our anxiety about compliance to virtually zero.  If three other studios were willing to utilize this same agreement I would pull the trigger on digital conversion for my entire circuit.  We have self-funding and probably many other small to mid-sized companies do also.” In making the announcement Pollock said We believe that this deal mechanism presents international exhibitors with an opportunity to present Paramount's films in the highest quality digital and 3-D formats. It provides the international exhibition community with a solution that can be tailored to the needs of each individual market and will enable exhibitors worldwide to provide audiences with the very best movie-viewing experience. To date Paramount Pictures International has signed six digital cinema integration deals outside of the US and Canada. They include three deals with European integrators XDC Arts Alliance Media and Ymagis and three deals with Asian integrators DCK GDC and Scrabble. Paramount Pictures www.paramount.com