The Big Picture

It’s an understatement to call Cooke Optics’ chairman and owner Les Zellan a digital cinema pioneer. In 2000 when he first introduced the idea of metadata technology in lens manufacturing, only a small number of people believed that digital cinema technology would ever truly replace film as Hollywood’s production medium of choice. At the time, the American Society of Cinematographers was actively campaigning against the idea of replacing film projectors with what were derisively called video projectors. Much has changed, of course, but Zellan still talks in the wary manner of pioneers who understand that, even though they’ve overcome some challenges, there are still more to face.

M-Go has unveiled a new monthly campaign called Movies that Matter. DreamWorks Animation and Technicolor created the video on demand service to reinforce their commitment to socially relevant films. The campaign will highlight a new film every month, beginning with the debut of the documentary film Imba Means Sing.

The popular T-Rex Café at Disney Springs, formerly Downtown Disney Marketplace, at Lake Buena Vista, Florida is a monster-sized, Palaeozoic-themed restaurant that bills itself as a Prehistoric Family Adventure. The execution of the theme is extensive and spectacular, and certainly includes enough pre-historic atmosphere to stir the imaginations of dinosaur enthusiasts of all ages. Highlights include a vast and impressive crystal cave that constantly sweeps through a range of intense backlit colors and thickets of cretaceous jungle foliage around smoke-emitting tar pits. All of this provides a backdrop for the stars of the show, the cast of 23 fully-articulated animatronic prehistoric creatures that include such usual dinosaur suspects as tyrannosaurus rex, apatosaurus, triceratops, mastodons, and a woolly mammoth family, together with pteronodons and an 11-metre giant octopus suspended over the bar and the heads of the diners.

While Hollywood feature films continue to be the main revenue source for exhibitors, digital cinema technology has opened the doors to advertising revenue both in preshows on the big screen and, increasingly, on digital displays in the lobby. Katy Loria, chief revenue officer, Screenvision, is optimistic about the future for both advertising options.