In response to the pandemic, Christie Digital Systems has announced the mass production of its CounterAct line of commercial UV disinfection products with patented Care222 far-UVC light technology. CounterAct fixtures are designed for use in occupied indoor spaces, from cinemas, theme parks, museums, and sports complexes, to retail, restaurants, as well as transit hubs at airports, train, and subway stations.
A new report from content protection specialist Nagra, entitled Piracy Has No Boundaries, claims that thieves steal tens of billions of dollars of content value annually and that more than 80 percent of content theft is attributable to streaming. In addition, the report says, eight percent of U.S. households subscribe to illicit internet protocol services for an estimated $1 billion in illegal subscription revenue every year. The report uses Disney and Marvel Studio’s Black Widow as an example of how things can go wrong when feature films are streamed and estimates that the film lost between $50-$70 million because the movie lacked an exclusive theatrical window over its first ten days of release.
Veteran media technology executive Darcy Antonellis will receive the Hollywood Professional Association’s Lifetime Achievement Award during a gala celebration at the Hollywood Legion on November 18. The Lifetime Achievement Award, given only at the discretion of the HPA Board and Awards Committee, honors the recipient’s dedication to the advancement of the industry. The awards ceremony returns to an in-person event this year. Antonellis serves on the boards of Cinemark Holdings and Xperi Corporation.
Social cinema platform Kinema today announces its launch of a new fully integrated and secure live video broadcasting tool into its virtual Kinema cinematic experience. This combines high-quality, live streaming technology with an advanced film play experience and easy-to-navigate controls. This proprietary feature, an entertainment industry first, gives screening hosts, exhibition partners, filmmakers and talent access to a single source of seamless and easy-to-use tools, enabling them to engage with their audience during live Q&As and film screenings hosted on the Kinema platform.
Studio Movie Grill has installed Ultraleap touchless interactive advertising kiosks. The company sees them as a way to ensure patrons a safe and clean environment but also as a way to extend big screen content into its lobbies.
CinemaNext has been chosen by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts to be its official projection and sound supplier and integrator. Located in London, BAFTA’s home has recently undergone a major refurbishment. Due to officially open in 2022, it will be a creative center for film, games and television and the central hub for the Academy’s UK-wide, and global, learning and talent development programs.
Severtson Screens has been named a Strategic Cinema Screens Partner for the 2021 MENA Cinema Forum, to be held in Dubai, United Arab Emirates from October 26-28. Severtson will feature its next generation SAT-4K acoustically transparent cinema projection screen line and enhanced SēVision 3D GX-WA projection screen coating during the show.
ShowEast organizers announced today that this year’s conference, which had been scheduled for November 8-11 at the Loews Miami Beach Hotel in Miami Beach, Florida has been cancelled.
Christie’s CP4440-RGB projector is being used as the flagship projection technology at the 65th annual British Film Institute’s London Film Festival, running now through October 17. For the first time the event will be held at the prestigious Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall on the south bank of the Thames, where the concert hall will be turned into the main festival gala cinema. With a seating capacity for 2,200 cinema goers, it will become one of the largest cinema experiences in the country.
The triumphant start to October delivered new cinema recovery successes around the world, according to the latest box office report from London-based analytics firm Gower Street. China’s Golden Week brought blockbuster juggernaut The Battle at Lake Changjin, which by Monday (October 11) had already grossed $650 million to rank as China’s seventh biggest film of all-time. Combined with number two title My Country, My Parents, which has made $185 million so far, the holiday openers finally put Chinese box office back on the upswing after a concerning four months.
