Movio has named Sarah Lewthwaite the company’s chief client officer. Lewthwaite most recently was managing director & senior vice president for Europe, the Middle East and Africa and has been with Movio for six years. The announcement was made by Movio co-founder and chief executive William Palmer.
Digital movie ticketing platform Atom Tickets and the Independent Cinema Alliance representing more than 175 companies and 3,000 screens, have formed a partnership to create an easy way for independent theaters to offer contactless, digital ticketing for movie fans. The first group of theatres to sign on and activate digital ticketing under the partnership include Premiere Cinemas, with theatres in Texas, Alabama, Florida, Mississippi, New Mexico and South Carolina; CineLux Theatres in California; Rainbow Cinemas in Alabama; Park Plaza Cinema in South Carolina; and Palace Cinema and Hollywood 20 Cinema, both in Tennessee.
ShowEast 2020, scheduled to take place December 7-10 in Miami Beach, Florida has been cancelled because of the pandemic. A free online ShowEast will replace the in-person event at a date to be announced later. The show’s organizers, Film Expo Group, issued the following statement today:
Suning Cinema in Xi’an, China has installed Christie RGB laser cinema projectors in all of the auditoriums in its new multiplex. Located on the fifth floor of Zhengshang Financial Plaza in the city’s bustling Economic and Technological Development Zone, Xi’an Zhengshang Suning Cinema is the exhibitor’s first multiplex to be fully equipped with Christie RGB laser cinema projectors.
Following the decision by Walt Disney Studios to release Pixar’s Soul directly onto its Disney+ streaming platform, the International Union of Cinemas, representing European cinema operators, has issued the following statement: “Walt Disney Studios’ decision to release Soul directly onto their Disney+ streaming platform, depriving many audiences across Europe from seeing it on the Big Screen, has shocked and dismayed all cinema operators.
European exhibitor services specialist CinemaNext has announced that the UK Digital Funding Partnership, the ground-breaking project established by the UK Cinema Association and CinemaNext to allow more than 100 small and medium-sized cinema operators to digitize their sites across the United Kingdom, has reached recoupment.
After a long delay caused by the global pandemic, Kinepolis today finally opened the doors to its newest cinema, which is located in Centrum Schalkwijk in Haarlem, the Netherlands.
Theatrical distribution software developer Maccs, a Vista Group Company, has released TDS X, the latest version of its Core TDS software. The company says that TDS X is faster and more responsive with optimizations across the system that improve the overall user experience and performance in addition to providing new functionality.
Vista Cinema has signed a multi-year deal with SM Cinema, the Philippines largest film exhibitor. The arrangement is the first for Vista in the Philippines and will give SM customers easier access to seat reservations, ticket purchasing and concession sales.
The COVID-19 pandemic, coupled with the social justice movement and a pause in filmmaking, has provided the movie industry and audiences alike with the rare opportunity to catch up to the evolution of the moviegoing experience. The industry is at a crossroads, and what is relevant to audiences has changed dramatically over the past several years; this shifting reality accelerated in 2020 and will undoubtedly influence moviegoer behavior and future storytelling. With the abrupt halt to movie production and the extended closure of cinemas, content creators and studios have been gifted the time and opportunity to pivot and ensure what is shown onscreen is reflective of society.
