Dolby Laboratories announced today five new film titles to be mixed in its new sound format Dolby Atmos. With the addition of Las Brujas de Zugarramundi (Spain), Mindscape (Spain and Canada), Tarzan 3D (Germany), Mr. Go (Korea), and nature documentary Guadalquivir (Spain), Dolby Atmos has passed the milestone of 50 titles announced within one year since Disney•Pixar’s Brave in June 2012.
Barco has released CineMate, a free mobile app for both Apple iOS and Android devices that enables exhibitors to easily control and operate their digital cinema equipment via their smart phone, tablet or other mobile device. The app will be available for download in the App Store and Google Play from mid-July onwards.
LMT Laboratory of Multimedia Technologies, a digital cinema and AV system integrator from Zagreb, Croatia, was awarded the public tender for the digitalization of independent cinemas as a part of the Croatian national digitalization project.
Highlands Technologies Solutions has announced a technology and commercial partnership with the French exhibition network Circuit Georges Raymond to test and evaluate YouActive, HTS’s innovative interactive system.
Harkness Screens has introduced the passive 3D screen surface Clarus 170. Designed for use in large format auditoria (using two projectors) or smaller to mid-sized theatres where 3D systems using polarised light are deployed, the Clarus 170 3D surface also enhances conventional 2D presentation enabling DCI compliance with optimized theatre geometry.
Aspera has announced that Cinedigm is now using Aspera’s high-speed fasp technology for digital content deliveries to all of its partner distribution platforms, as well as to pull in content from independent film producers and studios.
Arts Alliance Media has announced that Germany’s UFA Cinemas has installed AAM’s theatre management software – Screenwriter – on their 41 screens across four sites, in Düsseldorf, Dresden, Stuttgart and Recklinghausen, to manage all aspects of their digital cinema operations.
[Editors Note: As has been widely reported, in recent weeks filmmakers Steven Spielberg and Steven Soderbergh have predicted that Hollywood will implode if the major studios continue to invest only in tent-pole movies and endless sequels. In a guest column Russ Collins, artistic director of the Cinetopia Festival, CEO of Ann Arbor’s Michigan Theater and director of the Art House Convergence, takes exception.] Steven Spielberg is a gifted filmmaker whose impact on the art and business of cinema is arguably peerless. Steven Soderbergh is a gifted and important filmmaker. The aesthetic and financial success of both Stevens is unquestioned. However, both of these cinema icons have come out with almost bitter assessments of the future of movies recently. I believe these assessments are wrongheaded. Maybe it’s because the pessimistic assessments come from these two cinema idols that it makes me sad and a little mad.
Carlton Screen Advertising Ireland has upgraded their Advertising Accord software to include digital content distribution. The system developed by Unique Digital will enable CSA to take full advantage of the digital cinema market in Ireland in which they are the cinema advertising market leader.
The Event Cinema Association has launched the first website to promote and support live and recorded cinema events, also known as alternative content, which is increasingly being screened and finding new audiences in cinemas around the world.
