Deluxe announced today that Anna Lee has been appointed to the newly created role of chief strategy officer. Lee will report directly to Deluxe chief executive officer Cyril Drabinsky and be responsible for developing, communicating, executing, and sustaining strategic initiatives for the company.
National CineMedia’s new digital out of home group NCM/DOOH group has joined the Digital Place Based Advertising Association. NCM Digital goes beyond the big screen, extending in-theater campaigns into online and mobile marketing programs to reach entertainment audiences, and the launch of the NCM /DOOH group will further unite brands with the power of movies and engage movie fans anytime and anywhere
The American Society of Cinematographers will celebrate the 35th ASC Outstanding Achievement Awards on April 18, 2021. The annual ceremony will be streamed live from the ASC Clubhouse in Hollywood, with plans for a simultaneous in-person component to be determined at a later date.
At a time when it is critical for the media and entertainment industry to have access to reliable and effective remote workflow solutions, Deluxe has been recognized for its remote audio cloud recording tool, One Dub a module of the Deluxe One platform. The technology received two 2020 NAB Show Product of the Year Awards, one for Audio Production, Process and Networking and another for Remote Production. The winners were announced October 20 during the awards ceremony, which took place in the NAB Show New York digital experience.
RealD announced today that the China National Intellectual Property Administration has upheld the company’s patent on 3D cinema projection systems in China. The decision was issued by the Patent Review Board, a subsidiary office of CNIPA. According to the PRB's announcement, all of the petitioner's invalidation arguments were rejected, and RealD's patent is maintained in full.
I last spoke with B&B Theatres executive vice president Brock Bagby in April as businesses across the country were shutting down in response to COVID-19. At that time all of their theatres were dark and the company had furloughed nearly 2,000 employees. I recently emailed Bagby to see if he would agree to a follow-up interview. His response was to say yes, adding, “But it’s been a rough seven months.” B&B Theatres, the sixth largest theatre chain in North America, is not just any independent cinema chain. For nearly a century, the company has understood better than most of their competitors that they don’t just show movies; they are in show business. They believe that movies are magic and their theatres amplify the experience like few others.
On November 26 the trade organization Cinema Technology Community is holding a free, one-day online event entitled One Community Day. As part of the organization's COVID-19 Response Program to support the industry, CTC aims to bring together the cinema industry for more than four hours of original programming focused on cinema and technology.
The Rooftop Cinema Club partnered with Ultimate Outdoor Entertainment to create the Drive-In at Armature Works in Tampa, Florida. Earlier this year, UOE began providing Rooftop with the screens, technology and equipment to add drive-in movies to their rooftop cinema experiences. Last week’s grand opening featured Grease. The Tampa location is the third venue UOE and Rooftop have partnered on; several more locations are expected by Spring 2021.
The Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineer’s interactive and immersive remote technical conference experience, SMPTE 2020: Game On scheduled for November 10-12, will feature keynote presentations by eight industry leaders whose research, innovation, and application of new technologies and techniques are shaping the future of media and entertainment.
Samsung Electronics has released Untact, an 8K movie shot mainly on its Galaxy S20 and Note 20 smart phones. Some scenes required other cameras.
The Hollywood Professional Association has announced the panelists for the latest in its series of Industry Recovery Task Forced Virtual Global Town Halls, which will take place Wednesday, October 21 from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. PDT.
Christie Digital Systems announced today that, pursuant to a filing in 2018, the U.S Patent and Trademark Office issued Christie a U.S. patent under US10783282B2 on September 22, which enables exhibitors to stream movies directly to the home using their current technologies in a way that supplements their existing business model.
Roxy Cinemas chose NEC 4K RB laser projection systems to equip its new boutique multiplex at Al Khawaneej in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, which is finally opening after a series of delays caused by COVID-19. This is the first fully equipped multiplex using NEC projectors in the Middle East, making it an important step for the manufacturer into the regions’ cinema market.
The creative team behind Neon’s She Dies Tomorrow will participate in a panel discussion on October 23 during NAB Show New York’s online conference. The session, which will explore the use of sound and picture finishing to create suspense and emotional tension in feature films, will be available on the main stage channel.
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.
Red Digital Cinema’s new Komodo 6K camera system is now available to order. The highly anticipated Komodo 6K comes to market after extensive engineering to incorporate production-tested innovations, including a breakthrough global shutter sensor (27.03mm x 14.26mm) that maintains Red’s standard of image quality and dynamic range. The camera is packaged in a small four-cubic-inch (101.6 mm) form factor and weighs only 2.1 pounds (0.95 kgs).
This is happening almost faster than I can write it. Even a week ago I would have said the future of cinema is safe, and yet the pace is gathering so fast, decisions made seemingly on the hop, that the direction of this narrative may well have altered by the time I get to the bottom of the page. In the UK as of this morning, Cineworld, Odeon and now Vue have either closed their doors or reduced their opening hours dramatically, at the same time as the Chancellor of the Exchequer has finally produced an overdue £275 million bailout for theatres, museums, orchestras and music venues. Cinemas have again been excluded as well as being the subject of some rather unsupportive “It’s the end of the road” speculation in the press over the last week.
