CineComm Digital Cinema Pacts With Lucasfilm Ltd. for Digital Projection of Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace
(ps- anybody know the exact relationship betwixt Q! and Cinecomm {"working in tandem"??}?)
LOS ANGELES--(ENTERTAINMENT WIRE)--March 11, 1999--Marking the first time in motion picture history that a widely released feature film will be made available to theatergoers via digital projection, CineComm Digital Cinema, the industry's leading force in the end-to-end digital delivery and projection of motion pictures, has announced an agreement with Lucasfilm Ltd. to provide digital projection for Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace.
The agreement was announced jointly by CineComm chairman/CEO Michael Targoff and Lucasfilm president Gordon Radley.
Digital projection of Episode I will take place beginning June 18, with CineComm to provide its Digital Cinema system's Hughes-JVC Projector initially on four screens in two cities, exact locations to be determined. The company will work closely with Lucasfilm to ensure the highest standards of quality in transferring the finished film to CineComm's digital system.
Commenting on the agreement, Targoff stated, ''We are thrilled not only to be working with George Lucas, but as part of the most anticipated motion picture of the decade. Twenty years ago Star Wars represented the leading edge in film production technology, and we are honored to provide this much-awaited 'prequel' with a concomitant level of technology in its theatrical exhibition.''
The alliance was announced in Las Vegas at 1999 ShoWest, the annual forum for film exhibitors and distributors, where CineComm hosted a demonstration of Digital Cinema that was viewed by over 3,000 motion picture executives, exhibitors and filmmakers. These screenings followed a similar event that took place last month at the Writers Guild of America Theatre in Beverly Hills, where hundreds of studio executives, producers, directors, agents and members of the creative community viewed CineComm's technology for the first time.
CineComm Digital Cinema represents a new paradigm in the end-to-end electronic delivery and projection of first-run theatrical motion pictures to theaters across the globe. Working in tandem with world's leading technology providers Hughes-JVC Technology (a wholly owned subsidiary of Japan Victor Corp.) and QUALCOMM Incorporated (Nasdaq:QCOM - news), filmmakers and studios, CineComm Digital Cinema will replace a century-old tradition of celluloid with a cost-effective system that delivers first-run film quality, reduces piracy and provides maximum flexibility in distribution. CineComm Digital Cinema is based in Los Angeles. |
