Greece in 3D - Kodak Helps Village Cinemas Install the Country's first Digital 3D Systems

http://digitalcinemareport.com/greecein3d.html

The three largest Village Cinemas screens in Athens, Greece and one in Thessalonica, have installed Kodak Digital Cinema JMN3000 content players and have shown digital 3D movies in the country for the first time. One of the latest to be screened was Beowulf 3D.

“We like the unique cinema experience that digital 3D offers,” says George Karivalis, operations manager, for Village Cinemas, “but any new digital system we install has to be a workhorse, handling 2D digital presentations as well. When we saw Kodak’s demonstration of their digital cinema system, and realized how easy and reliable their equipment is, we began working on a plan to bring them into our cinemas.”

The plan took shape with the help of Spacevision, agent for both Kodak Digital Cinema and Christie digital projectors in Greece. Spacevision put the system together using components from each company, and brought in RealD to add 3D capability.

“These are the first digital cinema installations in Greece,” says Panagiotis Bellos, general manager, Spacevision. “We know that the evolution to digital will involve a long-term effort and it’s important for us to work with companies we know and brands we trust. This is a first step; we’re confident of the reliability and support of the Kodak system under the demanding conditions of four busy, working theatres.”

The Kodak Digital Cinema system handles 2D or 3D movies and automatically recognizes the compression format used – JPEG or MPEG – and employs that for playback. In all four installations in Greece, it’s being used as a standalone unit for a single screen; however, the content players can also be networked and driven by the Kodak Theatre Management System for fully automated content handling and presentation.

“We’ve built Kodak’s extensive imaging capability into the system – and designed it to serve as a building block for digital cinema as it evolves,” says Kercher. “It works seamlessly with all DCI-compliant feature projectors, including the Christie units used in these installations. Audiences will enjoy a great motion picture experience.”

Village Roadshow, parent company for Village Cinemas, operates in five countries – Australia, Singapore, the Czech Republic, Italy, and Greece – with more than 145,000 seats in 699 screens in 71 sites. In Greece, Village Cinemas have 72 screens with 14,180 seats in 7 sites. Kodak’s systems are being installed in the Village Faliro, the Village Mall, and the Village Park Rentis – all in Athens – and the Village Cosmos in Thessalonica.

“At Village Cinemas, we take pride in creating a great audience experience by doing things first,” says Karivalis. “We were one of the first with stadium seating and the concepts we’ve introduced, such as Club Europa and Gold Class, were developed to raise the standards of cinema entertainment. Now, digital projection continues that tradition and we are pleased to be working with Kodak and our other partners to bring this to moviegoers in Greece.”

“As Village Cinema’s business evolves, we will continue to advance our system to keep pace with their needs,” says Kodak’s Kercher. “This is a new beginning, a new opportunity, for us to work together, to learn together, and to grow with digital cinema as this business develops.”