Cinema City International makes 3D commitment

http://www.screendigest.com/online_services/intelligence/cinema/updates/ci-080808-CJ1/view.html#1.26

 

 Charlotte Jones

 

Published: 08-Aug-08

Cinema City International, a leading multiplex chain in six different territories has embarked on the first stage of upgrading its systems to digital and 3D. The group will install a total of 50 2K DLP Cinema projectors from Kinoton plus Dolby's Digital 3D system, of which 15 have already been deployed. These include four screens at the Yes Planet theatre in Haifa, the largest multiplex in Israel and three at the Yes Planet in Ramar-Gan. Digital and 3D systems are also being installed in Hungary and Poland at the 23 screen megaplex in Budapest and the Cinema City Arkadia in Warsaw, respectively. Cinema City is one of the largest cinema groups in Central and Eastern Europe, and the largest circuit in Israel, together comprising 563 screens in 62 multiplexes.

 

Our take...

The group is the first exhibitor in Central and Eastern Europe to make a definite commitment to installing both digital and 3D systems on more than a handful of screens; but even so the 50 systems (including those in Israel) will comprise around 8.8 per cent of the group's total screens. The lure of new 3D releases is proving to be a strong driver on the path to upgrading cinemas, even in world regions where business models are not as advanced as those in the US and more recently Western Europe. For exhibitors in Western European, there are now three d-cinema schemes with Studio backing (namely XDC, Arts Alliance Media and Ymagis) compared with a noticeable lack of options in financing solutions for their Central and Eastern European counterparts. Contrasting with over 200 digital 3D screens in Western Europe, there were close to 40 digital 3D screens in C and E European region as at H1 2008, including screens in Russia, Poland, Hungary and Slovenia .