Screen Digest

January 18th 2007

Major UK cinema chain trials D-Cinema model

Odeon and UCI cinemas, the leading cinema chain in the UK owned by Terra Firma Capital Partners, has embarked on a beta test of D-Cinema equipment for the complete conversion of two multiplex cinemas, for a total of 18 screens. The deployments will constitute the first all digital multiplex in the UK, and each site will be managed separately as part of the test phase.

Bell Theatre Services will install and maintain equipment from NEC and Kodak at Odeon multiplex in Hatfield, while Arts Alliance Media will handle installation and ongoing service provision for the Odeon site in Surrey Quays, using projectors and servers from Cinemeccanica and Doremi respectively.

Several distributors have given their backing to supply content for the test deployment, including LionsGate UK, Pathe Distribution, Universal, Twentieth Century Fox and Sony. Other distributors and content providers will also reportedly be participating in the test phase, which will last for a period of six months.

The first digital film will be shown in February at Odeon Surrey Quays, where Arts Alliance have also agreed to encode and deliver digital advertising from Carlton Screen Advertising. Odeon currently has around 30 screens participating in the UK Film Council DSN project, so it already has some experience with the technology, although UCI was first involved with alternative content screenings in very early days of D-cinema (pre DCI).

Our take...
The development marks the first step taken by a major UK exhibitor to proceed with D-cinema deployment, independently of the UKFC Digital Screen Network (DSN) – also being managed by Arts Alliance.

The test systems will provide necessary feedback and evaluation from a range of equipment and security parameters, including finalising a working economic model. The range of equipment used at the two sites suggests Odeon is still prepared to evaluate new equipment other than those used by the DSN (Christie/NEC projectors and QuVis servers).

It is clear that Odeon and other major European exhibitors would need to adopt DCI standards, as they are indeed doing so. Studio films can account for up to 80 per cent of box office revenue in the UK and there have been examples where studio product has been barred from sites without full specifications, such as in China and Brazil.

The first steps taken by Odeon in the UK, follow pioneering moves by other Euro exhibitors in 2006, namely Kinepolis and Utopolis. Kinepolis announced it would convert its entire multiplex stock in Belgium to digital by end 2007, while Utopolis completed the first digital conversion of a multiplex at the Utopolis Kirchberg, although using MXF servers from XDC.