Under the conditions of the agreement, Technicolor Digital Cinema will initiate its European digital cinema rollout by installing Barco 2K projectors, based on DLP Cinema technology of Texas Instruments, and Dolby Digital Cinema playback systems in 130 Kinepolis Group screens at 10 sites in Belgium. The company will convert approximately 50 percent of each of Kinepolis’ Belgian multiplexes, including its new eight-screen, fully-digital facility in Bruges, to digital cinema systems by early 2007. Technicolor Digital Cinema will transition the circuit’s remaining screens in the country by the end of 2007. The agreement specifically requires Technicolor Digital Cinema to deploy, maintain, and monitor all digital cinema systems deployed, including Technicolor’s proprietary theatre management system (TMS).
Thomson is currently in negotiations with its film studio partners to complete digital cinema equipment usage agreements that cover digital content distribution to Technicolor Digital Cinema-operated systems in Europe. The company is also in ongoing discussions with other major European exhibitors to extend the deployment of digital cinema installations to other European nations beginning in 2007.
With first-generation digital projection systems installed in over 20 separate locations in Belgium, France, and Spain, Kinepolis Group possesses one of the world’s largest portfolio of digital auditoriums under the management of a single entity, and boasts the world’s highest ratio of digital auditoriums in comparison with the total number of auditoriums per complex.
All hardware and software placed in each Kinepolis Group site will be generally compliant with industry-standard specifications recently published by DCI. Furthermore, the Technicolor Digital Cinema European plan is technology agnostic, allowing both exhibitors and studios to benefit from the best available technology.