CINEMA TECHNOLOGY
VOL.39 NO.3 AUTUMN 2026
THE OFFICIAL PUBLICATION OF THE CINEMA TECHNOLOGY COMMUNITY
SHARED CULTURAL MOMENTS
ALSO IN THIS ISSUE A BLOCKBUSTER SUMMER OF SUCCESS. HYBRID LASER ILLUMINATION. WILL AI FIND YOUR CINEMA?
MORE INFO
An official publication of
How the solar eclipse and cinema have much in common.
THE GLOBAL CINEMA TECHNOLOGY NETWORK
WELCOME
ED'SNOTE R I C H A R D M I T C H E L L , P R E S I D E N T, C I N E M A T E C H N O L O G Y C O M M U N I T Y.
W
hat a summer it has been for cinema! A summer discussed by many at CineEurope but
CINEMA TECHNOLOGY
VOL.39 NO.3 AUTUMN 2026
THE OFFICIAL PUBLICATION OF THE CINEMA TECHNOLOGY COMMUNITY
one few of us dared to believe could happen, and yet it has! After years of uncertainty and media cynicism about whether audiences would return to cinemas in the same numbers, the summer of 2026 has provided a powerful response. The box office has enjoyed its strongest summers in years, with audiences once again turning out in large numbers to
SHARED CULTURAL MOMENTS
How the solar eclipse and cinema have much in common.
ALSO IN THIS ISSUE A BLOCKBUSTER SUMMER OF SUCCESS. HYBRID LASER ILLUMINATION. WILL AI FIND YOUR CINEMA?
Whilst content remains king, it’s important to remember the role technology continues to play in driving the experiential nature of cinema. The successes of the summer have been driven across various formats, from IMAX and 70mm through to LED, Dolby Cinema, immersive audio and much more.
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An official publication of
experience major releases on the big screen. THE GLOBAL CINEMA TECHNOLOGY NETWORK
001_AUT26_COVER.indd 1
26/09/2026 19:42
That blend of technology and content is something audiences cannot easily reproduce at home, unless
CINEMA TECHNOLOGY COMMUNITY (CTC)
they have significant disposable income. As we’ve covered in previous editions of CT Magazine,
124 City Road, London EC1V 2NX E: info@cinema-technology.com
technology continues to transform filmmaking. CGI advances make it possible to create extraordinary environments, whilst virtual production and advanced post-production tools give filmmakers new ways to tell stories. Artificial intelligence continues to drive conversations around production, although its longterm creative and industrial impact remains a subject of considerable debate. Yet perhaps one of the most important developments in recent months has been the changing relationship between technology, streaming and the theatrical release window. For several years, films have increasingly appeared on digital platforms soon after their cinema releases, making some audiences question whether they needed to visit the cinema at all. In 2026, however, the theatrical window appears to be becoming more established again, with studios showing greater commitment to giving films meaningful time exclusively on the big screen. This matters because a stronger release window gives cinemas the opportunity to build audiences over time. Instead of a film quickly moving from the cinema to the living room, audiences are given a clearer reason to see it as an event. Technology has made films more accessible than ever, but the theatrical window helps preserve the sense that certain films are meant to be experienced collectively. Social media has also fundamentally changed how films are marketed.
CTC PRESIDENT: RICHARD MITCHELL richard.mitchell@cinema-technology.com
ART DIRECTOR: DEAN CHILLMAID dean.chillmaid@cinema-technology.com
COMMISSIONING EDITOR: PETER KNIGHT peter.knight@cinema-technology.com
SUBSCRIPTIONS: Cinema Technology is mailed to IMIS Members. For subscription details and to read the magazine online, visit www.cinema-technology.com or email info@cinema-technology.com
Audiences can discover a trailer on TikTok, watch reactions on YouTube and discuss a new release across social platforms before deciding whether to buy a ticket. Technology may capture our attention, but the cinema still has to provide the experience. The success of summer 2026 suggests that these developments can work together. Technology can improve filmmaking, create spectacular cinema and connect films with audiences, while a more established theatrical window gives those audiences a reason to leave home and experience the finished product together. The summer of 2026 has reminded us of something simple: audiences may discover films through technology, but they still want to experience them together and they still want to experience them in the cinema..
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LIMITLESS POSSIBILITIES, UNLIMITED EXPERIENCES
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CINEMA TECHNOLOGY CONTENTS VOL.39 NO.3 AUTUMN 26
KEY FEATURES
36
13
G REENSHOOTS: THE GREENEST KILOWATT IS THE ONE YOU DON'T USE! Tim Potter takes a look at Kinepolis' sustainability strategy and how this can be translated to cinemas of all shapes and size.
14 18
A BLOCKBUSTER SUMMER Comscore's Nena Loncar looks at an incredible summer at the box office across Europe and how this maps against pre-pandemic levels. WHAT THE ODYSSEY TELLS US ABOUT THE FUTURE OF CELLULOID The enormous summer success of Christophen Nolan's latest movie The Odyssey has created a new perspective on the place of film projection. What about the future?
KEY NEWS
8
GALALITE UNVEILS ENDURAY COATING A robust cinema screen coating developed to reduce micro- scratching and help projection screens maintain more consistent gain throughout their installed service life.
12
24 28
WHAT DO CINEMA AND THE SOLAR ECLIPSE HAVE IN COMMON? Omdia's David Hancock looks at the ability of major cultural events to bring audiences together, from solar eclipses through to blockbuster movies. IAIN MACCOLL AND THE SCREEN MACHINE After almost 28 years taking cinema to some of Scotland’s most remote communities, Iain MacColl is retiring. Peter Knight looks back at an extraordinary career spent quite literally taking the cinema on the road.
KINEPOLIS COMPLETES ACQUISITION OF US SHOWCASE CINEMAS The 13 well-maintained, high-end Showcase Cinemas welcomed approximately 4 million visitors in 2025, generating USD 90+ million in revenue.
28
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SOLVING OBSERVER METAMERIC FAILURE Christie's Jud Cross explains how hybrid laser projection aims to solve a significant concern for post-production houses. WILL AI FIND YOUR CINEMA? Peter Knight looks at what happens when AI becomes part of the customer journey before they ever reach your website, and why preparing for that change may have benefits far beyond AI.
42
THE TEN MINUTE GUIDE TO CREATING GOOD AI PROMPTS Better prompts are better briefs: they cut guesswork, reduce rework, and make AI outputs far more usable.This quick guide shows you how to prompt clearly, then sanity-check what comes back before you trust it.
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CONFIDENCE, PARTNERSHIP AND THE PREMIUM SCREEN A look back on an incredible Cine Europe 2026 full of positivity and enthusiasm for the future of cinema. DRIVING AUDIENCES AND BRINGING THEM BACK A review of UKCA's spring conference focused around audiences.
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OPINION
IMISVIEW W O R D S : D AV I D P O P E , P R E S I D E N T, I M I S
From Pinewood To Metamerism It was a great opportunity to step behind the scenes, share ideas and importantly, spend time together as a community.
I
t has been a fantastic few months for IMIS, we are
What happens when the colour you approved isn’t the
delighted to see our community continuing to
colour someone else sees? That’s the question at the heart
grow. In July, we brought members and industry
of Metamerism 2026. Metamerism occurs when colours
colleagues together at Pinewood Studios for an
appear to match under one lighting, display or projection
afternoon exploring studios, technology and vision. It
condition, but diverge under another. Its impact reaches
was a great opportunity to step behind the scenes, share
right across the moving image pipeline — from camera and
ideas and, importantly, spend time together as a
lighting through production and post, to displays,
community.
projection and cinema.
In October, we turn our attention to colour with
Following the success of our first metamerism event in
Metamerism 2026, exploring everything from the
2025, IMIS is bringing the conversation back for 2026,
science of how we see to the challenge of getting colour
bringing together creative and technical voices to explore:
right on screen, followed by networking drinks.
› How metamerism affects cameras, displays, lighting
On 3 July, IMIS members and industry guests came
and projection
together at Pinewood Studios for an afternoon exploring
› The impact of emerging technologies, including laser
the changing world of film and TV production.
projection
We heard from Matthew Hodgkin, Global Business
› Tools, workflows and calibration
Development Director at Pinewood Studios, who took us
› The role of standards in improving colour consistency
through nine decades of Pinewood and Shepperton and
› Real-world experiences from across the colour pipeline
how the studios continue to evolve.
› And, of course, there’ll be plenty of opportunity to
Kathleen Squire of Centroid Motion Capture explored
continue the conversation over networking drinks.
the integration of motion capture into the finished vision, while Rowan Pitts, Co-Founder & Director of Bild Studios
Who should be there?
and MARS Volume, looked at how virtual production is
Colour scientists, cinematographers, colourists, post-
shaping the future of filmmaking. Jens Christensen, Post
production teams, display and projection specialists,
Production Director at Pinewood Studios, shared insight
filmmakers, broadcast and cinema technologists, students
into the role of post-production in bringing the finished
— and anyone who cares about getting colour right.
vision together. Alongside the technology and insight, the afternoon
MORE INFO
You don’t need to be a colour scientist to join the conversation.
provided a valuable opportunity for our community to share experiences, ask questions and make new
IMIS members: free
connections.
Non-members can join us for £45, including one year of
Thank you to everyone who joined us, and to our
IMIS Associate Membership. Students and eligible
speakers, contributors and the team at Pinewood for
lecturers can attend free or at a reduced rate.Not a
Find out more & book your place for Metamerism 2026 movingimagesociety.Net/events
making it such a successful afternoon.
member yet?
Next up: Metamerism 2026
educators and industry professionals. Membership gives
Join IMIS movingimagesociety.net/ become-a-member/
From the science of how we see, to the craft of getting it
you access to events, industry connections, expert content
right on screen. Tuesday 6 October, 1pm–6pm, London
and opportunities to learn, collaborate and share ideas.
MOVINGIMAGESOCIETY.NET
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Join a growing community of creatives, technologists,
w w w. c i n e m a - t e c h n o l o g y. c o m
CTCUPDATE W O R D S : R I C H A R D M I T C H E L L , P R E S I D E N T, C T C
T
he summer period has bought a busy
than two hours of seminars and presentations. Lastly,
period for the CTC team and some changes.
the team are preparing for the upcoming projection
In June, the team released a new white
and presentation fundamental training course to be
paper focused on accessibility options for UK and US
held in Rotherham (UK) in late November, which is
cinemas, a timely piece to help exhibitors understand
likely to be a huge success.VFinally, we were sad to
both the technology options available and also the
announce the retirements from our executive team of
legislation on both sides of the Atlantic. The In The Pub
both Sandie Caffelle and Graham Lodge. Both have
podcast team featuring Mike Bradbury, Toni Purvis and
been instrumental parts of the organisation’s growth
Kevin Markwick finally made their triumphant return
over the past decade and facilitators of many of our
following a hiatus with a full length episode focused
activities and outputs. We remain forever thankful for
around the team’s technology takeaways from
their commitment. As we continue to expand our
CineEurope ranging from LED screens to e-paper,
global footprint and evolve our team to support the
premium formats and Disney’s Infinity Vision. As we
industry, we are delighted to welcome Scott Barden
head towards Autumn, the team are working closely
(VP Digital Operations) from Malco Cinemas in the USA
with colleagues at Film and Kino as CTC continues its
to our Board of Governors.
support of Den Norske Kino Konferansen (The
knowledge of digital cinema infrastructure built over
Norwegian Cinema Conference) this year in Bergen.
more than three decades will be vital in us supporting
This support will include an In The Pub 08:00 Live andPage more 1 training advert 2026_Layout 1 26/09/2026
CTC EXECUTIVE TEAM RICHARD MITCHELL (PRESIDENT), MARK KENDALL (VICE PRESIDENT), JOSEPH BOUTROS, JESSE CHOW, MIKE BRADBURY, SCOTT BARDEN, CHRIS CONNETT, PETER KNIGHT, ADAM MACDONALD, SAUL MAHONEY, JENNIFER MORGAN, ANDRE MORT, MARKUS OVERATH, LOYS PHILIBERT, DAVID POPE, TONI PURVIS, ULF QVICKLUND, SIMON TANDY, KRISTINA WARNER, PAUL WILLMOTT. CTC ADVISORY COUNCIL MARK CHRISTIANSEN, BRIAN CLAYPOOL, JOHN DOWSLAND, THERESA ENGLISH, MARK DE QUERVAIN, JAN RASMUSSEN, DOMINIC SIMMONS, ALICE TENTORI, JULIA VINOKUROVA.
MORE INFO
Scott’s extensive
our members across the Atlantic.
CINEMA-TECHNOLOGY.COM
CINEMA PROJECTION AND PRESENTATION FUNDAMENTALS
FORTHCOMING ONE-DAY TRAINING COURSE 25TH NOVEMBER 2026 - ARC CINEMAS, ROTHERHAM, UK REGISTRATION: 09:30 COURSE ENDS: 15:00
THE GLOBAL CINEMA TECHNOLOGY NETWORK
CTC is delighted to announce the return of its highly successful projection and presentation course. Following feedback from exhibitors and partners, this course has been updated to include areas of interest including TMS operation. Aimed at cinema managers and operators, this course which is delivered by industry experts, aims to provide hints and tips on how to improve and maintain the overall experience for movie goers and ensure that they receive the best possible presentation of a movie. Areas covered include:• Picture and Sound Perfection • Testing and Test Materials • Measuring Screen Brightness • Understanding File Naming Convention • Keys and padlocks • Understanding KDMs • Accessibility • Theatre Management Systems • Event Cinema • Satellite Reception Refreshments and Lunch Included.
Book your place online by visiting: wwww.cinema-technology.com/training w w. c i n e m a - t e c h n o l o g y. c o m
ER RS FF EMBE N
O M AL UKCA ERS12O0 I C D £
E AN P CE SPR CTC PERAL PRI
0 SU FO A U T U£8 M NU 2 6
7
CTNEWSREEL UP-TO-DATE ROUND-UP OF THE GLOBAL INDUSTRY
Galalite Unveils Enduray Cinema ScreenCoating at Big Cine Expo 2026 GALALITE SCREENS unveiled Enduray Technology at Big Cine Expo 2026, introducing a robust cinema screen coating developed to reduce micro- scratching and help projection screens maintain more consistent gain throughout their installed service life. Enduray Technology has initially been incorporated across Galalite’s complete Digilite cinema screen range, including gain options of 1.4, 1.8 and 2.2.
consistency more effectively throughout its installed
continues to perform after years inside the cinema.
Galalite also plans to introduce the coating across its
life.” said Yusuf Galabhaiwala, Director of Operations
Our objective with Enduray is to protect that
silver-screen surface portfolio. To demonstrate the
and third-generation leader at Galalite Screens.
performance for longer.” For cinema chains and
resilience of the new cinema screen coating, Galalite
Handling during installation, accidental contact,
independent exhibitors, maintaining consistent
invited customers and visitors at Big Cine Expo to do
repeated cleaning and routine cinema maintenance
screen gain can help protect picture quality while
something rarely encouraged around a projection
can create microscopic scratches on the screen
extending the effective performance life of the cinema
screen: throw tea, coffee and cola directly onto its
surface. Although individual micro-scratches may not
screen. Galalite has initially introduced Enduray
surface. The live demonstration provided an
be immediately noticeable, their accumulation can
Technology across its complete Digilite range:
immediate and highly visible test of Enduray
gradually affect the integrity of the reflective coating.
› Digilite 1.4
Technology. However, Galalite explained that easier
This can contribute to changes in screen gain,
› Digilite 1.8
cleaning and improved stain resistance are only the
brightness and optical uniformity during the life of the
› Digilite 2.2
most visible benefits. The more important long-term
installation. Enduray Technology has been developed
The new coating combines the established optical
advantage is the reduction of micro-scratches that can
to make the cinema screen coating more resistant to
characteristics of each Digilite cinema screen surface
gradually affect the reflective coating and consistency
this form of surface damage. By reducing micro-
with improved resistance to stains, cleaning-related
of screen gain after installation.
scratching, the technology helps Digilite screen
damage and micro-scratching.
“Stain resistance is what visitors could see
surfaces preserve their intended gain characteristics
Galalite
intends
to
incorporate
Enduray
immediately, but the more important benefit is what
and maintain more consistent optical performance
Technology into its silver-screen range during the
happens over the complete life of the cinema screen.
after installation.
next phase of development. This will extend the
A more robust coating means fewer micro-scratches
“A cinema screen should not perform at its best only
benefits of improved coating durability and long-
during handling, cleaning and maintenance. This
on the day it is installed,” said Galabhaiwala. “The real
term gain consistency to additional cinema
helps the cinema screen retain its gain and optical
measure of a projection screen is how consistently it
projection applications.
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CINEMANEXT EQUIPS THE FUTUROSCOPE’S O M N I M AX T H E AT R E WITH NEW IMMERS I V E S E AT I N G
In 2026, CinemaNext handled the sale and installation of the new seating for the Futuroscope’s Omnimax attraction, one of Europe’s most iconic hemispherical laser projection theatres. The project was part of the complete interior renovation of the building, carried out to host T-Rex, the new immersive experience. First unveiled in 1990 and then wrapped in its famous 35-metre glass cube in 1991, this French landmark
has
transformation.
undergone To
give
a
true
audiences
comfort worthy of the technology on display, the entire seating layout was renewed earlier this year. The 362 Ezcaray seats installed by CinemaNext were designed to follow the incline of the
CJ 4DPLEX Expands ScreenX Presence in Europe Through New Agreement With Pathé Cinémas CJ 4DPLEX, the world’s leading producer of premium
extends the picture beyond the front screen and onto
cinema formats and immersive theater experiences,
the auditorium’s surrounding walls on the left and right
and Pathé Cinémas, one of Europe’s leading cinema
sides. Delivering this premium 270-degree panoramic
operators, recently announced a new agreement to
display enhances key scenes with exclusive visual
technical upgrade: a 27-metre-diameter
bring four new ScreenX auditoriums to France,
elements and fully immerses audiences in a one-of-a-
dome built from 600 new panels, 6K
Belgium, and the Netherlands. Two locations in
kind cinematic adventure.
resolution, five laser projectors delivering
Belgium, one in France and one in the Netherlands are
a combined 250,000 lumens, and a
set to open by the end of 2026.
auditorium and guarantee a perfect line of sight to the giant 900 m² hemispherical screen from every seat in the house. The new fit-out accompanies an exceptional
“Europe is one of ScreenX’s most dynamic and strategically important markets, and this expanded
spatialised sound system of 35 speakers
The agreement builds on a longstanding
agreement with Pathé Cinémas represents another
including four subwoofers. The immersion
relationship between CJ 4DPLEX and Pathé Cinémas.
significant milestone in our growth,” said Don Savant,
What began with the introduction of multisensory
Chief Business Officer, CJ 4DPLEX. “Pathé is one of
4DX to European audiences evolved to include the
Europe’s most respected and innovative cinema
launch of ScreenX at Pathé La Villette in Paris in 2018.
exhibitors, and we are proud to deepen our
operating in Europe — CinemaNext
Adding four new ScreenX locations across France,
longstanding partnership across France, Belgium, and
reaffirms its expertise in equipping the
Belgium, and the Netherlands represents the next
the Netherlands. Together, we look forward to
most demanding auditoriums and its
phase of that partnership and reflects both
bringing the uniquely immersive ScreenX experience
ability to combine audience comfort with
companies’ ongoing commitment to premium
to more moviegoers and creating new opportunities
technological
cinema experiences in Europe.
to expand our partnership throughout Europe.”
is such that the audience physically feels the sound vibrations. By renewing the seating in this one-of-a-kind venue — one of only five theatres of its type still
performance.
The
Futuroscope’s Omnimax theatre is once again at its best, ready to amaze visitors of all ages.
Pathé Cinémas is one of Europe’s most notable
“Our relationship with CJ 4DPLEX has been built on
cinema exhibition companies. The company has
a shared belief in the power of premium cinema, and
played a defining role in shaping modern
this expansion deal follows naturally from that
moviegoing in France, with operations also
foundation,” said Laure de Boissard, Managing
spanning Belgium, the Netherlands, Switzerland,
Director of Pathé Cinemas. “Bringing ScreenX to
Tunisia, Côte d’Ivoire, Senegal, and Morocco. Pathé
additional markets across Europe is an exciting step,
Cinémas remains a central force in European film
and we look forward to offering our guests a premium
production and distribution through its broader
experience that goes beyond the traditional screen.”
entertainment business. ScreenX transforms the moviegoing experience with its revolutionary format, which seamlessly
w w w. c i n e m a - t e c h n o l o g y. c o m
Together, the four auditoriums will further establish ScreenX’s presence across three of Europe’s most active cinema markets.
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NEWS
Grand Opening at the World’s Tallest Cinema: Omniplex and Lumma Inaugurated 4D E-Motion Experience in Glasgow AFTER MUCH ANTICIPATION, Omniplex and Lumma inaugurated Scotland’s first-
Open World” (Sony) “Dune: Part Three” (Warner
ever 4D E-Motion experience on September 17th 2026 at the world’s tallest cinema
Bros.), “Avengers: Doomsday: (Disney).
on the iconic Renfrew Street venue in Glasgow. Lumma worked closely with
“4D E-Motion has been an incredible addition to
Omniplex, one of the fastest-growing theatre chains in the UK and Ireland, to deliver
our iconic landmark theatre on Renfrew Street,” said
an enhanced, fully immersive, cinematic experience with their 4D E-Motion and
Paul John Anderson, Director of Omniplex Cinemas.
brand-new Magnify 8 technology integrated into 128 seats. The opening screened
“We’re thrilled by the exceptional turnout that
“Spider-Man: Brand New Day,” with special effects including wind, water, vibrations,
boosted our ticket sales, and know it will only get
scent, colour lights, air shots and more perfectly synchronised to the on-screen
better from here. We look forward to building a long-
action, transporting moviegoers into a whole new dimension! Spider-Man: Brand
lasting relationship with Lumma to continue
New Day broke box office records and continues to outperform on its 7th weekend.
delivering next-level cinematic immersion.”
Omniplex is also screening Practical Magic 2 and Resident Evil in 4D E-Motion. Other
“The Lumma team is honored to mark our official entry into the UK at the world’s
anticipated November releases include: “Heart of the Beast” (Paramount), “Forgotten
tallest and iconic cinema location with Paul John Anderson and his amazing team at
Island” (Universal), “Digger” (Warner Bros.), “Other Mummy” (Universal), “Street
Omniplex,” said Rolando B. Rodriguez, Partner & Board Member at Lumma 4D
Fighter: (Paramount), Clayface (Warner Bros.), The Cat in the Hat (Warner Bros.), How
E-Motion. “Our collaboration is a testament to our joint commitment in elevating the
to Rob a Bank (Amazon MGMl), Ebenezer: A Christmas Carol (Paramount), “The
cinema experience through revolutionizing technology, as well as increasing
Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping” (Lionsgate), “Hexed” (Disney), “Jumanji:
consumer demand for the fastest growing premium format, 4D E-Motion.”
T RUS T ED BY CIN E MAS WO R L DW ID E .
WORLD’S FIRST RGB LASER PROJECTION SCREEN. Actual Image:
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Regal Delivers Its Biggest Domestic Summer at the Box Office Since 2018 REGAL’S GROSS domestic box office revenues grew more than 35% year-over-year
season. Alongside the summer’s two biggest releases, “Toy Story 5,” “Michael,” “The
this summer, marking the company’s biggest summer in eight years.
Mandalorian and Grogu,” “Obsession,” “The Devil Wears Prada 2,” “Backrooms,”
Performance in the period (May 1-Sept. 7) was driven by outstanding delivery
and “Minions & Monsters” each brought a different audience into theatres. The
across all movies with particular strength on the biggest films of the summer, “Spider-
strength of the schedule was consistent from the first weekend in May through Labor
Man: Brand New Day” and “The Odyssey.” The company took 18.2% of share on
Day rather than being concentrated in a handful of dates.
“Spider-Man” and 19.5% of “The Odyssey,” both well ahead of its 16.5% share of the market as a whole.
Premium large formats continue to contribute to ongoing growth through company investment in renovating theatres with expanded premium offerings
“A summer like this starts with filmmakers and studios making films that people
including the recently opened Regal Sherman Oaks Galleria in Los Angeles. Regal’s
really want to see on a big screen, and there have been a lot of them already this year,”
premium format box office rose 63% year over year and represented 22% of the
said Eduardo Acuña, Chief Executive Officer of Regal Global Entertainment. “The
circuit’s summer revenue in the period, up from 18% a year ago, and contributing a
slate had real depth and range to it, and audiences kept coming back to share it with
third of the company’s total increase. IMAX revenue at Regal more than doubled, RPX
family and friends. I’m grateful to Regal’s theatre teams who worked so hard to look
grew 80%, ScreenX grew 45%, and 4DX grew 13%. Premium formats made up more
after moviegoers, and to the staff in our offices who set the summer up so well. Our
than 60% of Regal’s gross on “The Odyssey,” a third on “The Mandalorian and Grogu,”
partners are putting money into films worth seeing, and we’re putting money into the
and a quarter on “Spider-Man: Brand New Day.” Standard format revenue grew 29%
experience of watching them—moviegoers get the benefit of both.”
over the same period, showing that the increase came from across the circuit rather
The depth of the movie slate this summer played a key part in the success of the
than from premium alone.
NEWS NEWS really enjoy each new territory. Each one is so I’ll end on two pieces of advice I was given really enjoy each new territory. Each one is so I’ll end on two pieces of advice I was given different, they work differently, films release when I started, and I love to share them as I different, they work differently, films release when I started, and I love to share them as I differently. So it’s always exciting for me to believe they are so invaluable. differently. So it’s always exciting for me to believe they are so invaluable. learn something new. Pick your battles… don’t die on your learn something new. Pick your battles… don’t die on your My main expansion into the role has been sword. A few years into my role at Warner My main expansion into the role has been sword. A few years into my role at Warner to take on some bigger picture business, Bros, I had just started taking over trailer to take on some bigger picture business, Bros, I had just started taking over trailer hopefully relieving some stress from my boss. negotiations. During a back-and-forth with hopefully relieving some stress from my boss. negotiations. During a back-and-forth with one of my exhibitor friends over placement KINEPOLIS has completed the acquisition of 13 US Showcase cinemas. On 11 June further redevelopment and optimization being explored.” of my passionate exhibitor friends over placement QUBE WIRE CINEMA, A LEADING PROVIDER innovative network has consistently delivered faster, one who about had the domain, Qube CT: How have your previous experiences for a are release that barely any admissions, 2026, Kinepolis announced an agreement with Harbor Lights Entertainment Kinepolis will continue to operate Showcase Cinemas under the existing brand CT: ofHow have your previous experiences for a release that barely had any admissions, end-to-end cinema solutions, more cost-effective solutions for content delivery, continues revolutionize cinema exhibition and prepared you digital for your newtechnology role? he said, to “Pick your battles.” I understood (formerly National Amusements Inc.) to acquire seven cinemas located in name and prioritizes the continuity for all Showcase customers, while carefully prepared youa for your agreement new role?to acquire a 100% hedistribution said, “Pick your battles.”reliable, I understood has signed definitive saving millions compared to traditional methods. At with cutting-edge, and costI think because I’ve lucky have immediately, and it resonated with me. Massachusetts, fourbeen in Newso York, one into Ohio andhad one in Rhode Island. The transaction considering the needs of employees and other stakeholders. I think because I’ve been soTech, lucky toMetaMedia have had is and itWith resonated withtome. stake in career. MetaMedia (MMT Inc). Qube, we’ve leveraged this technology to bring immediately, effective solutions. technology service the a varied From being on the studio side I’ve kept this in mind in everything I do includes the ownership of six cinemas, while the remaining ones are operated under a varied career. Fromlargest being on the studiocontent side I’ve kept thiscontent in mind in everything I do North America’s cloud-based Indian feature films to North American cinemas with world’s greatest creators and exhibitors, CT: fulfilled, What’sKinepolis your favourite aspect of working to growing in the tech I feel i understand ever since. lease agreements. Nowside. that the agreed conditions have been has CT:speed What’s favourite aspect ofand working to growing in the tech side. I feel i understand since. delivery tothat cinemas. With thisprocess. acquisition, and your precision, expanding the size number ever Qube continues introduce innovations to the is in the cinema industry? the painplatform points customers face. Don’t burn toany bridges. This industry successfully completed themy acquisition
“...Sharing knowledge “...Sharing knowledge between this group of between this group of incredible people across incredible people across the globe. Looking for Qube Wire to become the World’s largest electronic content the globe. Looking for better ways to work Kinepolisnetwork Completes ofwork US Showcase Cinemas delivery to Acquisition cinemas better ways to together that can help together that can help anyone. I hope I can anyone. I hope I can bring something valuable bring something valuable to the table.“ to the table.“
in the cinema industry? the Qube pain Wire points that the myworld’s customers face. Don’tecosystem burn any This industry is becomes largest cinema of portfolio, Indian releases 3x in the last five years. With the cinema thatbridges. are reshaping Following this acquisition, Kinepolis adds 164 screens toThe its representing cinemas ofbycourse! I love to visit my Because I faced them. still quite small, and we all the relycinematic on the The cinemas of course! I love to visit my Because I faced them. still quite small, and we all rely on the electronic delivery with over 5,000 cinemasShowcase addition ofplaces MetaMedia, our combined will experience for audiences worldwide. Qube Wirewhat has 17,794 seats. Thenetwork 13 well-maintained, high-end Cinemas welcomed favourite in town. I love to strengths escape into relationships we build. You never know places in town. I love to escape into connected across4 51 countries. In the United States, favourite set a million new standard in cinema content delivery for approximately million visitors 2025, revenue. CT: As the newest member ofinthe CTCgenerating board, USDa 90+ film, melt inaway any stress. It’s the best fun, merged network will provide coverage to 9offerings of the aand many more distributors and create value CT: the AsShowcase the newest member ofenhanced the CTCfood board, film, melt away any stress. It’sunparalleled the best fun, provide multiple premium large what are youCinemas looking forward to most? even when I watch a horror. If you’ve ever sat topare 10 you largest cinemawith chains. Qube will continue to even for when the global movie what looking forward to most? I watch aindustry.” horror. If you’ve ever sat format (PLF) screens, 80% of all auditoriums featuring recliner seating in a stadiumOh my gosh, the community. Sharing knowledge next to me during a horror, you’ll know how execute MetaMedia’s existingSharing deployment plans and next toFor nearly four decades, Qube Cinema hashow been style configuration. Oh my gosh, the community. knowledge me during a horror, you’ll know between this group of incredible people across ridiculous I am. service its customer a trailblazer global filmmaking and exhibition Eddy Duquenne, CEO of Kinepolis Group: “This acquisition allows usintothe expand between this group ofagreements. incredible people across ridiculous I am. the globe. Looking for better ways to work our“The market position for inofthe US fromways Michigan the East Coastindustries. with an asset and is a team acquisition MetaMedia is a huge move Qube one of a handful of companies in the globe. Looking better to towork CT: What advice would you give to someone together that can help anyone. I hope I can that enable us to implement Kinepolis’ operational model and corporate strategy, for Qube’s North American operations,” said Harsh the world that has developed DCI-certified digital CT: What advice would you agive to someone together that can help anyone. I hope I can considering a career in this field? bring something valuable to the table. ultimately enhancing the experience for moviegoers in these markets. Furthermore, Rohatgi, CEO valuable of QubetoCinema. “MetaMedia’s considering cinema server. With a team of about 1,000 employees a career in this field? bring something the table. this acquisition provides a valuable real estate position, with future opportunities for
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S P R I N G
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relationships weconsistently build. Yousince never know what been growing launching as a will happen, so it’s never worth burning those global cloud-based distribution early will happen, so it’s never worthplatform burninginthose bridges down. 2017. Today, Qube Wire powers the supply chain for bridges down. Ultimately, the connections you make many major content including all the Ultimately, the distributors, connections you make and the experiences you gain can lead major Hollywood studios. you Qube gain Wire also and the experiences candelivers lead to incredible opportunities, so of all the Indian movies released around the toover 95% incredible opportunities, so definitely embrace every moment and world. Withembrace its regional partnerships and automated definitely every moment and every interaction! hard interaction! drive duplication hubs, Qube Wire provides every
www.cinema-technology.com 1 2 / 23 6 3 - tme c h 1n 2o /l o2 g3 y . c 6 o m w w w . c i n e m a - tw e cw hwn. oc li on ge ym. ca o 3
ENVIRONMENT
GREENSHOOTS WORDS: TIM POTTER, FOUNDER, TRIGAGE.
The Greenest Kilowatt is the One You Don’t Use
F
or cinema operators, environmental and
cinemas were equipped with the system, while 24
Measure what matters
economic sustainability are becoming
North American complexes had similar BMS
Despite expanding its estate, Landmark reports
increasingly difficult to separate. Energy
technology. Depending on the system being
reducing
remains a significant operating cost, but the
replaced, Kinepolis estimates its BMS can deliver
approximately 45,000 MWh in 2019 to 32,000 MWh,
opportunity isn’t simply about buying greener
energy savings of between 25% and 60%.
a reduction of around 29%. Waterloo alone has
technology or generating renewable electricity.
Importantly,
cinema-specific
overall
energy
consumption
from
information
reduced consumption by approximately 35% since
Increasingly, it is about understanding where, when
including ticketing and attendance can inform
2019. But benchmarking needs context. A stronger
and why energy is being consumed – and whether it
building controls. Automation can also ensure cinema
2026 film slate, with releases including The Odyssey,
needs to be consumed at all. Kinepolis’s latest Annual
equipment
show
Spider-Man: Brand New Day and Toy Story 5, is
Report provides an interesting insight into how one
requirements, with Kinepolis technology partner
bringing audiences back in greater numbers, while
major international exhibitor is approaching that
OneCinema’s TMS automation functionality playing a
another hot summer across parts of Europe has
challenge. Appropriately, it introduces parts of its
small part in this wider approach. It changes the
increased cooling requirements.
sustainability strategy through movie quotes,
question from “Is the cinema open?” to “What does
A successful cinema could therefore consume more
including a line from A Minecraft Movie (2025):
this part of the cinema actually need right now?”
energy in absolute terms while actually becoming
operates
around
actual
“First we mine, then we craft.”
more energy efficient. Should we measure energy per
Kinepolis translates this into its own philosophy: “First we listen and observe, then we act.” It’s a simple principle that could equally apply to any cinema developing a sustainability plan.
Replace it
admission, screen, show or square metre? Perhaps the
At the end of 2025, 75% of Kinepolis global screens
answer is a combination. The objective isn’t to reduce
used laser projection, with 83% targeted by the end of
consumption by selling fewer tickets; it’s to welcome
2026.
more guests and grow without energy use increasing
Kinepolis
estimates
laser
consumes
approximately 40% less energy than equivalent xenon
at the same rate.
Understand it
projection, with its installed laser estate calculated to
A multiplex is complex from an energy perspective.
save around 6.7 GWh annually. Benefits also include
A useful blueprint
Auditoriums continually move between empty, filling
reduced cooling, maintenance and lamps.
For anyone developing or refreshing a cinema
and occupied, while external temperature, film
Other measures include LED lighting, motion
sustainability plan, the sustainability section of the
schedules and audience numbers all influence
sensors, improved HVAC controls and, where
Kinepolis 2025 Annual Report is well worth reading.
demand. Kinepolis has developed dedicated energy-
appropriate, heat pumps.
management expertise in Europe and North America
Smaller operators shouldn’t be put off by their scale. Many principles – monitoring consumption,
and is developing a theatre energy-consumption
Generate it – intelligently
improving controls, LED conversion, reducing
simulator, examining how HVAC, insulation and
Renewable generation presents an interesting
unnecessary runtime and measuring results – can be
theatre
consumption.
challenge for cinemas. Solar production peaks during
applied at almost any cinema. Perhaps the approach
An electricity bill tells you how much energy
configurations
influence
daylight hours, while cinema demand typically builds
can be distilled into a simple hierarchy: Measure it.
was used. Better data explains why – and creates the
later in the day. Kinepolis’s Landmark Cinemas
Don’t use it. Optimise it. Replace it. Generate it. Store
opportunity to act.
operation in Canada is taking an interesting approach
it. Then measure it again. As Kinepolis puts it: first
at their Waterloo site, adding a 260 kW solar
observe,
Control it
installation and six micro-wind turbines during 2026.
ultimately, the cheapest – and
Kinepolis has developed a tailor-made Building
Together, Kinepolis estimates they could offset up to
greenest – kilowatt will always be
Management System (BMS) around the specific
80% of the cinema’s electricity consumption.
the one you don’t use.
characteristics of cinemas and their highly variable occupancy. At the end of 2025, 28 of its 62 European
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then
act.
Because MORE INFO
Energy storage and sharing could make onsite generation still more effective in future.
WWW.TRIGAGE.COM
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ANALYSIS
A BLOCKBUSTER Box Office Surges Past Pre-Pandemic Benchmark WORDS: NENA LONCAR, CLIENT INSIGHTS MANAGER,
T
RENTRAK
he UK & Ireland summer box office
of its total box office. The combined star power of
tentpole releases, 2026 was not defined by just these
delivered a record-breaking performance
Tom Holland and Zendaya, who appear together in
three titles alone; the market was also supported by a
in 2026, exceeding £528m across the full
both films, further helped define the summer and
wide and varied slate that sustained cinema
18-week summer period from 1 May to 3 September.
broaden audience appeal across the two releases.
attendance across the full four-month period. Slate
This surpassed the previous 2019 benchmark of
While this highlighted the continued importance of
depth was important across genres, with family
£491m and marked a significant milestone for the territory. Year to date, the market has reached £902m, running 23% ahead of 2025 and 33% ahead of 2024. Notably, this is also the first time since the pandemic that the UK & Ireland box office has moved ahead of 2019, which stood at £900m at the same point in the year. This outstanding summer result was led by three
44% THE TOP THREE MOVIES GENERATED MORE THAN £233M, ACCOUNTING FOR AROUND 44% OF THE SUMMER TOTAL.
major breakout titles: Spider-Man: Brand New Day led the season with £94m, followed by The Odyssey on £81m and Toy Story 5 with £57m. Together, the top three generated more than £233m, accounting for around 44% of the summer total. Spider-Man: Brand New Day helped reinvigorate the superhero genre, while original picture The Odyssey exceeded expectations to become a major theatrical event. Nolan’s full IMAX 70mm approach made the film a premium-format draw, fuelling strong demand for upgraded screenings and giving IMAX a 30% share
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animation, biopic, comedy, horror, original storytelling and franchises all contributing to the record result. Michael added £37m during the summer period and has now exceeded £50m lifetime, while legacy sequel The Devil Wears Prada 2 reached £34m by summer’s end, comfortably ahead of the £14m lifetime of its predecessor The Devil Wears Prada. Original titles including The Odyssey, Michael, Obsession and
$2.41BN
Backrooms all appeared in the summer Top 10,
GLOBALLY, SPIDER-MAN: BRAND NEW DAY HAS GROSSED MORE THAN $2.41BN, MAKING IT THE BIGGEST FILM OF 2026...
with Toy Story 5, Minions & Monsters and Moana also
7
Hollywood-led, with no major British titles. UK-origin
...MAKING THE FLIM THE 7TH FILM TO MAKE $2BN
showing that sequels were not the only films doing serious business. Animation was another major driver, ranking among the season’s leading titles. However, the summer was overwhelmingly titles and co-productions accounted for just 5% of the 2026 summer box office. The scale of summer’s performance is also reflected in the all-time charts.
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ANALYSIS
SUMMER
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POP CORN POP RN
A U T U M N
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ANALYSIS
Spider-Man: Brand New Day currently ranks as the
2026 UK & IRE TOP 10
fifth-biggest release of all time, and trails only Spider-
two films represented 23% of the total market.
Man: No Way Home within the franchise, on track to
Animation also performed well, with Toy Story 5 and
DATE RANGE MARKET SHARE
pass £97m to become the biggest Spider-Man title of all time. Spider-Man: No Way Home is currently the fourth-highest title ever in UK & Ireland, while The
1
SPIDER-MAN: BRAND NEW DAY
Minions & Monsters both ranking in the top five and contributing 11% of summer admissions. Michael also 17%
Odyssey sits just outside the Top 10 in eleventh place. Within genres, Toy Story 5 is now the fourth-highest animated release of all time, just behind Inside Out 2
2
THE ODYSSEY
15%
3
TOY STORY 5
10%
some of these positions may continue to rise. Looking
4
MICHAEL
7%
5
THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA 2
6%
OBSESSION
3%
five positions. The Lion King led the season with £76m, followed by Toy Story 4 on £66m, Aladdin on £36m and Avengers: Endgame on £33m during the summer
6
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MINIONS & MONSTERS
8
STAR WARS: THE MANDALORIAN AND GROGU
French
than 27% of admissions. Led by the two De Gaulle Hollywood releases and domestic content. Germany was also shaped by the big two global drivers, Spidertogether accounted for 29% of the market, grossing Wears Prada 2 and Michael also performed strongly, generating €29m and €25m respectively. Animation
3%
MOANA
2%
3%
Monsters ranking No.5 and contributing 5% of the summer market, while Toy Story 5 finished outside the
summer until 2026 and the sixth-biggest summer of 9
Top 10. Local content played a more modest but still notable role, accounting for 9% of the summer gross; with Steckerlfischfiasko the only German title in the
defined by the Barbenheimer phenomenon, with
Top 10, placing ninth with nearly €13m and a 3.5% share. Spain’s summer box office was also led by
Barbie alone generating 20% of the box office, exceeding £90m across the summer period. Its
with
was less prominent in Germany, with Minions &
accounted for 50% of the total summer market.By
the past two decades, delivered £450m. The year was
contribution,
more than €55m and €49m respectively. The Devil
across the summer period. Together, the Top 5 comparison, 2023, the strongest post-pandemic
local-film
Man: Brand New Day and The Odyssey, which
period. Spider-Man: Far From Home was the only title to interrupt Disney’s run, ranking No.4 with £36m
strongest
films, this created a healthier balance between major
back at the pre-pandemic summer of 2019, it was defined by Disney with the studio taking four of the top
titles than other European markets and recorded the productions and co-productions accounting for more
Obsession ranks third and Backrooms eighth among horror titles. With several top films still on release,
stood out, placing at No.4 and reaching 4.1m admissions. France was less reliant on its two leading
(£59m) and close to breaking into the all-time animated top three that would be entirely led by Toy Story titles.
by The Odyssey with 7.3m admissions. Together, the
Spider-Man: Brand New Day and The Odyssey, which 10
BACKROOMS
2%
counterpart Oppenheimer ranked No.2 with £54m
together generated €73m, accounting for 32% of total gross, and ranked seventh and ninth respectively on
and a 12% share of the total summer box office.
while Spain’s gross was 6% higher despite admissions
the all-time chart. Spanish productions and co-
Summer 2026 combined the concentrated force of
remaining 15% lower. France was also ahead of 2019,
productions represented just 7% of the summer gross,
major event releases with a broader commercial base,
with admissions up 8%. Together, these figures show
led by Tadeo Jones 4, which ranked No.12 with €4m.
allowing the market not only to recover but to exceed
consistent growth, but the drivers behind that growth
Overall, Spider-Man: Brand New Day and The
its pre-pandemic peak.
differed significantly by market. Italy was the most
Odyssey dominated across the major European
concentrated of the major European markets, with its
markets, reinforcing the value of blockbuster releases.
Europe’s summer surge
top three titles generating €121m and accounting for
But the story behind the growth differed by territory:
The momentum was not confined to UK & Ireland.
54% of total box office. Unlike other territories, where
France stood out for domestic strength, Italy delivered
Across Europe, cinemas also enjoyed a strong
Spider-Man: Brand New Day led the market, The
the sharpest recovery despite limited local content,
summer, with France ranking as the second-largest
Odyssey took the No.1 spot in Italy with nearly €55m
and Spain achieved gross growth despite admissions
European market by admissions, delivering a record-
and a 24% share. It now ranks as the country’s fourth-
remaining below 2019 levels.
breaking 65.6m admissions, followed by Germany in
biggest film of all time, while Spider-Man: Brand New
third with 32.9m, Spain in fourth 32.8m and Italy
Day placed second for the summer with €37m and sits
Global Impact
rounding out the top five with 29.1m admissions.
at No.12 on the all-time chart. The Devil Wears Prada 2
Globally, Spider-Man: Brand New Day has grossed
Compared with 2025, gross box office increased
completed the top three with €29m. Despite Italy’s
more than $2.41bn, making it the biggest film of
by 91% in Italy, 32% in Germany and 30% in Spain,
usual reliance on local films, domestic content played a
2026, the seventh film ever to cross the $2bn
while admissions also rose across all four markets
limited role this summer, contributing just 4% of the
milestone, and the third-highest grossing film in
including a 44% increase in France. Against 2019, Italy
total box office. The leading local titles, La Città Di
worldwide cinema history behind only Avatar and
achieved the strongest recovery, with revenue up 68%
Pianura and King Marracash, each grossed around
Avengers: Endgame. It ranks as the second-biggest
and admissions up 40%. Germany’s gross increased
€1m. In France, Spider-Man: Brand New Day took the
film of all time with $925m and is on track to surpass
by 30%, although admissions were up by only 3%,
No.1 position with 7.7m admissions, followed closely
Star Wars: The Force Awakens ($936m) to become
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A U T U M N
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ANALYSIS
UK ALL TIME TOP 20 >
1
STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS
2015
33M
50K
3.63
123M
2
SKYFALL
2012
20M
34K
5.08
102M
3
NO TIME TO DIE
2021
25M
33K
3.79
98M
4
SPIDER-MAN: NO WAY HOME
2021
31M
46K
3.05
97M
5
SPIDER-MAN: BRAND NEW DAY
2026
36M
51K
2.64
86M
6
BARBIE
2023
18M
25K
5.19
95M
7
SPECTRE
2015
41M
63K
2.31
95M
8
AVATAR
2009
8M
16K
11.05
94M
9
AVENGERS: ENDGAME
2019
43M
63K
2.04
88M
10
TOP GUN: MAVERICK
2022
15M
21K
5.27
83M
11
THE ODYSSEY
2026
12M
16K
6.63
82M
12
STAR WARS: THE LAST JEDI
2017
28M
38K
2.95
82M
13
TITANIC
1998
4M
11K
16.38
80M
14
AVATAR: THE WAY OF WATER
2022
11M
15K
6.91
77M
15
THE LION KING
2019
16M
23K
4.55
76M
16
TOY STORY 3 (DISNEY DIGITAL 3D)
2010
21M
37K
3.49
74M
17
HARRY POTTER & THE DEATHLY HALLOWS: P.2
2011
234M
40K
3.09
73M
18
BEAUTY AND THE BEAST
2017
19M
30K
3.69
72M
19
AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR
2018
29M
45K
2.38
70M
20
MAMMA MIA!
2008
6M
13K
10.45
69M
YEAR OF RELEASE OPENING WEEKEND £M OPENING WEEKEND LOC AVG £K OPENING WEEKEND MULTIPLE CUME £M
£528M THE UK & IRELAND SUMMER BOX OFFICE DELIVERED A RECORD-BREAKING PERFORMANCE IN 2026, EXCEEDING £528M ACROSS THE FULL 18-WEEK SUMMER PERIOD FROM 1 MAY TO 3 SEPTEMBER.
23% YEAR TO DATE, THE MARKET HAS REACHED £902M, RUNNING 23% AHEAD OF 2025 AND 33% AHEAD OF 2024
£900M THIS IS ALSO THE FIRST TIME SINCE THE PANDEMIC THAT THE UK & IRELAND BOX OFFICE HAS MOVED AHEAD OF 2019, WHICH STOOD AT £900M AT THE SAME POINT IN THE YEAR.
the highest-grossing domestic release ever. The Odyssey achieved major global milestones, ranking No.14 worldwide with a reported $1.63bn as summer closed. It is now the highest-grossing R-rated movie of all time, the highest-grossing IMAX film ever, and Christopher Nolan’s biggest film, having surpassed The Dark Knight. The film is also close to becoming Universal Pictures’ highest-grossing release ever, with Jurassic World currently holding the studio record. Taken together, the summer of 2026 was not simply a record-breaking season, but a reminder of what theatrical exhibition can still deliver when major FOMO films,
premium
MORE INFO
formats,
animation, original storytelling and franchise strength align across multiple territories.
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A U T U M N
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THE ODYSSEY
WHAT THE ODYSSEY TELLS US ABOUT THE FUTURE OF CELLULOID
Christopher Nolan once again put film projection firmly in front of audiences this summer, but what happened after the release of The Odyssey may be more interesting than all the publicity beforehand. Peter J. Knight looks at the continuing appetite for 35mm and 70mm, the equipment that survived the digital transition, and the much bigger problem of preserving the skills needed to use it. W O R D S : P E T E R K N I G H T, C T M A G A Z I N E
B
y the time you read this, The Odyssey will have been in cinemas for around two and a half months. The excitement surrounding its July
release will have subsided, the first-run schedules will largely have moved on and the cinema industry will, as usual, be concentrating on whatever comes next. Which makes this a useful point at which to look back at what actually happened. Before The Odyssey opened on 17 July, there was considerable discussion about Christopher Nolan shooting the film entirely using IMAX film cameras, the relatively small number of cinemas capable of presenting the full IMAX 70mm version, and the wider release of 70mm and 35mm prints. We had been through much the same conversation with Oppenheimer, so it was reasonable to wonder whether audiences would respond in the same way again or whether that had been a one-off. The BFI IMAX sold 28,000 tickets in the first 24 hours they were on sale, worth around £750,000. It then sold out 173 consecutive IMAX 70mm performances across eight
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THE ODYSSEY
28K THE BFI IMAX SOLD 28,000 TICKETS IN THE FIRST 24 HOURS THEY WERE ON SALE
173 IT THEN SOLD OUT 173 CONSECUTIVE IMAX 70MM PERFORMANCES ACROSS EIGHT WEEKS, WITH SOME OF THE AUDIENCE TRAVELLING FROM SINGAPORE, LOS ANGELES AND TORONTO.
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THE ODYSSEY
weeks, with some of the audience travelling from
cinema and that, in the right circumstances,
technology to remember the lovely bits and quietly
Singapore, Los Angeles and Toronto. By the middle of
audiences will seek it out, travel a long way and pay
forget all the reasons everybody was so pleased when
August, more than 101,000 admissions had
specifically for it.
some of it was replaced. I have always compared the
generated around £2.7 million from that one screen,
change from film to digital cinema with the transition
making The Odyssey the highest-grossing film in the
Film was supposed to disappear
from steam to diesel and electric traction on the
history of the BFI IMAX. The appetite was not
For most of cinema history, 35mm was how the job
railways. Nobody sensible would suggest returning
confined to London. The Projected Picture Trust kept
was done. A print arrived, somebody inspected and
the national railway network to steam because steam
a running list of UK and Irish film presentations as the
prepared it and, at the appropriate time, somebody
locomotives have character. Diesel and electric trains
release unfolded, which settled at three IMAX 70mm
put it through a projector. Depending on the cinema
took over because they made far more sense for the
sites, eight conventional 70mm venues and 22
and the period, that might mean reel-to-reel
everyday job. Fortunately, we did not then conclude
cinemas running 35mm. Internationally, the 41
changeovers, towers, large spools or platters.
that because steam had ceased to be the normal way
cinemas capable of presenting the full IMAX 70mm
Digital cinema replaced it for perfectly sensible
of moving passengers it therefore had no value at all.
film version had generated around $37.5 million by 10
reasons. Making thousands of release prints was
Instead it changed purpose. A journey behind a steam
August. IMAX Melbourne alone sold more than
expensive, moving them around the world was
locomotive today is an experience in its own right.
17,000 tickets and took over A$800,000 in its first 24
cumbersome and prints deteriorated as they were
People travel specifically to ride behind one, watch it
hours on sale.
handled and shown. Digital brought consistency,
being prepared and take an interest in the machinery
Obviously Christopher Nolan films attract
easier distribution and eventually electronic delivery
and the people operating it. The complication has
audiences, we hardly needed The Odyssey to tell us
directly into cinemas. A TMS could schedule shows
become part of the attraction. Film seems to be
that. What interests me is what all of this says about
across an entire multiplex and automation could deal
finding a similar place within cinema. A DCP can arrive
film projection more than a decade after the cinema
with much of the routine work. For mainstream cinema
electronically, be copied to a server, scheduled and
industry supposedly finished replacing it. I don’t think
operation, digital is a much better solution. I spent
played identically hundreds of times. A 35mm print
it means 35mm is about to overthrow the DCP and
plenty of years working with film and I have no desire
remains a physical object which somebody has to
retake the multiplex, and I don’t think anybody
to pretend that every scratched print, bad splice or
handle and a machine has to transport through the
sensible wants that. What it does suggest is that film
worn soundtrack was part of some lost golden age.
gate twenty-four frames at a time. Some people prefer
has
found
There is a tendency when talking about analogue
the look, some won’t and plenty probably couldn’t
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A U T U M N
a
new
2 6
place
within
modern
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THE ODYSSEY
explain the technical differences if you asked them.
actually went anywhere. Far too many perfectly
normal cinema format, every cinema required people
They do not really have to. From the cinema’s point of
serviceable machines ended up in skips because
who understood it. Projectionists knew their
view, enough people regard the experience as
nobody could imagine a future use for them and, at
particular machines because they used them every
different enough to seek it out. The success of The
the time, there was virtually no second-hand market.
day. Engineers knew them because they serviced
Odyssey made that visible this summer, but it did not
Others were broken for parts or scrapped. But these
large numbers of the same models. Spare parts
create the phenomenon.
were large, heavy pieces of engineering and
existed because there was a market for them, and a
The Prince Charles Cinema has spent years making
removing them could be harder than simply leaving
whole ecosystem of laboratories, distributors,
35mm and 70mm part of its identity, while the BFI
them in the corner of a projection room. So a
technicians and suppliers supported the process.
Southbank has retained film as an important part of its
surprising number stayed where they were, while
Once the industry converted to digital, that
curatorial and archive work. Parkway in Barnsley takes
others went into stores, garages, collections and
ecosystem contracted fast. A projector can remain
another route, using digital, 35mm and 70mm as part
workshops. Finding a film projector is therefore not
under a dust sheet for fifteen years and still be sitting
of its ordinary programme and making format
necessarily the impossible part of returning a cinema
there when somebody decides they would quite like
screenings into proper events. For Oppenheimer,
to 35mm. Restoring, installing and making it safe and
to use it again. The person who knew every noise it
Parkway was the only cinema in England outside the
reliable is another matter, but there is still a remarkable
made, how it was maintained and what needed
West End showing the film from a 70mm print from
quantity of equipment around. At the top end, The
checking before putting a valuable print anywhere
release day. Rob Younger introduces the format
Odyssey created extraordinary demand for full IMAX
near it may have retired years earlier. Film projection is
screenings and audiences are invited up to see the
70mm presentations, yet only 41 cinemas worldwide
not digital playback with a different source format.
projection room afterwards. The format has become
could show it that way. There have nevertheless been
The print has to be inspected and handled correctly.
part of what Parkway is known for. Dirt in the Gate has
some notable investments. In Los Angeles, the Alex
The projector needs to be suitable and in a known
built a community around 35mm presentations at
Theatre reportedly spent around $500,000 creating
condition. Aspect ratio, aperture, lens, masking and
venues around the country. More interesting in terms
the capability to present the film in 70mm, including
sound format all have to be right, and somebody
of what happened after The Odyssey is QUAD in
work to create a projection room and accommodate
needs to understand what the machine is doing while
Derby. Its 35mm run of the film continued into
the equipment. I would not suggest that becomes the
the film is running. There is sometimes a tendency to
September and appears to have done well enough for
business case for every independent cinema
become a little precious about this and make film
the cinema to change its approach. In its September
contemplating the resurrection of a Victoria 8 sitting
projection sound like an obscure ancient art which
programme, QUAD said the success of The Odyssey
under a sheet upstairs, but it shows how far the
can only be practised after twenty years of
had encouraged it to begin hosting more films on film,
conversation has moved.
apprenticeship. That isn’t helpful either. People can
starting almost immediately with a week of Jurassic
There is a supply-side story too. Cinemeccanica,
be trained and they should be. Most experienced film
Park on 35mm. This is no longer simply a cinema
which has built the Victoria 8 since the early 1960s,
projectionists were taught by somebody else in the
keeping a projector working for the occasional Nolan
put out a call for expressions of interest in a new
first place.
release; it is a venue using the response to one 35mm
production run in 2023, prompted by the response to
What needs to be avoided is the knowledge
engagement as a reason to programme more
Oppenheimer, with a minimum order of fifteen units
becoming trapped with an increasingly small number
celluloid. Then there is the Broadway in Prestwick,
required before it would commit. Even discussing a
of people while everybody else admires the surviving
where the argument comes from another direction
projector design from the early 1960s as a live
equipment. IMAX Melbourne has said only five
again. Its pair of Gaumont-Kalee Type 20 projectors,
manufacturing proposition again says something
people in Australia are currently able to thread its
installed in 1956, survived after the cinema closed in
about where demand now sits.
IMAX 70mm projector, which gives some idea of
1976 and have now been returned to working order,
how thin the knowledge can become when a format stops being part of everyday cinema operation.
year film was projected onto the Broadway screen
We can preserve a machine much more easily than a skill
from them for the first time in half a century. There the
As with any heritage craft, it isn’t just the equipment
keep that knowledge alive. Boston Light & Sound
machinery and the process of projection are part of
that needs preserving. It is the people who know how
has built a substantial part of its work around large-
the attraction in their own right. These are very
to use it and keep it running. When film was the
format projection equipment. In the UK, the
£2.7M
Projected Picture Trust has been preserving
complete with carbon arc light sources. Earlier this
different examples, which is useful. Film can form part of repertory programming, archive presentation, festivals, special events or a heritage experience. It simply needs enough audience interest to make maintaining the capability worthwhile.
The projectors survived... One of the odd consequences of the digital transition is that quite a lot of film projection equipment never
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BY THE MIDDLE OF AUGUST, MORE THAN 101,000 ADMISSIONS HAD GENERATED AROUND £2.7 MILLION FROM THAT ONE SCREEN, MAKING THE ODYSSEY THE HIGHEST-GROSSING FILM IN THE HISTORY OF THE BFI IMAX.
There are organisations and companies trying to
equipment since 1978, when Charles Beddow set it up in response to projectors being thrown away as cinemas closed or converted. The BFI, specialist venues and the main UK cinema integrators also retain engineers with film experience, although there are fewer of them than there once were. A skill survives by being used. It is difficult to become genuinely confident with equipment
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THE ODYSSEY
which gets switched on once every three years for the
properly.
Which
is
where
the
old
word
Nolan. The interest around The Odyssey did not
next Nolan film. Venues which run regular repertory
“showmanship” keeps coming back into my mind.
create that activity, but it put a very bright spotlight
and archive programmes therefore matter for more
Cinema has spent much of the digital period making
on something which was already happening. QUAD
than their audience numbers. They provide
projection invisible. That is generally a good thing.
in Derby provides perhaps the clearest early
somewhere for knowledge to remain alive and
Content can arrive automatically, a TMS can schedule
example. After a successful 35mm run of The
somewhere for it to be passed on. Some archive
the programme and an entire performance can run
Odyssey, the cinema immediately followed it with
prints are rare and in some cases effectively
without the audience having any idea what is
Jurassic Park and said it intended to programme
irreplaceable. The answer cannot be to preserve film
happening behind the back wall. At the same time
more films on film. There is an opportunity here for
so carefully that nobody ever projects it, because
there is clearly an audience for occasions when the
cinemas with surviving equipment, although not
exhibition is part of what the material was created for.
mechanics of the show become part of the reason for
every projector sitting in an old projection room
Equally, preservation does not mean handing a rare
attending: a 70mm print, reel-to-reel presentation,
represents
print to somebody who has watched a five-minute
silent film with live accompaniment, carbon arc
installation and machine need proper assessment
instructional video and fancies having a go.
demonstration, or simply tabs, masking and an
and, most importantly, somebody needs to know
Sometimes the professional decision is not to run the
overture used properly. Presentation itself can
how to operate it properly. Where the equipment
print. If the equipment is not ready or nobody suitably
sometimes be part of what people are buying. This is
and expertise can sensibly be maintained, film
experienced is available, disappointing an audience
particularly relevant when the industry talks
capability is worth looking at differently from the
is preferable to damaging something which cannot
continually about premiumisation. We tend to
way we did immediately after digital conversion. It
a
commercial
opportunity.
The
be replaced.The supporting infrastructure matters
does not have to earn its keep every night. A 35mm
too. Cinelab Film & Digital in the UK continues to
projector can sit alongside digital projection and be
produce theatrical prints alongside its digital work.
used for selected repertory films, festivals,
The Projected Picture Trust notes that Kodak and
anniversaries and special presentations. One film
ORWO are now the two manufacturers producing
screening might bring people from further away
motion-picture film stock, while FotoKem in California
than the cinema’s normal catchment because it
remains the only laboratory currently able to strike
offers something which simply isn’t available at the
70mm release prints on the scale required for a film
multiplex down the road. For independent cinemas
such as The Odyssey. The infrastructure has not
in particular, that can become part of the identity of
disappeared, but there is not much redundancy left.
the venue. The product is no longer simply the film
This is also why the old film-versus-digital argument
title, but the way that particular cinema has chosen to present it. I’m certainly not suggesting we
has always seemed rather pointless to me. A film can be photographed on film, scanned, edited and
associate premium cinema with new technology:
recreate the cinema industry of 1995. Digital
graded digitally and returned to film for exhibition.
laser projection, HDR, immersive sound, larger
projection became the standard because it made
Archive material can move in the opposite direction.
screens, recliners and direct-view LED. Much of that
sense, and it still does. What has changed is that film
They are tools, and there is nothing contradictory
technology is excellent. What The Odyssey
no longer has to be the standard to have a useful
about using whichever one makes sense at a particular
demonstrated this summer is that audiences can also
place alongside it. Looking back a couple of months
point in the process.
regard a decades-old method of putting pictures
after the release, The Odyssey has provided some
onto a screen as premium if the presentation is rare,
fairly convincing evidence. The BFI IMAX could
It still has to be a good show
properly done and difficult to reproduce elsewhere.
scarcely have sold more seats if it had tried, and
None of this means that putting something on 35mm
What people are paying for is not necessarily the
Melbourne told much the same story on the other side
automatically makes it a premium presentation. I
newest technology. They are paying for a show
of the world. Audiences sought out 35mm and 70mm
have seen some beautiful film shows over the years
which feels worth making the effort to see.
presentations across the UK and elsewhere, and the full IMAX film version became something people
and some absolutely terrible ones. A dirty, scratched print running through a poorly maintained projector,
What did The Odyssey leave?
slightly out of focus and with the wrong masking
Now that the initial release is behind us, this is
None of that means every cinema needs a film
does not suddenly acquire artistic merit because
probably the more useful question. If the projectors
projector. It does mean film projection can still have
there is celluloid involved. A well set-up modern laser
used for The Odyssey disappear back under their
value well beyond nostalgia. The projectors have
projector showing a properly mastered DCP will
covers until Christopher Nolan makes another film,
survived in greater numbers than many of us
beat a bad film presentation every time. If a cinema
then this summer will have been an impressive but
expected. Film can still be processed and printed,
advertises 35mm or 70mm prominently and people
fairly isolated event. Yet cinemas such as the Prince
specialist cinemas continue to programme it, and this
travel specifically because of that format, then the
Charles, BFI Southbank and Parkway, along with
summer showed very clearly that audiences will still
format has become part of the product they have
specialist exhibitors such as Dirt in the Gate,
turn up for it. What needs to survive along with all of
bought. They are entitled to expect it to be done
continue programming film independently of
that is the knowledge.
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travelled extraordinary distances to see.
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ANALYSIS
WHAT DO CINEMA AND THE SOLAR ECLIPSE HAVE IN COMMON?* WORDS: DAVID HANCOCK, OMDIA
If you were lucky enough to witness the recent total eclipse in parts of Europe, North Africa and North America, you will know the power such events have to bring people together. The media talks about it, people discuss it in the streets and pubs, excitement builds as it approaches and we witness it together, communally. 2 4
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hilst watching the moon cover the sun, cinemas sprung into my mind, and particularly the work
of urban sociologist Ray Oldenburg in the 1990s, which came up with the notion of Third Places, that is not home nor work, in his book The Great Good Place. Professor Oldenburg cites bars, coffee shops, hairdressers, and bookstores as places where informal networks are created and which are important for community belonging. To his list, I would add cinemas and solar eclipses, as they can both function as Third Places. Cinemas were
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ANALYSIS
*(MY PUNCHLINE: THEY BOTH INVOLVE THE LIGHTS GOING DOWN AND STARING AT STARS. SEND YOURS IN TO THE EDITOR) w w w. c i n e m a - t e c h n o l o g y. c o m
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ANALYSIS
N. AMERICA: QUARTERLY CINEMA BOX OFFICE ($BN)
Q1
Q2
Q3 *Q3 IS PREDICTED BASED ON 6 WEEKS
SOURCE: OMDIA BOX OFFICE MOJO 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 2015
2016
2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
excluded from the original list as they don’t revolve
cultural institution that offers something no home
around conversation, or at least didn’t in 1991.
viewing experience can replicate: the power of
However, the cinema of today is more suited to
shared emotion and collective experience. The
lingering before and after and crucially provides a
importance of cinemas as communal events
very strong collective experience.
extends far beyond simply watching a film—it’s
Third places are essential for the healthy
about participating in an event that connects us to
functioning of society because they foster social
strangers, heightens our emotions, and reinforces
connections, facilitate the exchange of ideas, and
our sense of belonging to something larger than
create shared identity. They reduce social isolation
ourselves. The communal nature of cinema also
and generate trust among community members,
serves an important social function in our
enabling coordination and cooperation. Studies
increasingly atomised society. In our daily lives, we
show that strong social networks established in
often exist in echo chambers (often by choice) on
these third places improve individual mental and
social media and even streaming platforms that are
physical health and allows people to access
driven by algorithms, surrounded by people who
resources that can empower economic and social
share our views and backgrounds. The cinema is
prosperity. The importance of these spaces became
one of the few remaining spaces where diverse
even more apparent in their absence, such as during
groups of people, of different ages, backgrounds,
COVID, highlighting how essential it is to have
and perspectives on life, gather for a common
access to communal gathering places.
purpose. Films on the screen reflect not just us, but others too, their cultures, thoughts, habits and lives.
Collective Experience
This democratic gathering space engenders a
In an era when streaming services and personal
sense of common purpose and shared reference
devices are ever-present, the cinema remains a vital
points that help bind diverse communities together
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2023
2024
2025
2026*
5.5%
JULY 2026’S BOX OFFICE GROSS WAS ONLY MARGINALLY UP ON JULY 2025 (5.5%),
32.8%
AUGUST RESULTS WILL BE SIGNIFICANTLY AHEAD OF THE PREVIOUS YEAR, ALREADY 32.8% UP AFTER ONLY TWO WEEKS OF THE MONTH.
38%
41%
THE PROPORTION OF AMERICAN GEN Z GOING TO THE CINEMA AT LEAST 6 TIMES A YEAR INCREASED FROM 33% TO 41% IN 2025
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ANALYSIS
into a cohesive whole: cinema is a water-cooler
high of $3bn to take the North American cinema
more premium but affordable leisure option, and
moment on a global scale. Cinemas also create
revenue in the first three quarters of the year close to
producers/distributors seem to be getting a better
memorable social rituals and traditions. Date nights,
the levels seen pre-COVID. The theatrical take has
handle on what audiences want in the 2020s:
family outings, celebrations with friends—these
moved past the recent benchmark year of 2023 as
greater originality, new heroes, fewer franchises and
experiences become woven into the fabric of our
younger audiences return to the cinema en masse.
opportunities for a new generation of creative
personal timelines. Thus, going to the cinema
The first half of the year improved as the months
talent. (evidenced by Backrooms, Obsession, Iron
becomes an event in its own right: memorable,
went on while not getting close to 2019 and before,
Lung). The industry is excited by the return of Gen Z
affirming, sealing our place as part of a community,
but the success of Michael, Super Mario and Toy
and Alpha to cinemas. The proportion of American
a family, a friendship group.
Story 5 pushed the second quarter upwards, and
Gen Z going to the cinema at least 6 times a year
Spider-Man and The Odyssey have continued the
increased from 33% to 41% in 2025. For them, the
Cultural Moments
upwards trend. While July 2026’s box office gross
physical space in a digital way of life gives greater
And where you ask, not without justification, does
was only marginally up on July 2025 (5.5%), the
meaning and authenticity to younger audiences,
the solar eclipse come into it? I would argue they are
August results will be significantly ahead of the
creating a place to meet in real life people they might
part of the same life experience. Both events begin
previous year, already 32.8% up after only two
know more from online. Cinemas are for friendship
with anticipation, even if eclipses are known
weeks of the month. The first cinema year with no
and the on-screen content brings meaning and
somewhat in advance of the cinema programme.
significant events to cut momentum (pandemic,
clarity in a complicated world. With a more settled
This shared anticipation creates buzz, conversation,
strikes and their impact) and the arrival of Amazon
industry dynamic, the hope now is that the year-end
and a sense of occasion that elevates the experience
MGM as a serious theatrical player (March’s Project
ignites in the same way as the summer has, with
beyond simply observing, we want to be part of the
Hail Mary started the year off with a buzz), 2026 is
exhibitors pinning their hopes on Avengers:
cultural moment when everyone else sees them first
proving that cinema is healthy and thrives when the
Doomsday, Dune: Part Three and Jumanji: Open
too (opening weekend anyone?)
films are there.
World. 2026 may prove the
Cinema and eclipses mean we have to be at a
first year to break $10bn at the
specific place at a specific time. You cannot pause a
A Bright Outlook
N. American box office since
solar eclipse or watch it later at your convenience.
The cinema environment is improving, with
2019, and $35bn worldwide,
Similarly, while you can stream and pause a film at
investments into comfort, ease of booking,
both important benchmarks
home, the cinema experience exists only when you
affordability and technology all making cinema a
for the global film industry.
MORE INFO
are in the auditorium. This experience becomes more valuable because of it. In fact, the physical gathering is a central part of both: congregating with others, whether friend or stranger roots you into that moment in time. Research shows that heartbeats synchronise in a cinema, the emotional pace of a film creates a single collective being. The power of cinema is to become immersed in a vision, surrender to the story, the ideas, the narrative flow in the same way an eclipse temporarily ignites our consciousness, remining us of the vastness of the universe and the wondrous mechanics of the universe. So, as the solar eclipse brought a part of the world together, so has cinema this summer. ‘Spiderssey’ has already earned well over $3bn of box office between them and this summer’s box office line-up will equal a decade-old third quarter
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N E A R LY
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Y E A R S
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T H E
R O A D
IAIN MacCOLL & THE SCREEN MACHINE
After almost 28 years taking cinema to some of Scotland’s most remote communities, Screen Machine Senior Operator Iain MacColl is retiring in September. Peter Knight looks back at an extraordinary career spent quite literally taking the cinema on the road.
W O R D S : P E T E R K N I G H T, C O M M I S S I O N I N G E D I T O R , C T M A G A Z I N E
M
ost projectionists do not have to drive their cinema to work. Iain MacColl has spent almost 28 years doing
exactly that. When the Screen Machine began touring Scotland in 1998, Iain was there. In September he will retire as its Senior Operator, having spent the intervening years driving, operating and looking after one of the more unusual cinemas anywhere in the UK. For those who have never encountered it, the Screen Machine is one of those things that sounds relatively straightforward until you stop and think about what is actually involved. On the road it is an articulated vehicle. At each destination the trailer expands to become a fully equipped cinema
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TRIBUTE
From left to right, Ian MacColl, a tour poster from 2001 and the Screen Machine transformed in to a cinema having arrived on site.
between locations, position it, open and close the
concentrate on the equipment. Projection, sound,
expanding trailer, operate and maintain the cinema
servers, screens and the increasingly complicated
equipment, sell tickets, welcome the audience,
collection of systems required to put a picture in front
present the films and then pack everything away
of an audience. The Screen Machine has always been
before heading for the next community. If something
interesting from that point of view simply because it
goes wrong, there is not necessarily an engineer ten
takes all of those things and puts them into an
minutes down the road. It is an unusual combination
environment which then has to travel thousands of
of projectionist, cinema technician, HGV driver and
miles around Scotland. Iain’s career with the Screen
front-of-house manager, with a little diplomacy and
Machine has spanned generations of both
improvisation thrown in for good measure.
equipment and audiences. He joined when the
For much of the Screen Machine’s history, Iain has
original Screen Machine entered service in 1998. That
been one of the familiar faces making all of that
first vehicle was replaced by Screen Machine 2 in
happen. Back in 2017, during the Screen Machine’s
2005, which remained on the road until 2023. Since
first visit to Shapinsay in Orkney, Iain described a
then the service has been maintained using a leased
touring pattern which saw the then 33-tonne vehicle
French Cinémobile while Regional Screen Scotland
covering around 15,000 miles a year, often in nine-
worked towards the next permanent Screen
week runs. Even after 19 years behind the wheel, he
Machine. During those years cinema itself changed
said he still got a real buzz from seeing people
considerably. Iain’s Screen Machine career began in
coming out of the cinema after becoming completely
the era of 35mm film and continued through the
absorbed in a film, or hearing children laughing and
industry’s move to digital cinema, bringing with it
interacting with what was happening on screen.
DCPs, servers, KDMs and a completely different way
For some of those children it was their first auditorium, bringing the big screen experience to
experience of seeing a film in a cinema.
of distributing and presenting films. Yet the basic purpose of the Screen Machine changed very little.
communities across the Highlands and Islands where
One youngster apparently took a little longer to
a visit to a permanent cinema can otherwise mean
grasp the distinction between television and the big
several hours of travelling, a ferry journey, or both.
screen, repeatedly asking for the channel to be
Take the cinema to the audience
changed because they did not like the film.
There have also been some rather less conventional
The current service visits more than 40
destinations along the way. Iain took the Screen
communities, including islands across the Hebrides and Orkney. It is a cinema where the touring schedule
Serving rural communities
Machine to the G8 summit at Gleneagles and twice to
is dictated not just by film availability and audience
That same visit also produced another story which
Bosnia to entertain British troops. Closer to home,
demand, but by roads, ferries, weather and whether
perhaps says rather more about what the Screen
special screenings have demonstrated what can be
several tonnes of mobile cinema can physically
Machine means to the communities it serves. Iain
achieved when the cinema goes to communities
get to where it needs to be. Operating it therefore
recalled leaving one island where residents joked
rather than expecting communities to travel to the
requires a slightly broader skill set than that normally
about taking the wheels off the vehicle so that he
cinema. For the Screen Machine’s 15th anniversary in
demanded of somebody working in a projection
could not take their cinema away again. It is easy
2013, for example, Local Hero was taken back to
room. The operators drive the Screen Machine
when writing about cinema technology to
Mallaig for a special 30th anniversary screening
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TRIBUTE
attended by writer-director Bill Forsyth and producer
moment it began. There will be plenty to say about
been stranded in blizzards where people still came
Iain Smith. A screening of The Cheviot, the Stag and
that new machine in due course. It deserves a story
out to the cinema as we have our own generator and
the Black, Black Oil in Dornie was similarly joined by
of its own once it begins the next chapter of
the power was off in the village so the villagers knew
Bill Paterson. These are the sort of events which
Screen Machine’s life. There cannot be many cinema
the cinema would be warm! I been in 100mph winds
would be entirely routine in a major city, but
technicians who can say they have been there for
where we take a few precautions to weather the
considerably harder to arrange for an audience living
almost the entire life of a cinema, watched its audience
storm. Ferry cancelations do happen due to the
many hours from Edinburgh or Glasgow. By the
grow through generations, worked through the
weather and the disappointment on that particular
Screen Machine’s 20th anniversary in 2018, annual
transition from film to digital and, along the way,
island is enormous. The milk, bread and the mail
admissions had passed 30,000 for the first time.
physically driven the thing around a sizeable part of
might not arrive and that is acceptable but the SM not
More tellingly, Iain was beginning to welcome
Scotland. Nor can many projectionists say that
arriving with the latest releases is a catastrophe!
children aboard whose parents had themselves
somebody once threatened to remove the wheels
When I started we had a 35mm Vic 5 projector in
visited the Screen Machine as children. That is quite a
from their cinema because the audience did not want
the first 2 Screen Machines. We were one of the first
legacy for any cinema, let alone one which spends
them to leave. After almost 28 years, thousands of
cinemas to fully convert to digital. A lot of cinemas at
much of its life travelling on ferries and along single-
screenings, countless ferry crossings and rather a lot
the time were running both 35mm and digital side
track roads. Recognition came in 2019 when Iain
of miles, Iain MacColl has earned the opportunity to
by side but we had only room for one projector so
became one of the first recipients of BAFTA and EE’s
let somebody else do the driving. There is a personal
with fingers crossed we installed a Christie digital
For the Love of Film award, alongside Dan Ellis of Jam
reason why I wanted to mark Iain’s retirement as well.
projector. It worked well and even Christie were
Jar Cinema. BAFTA’s Andrew Orr highlighted Iain’s
Many readers will know that, for the last ten years, I
impressed by the reliability. We now have the new
long service and the reach of the Screen Machine in
have worked on three of the Screen Machine’s ‘sister’
Barco SP2K-7 laser projector. We have come a long
making the cinema experience available across the
mobile cinemas, travelling around the country doing
way from the old Vic 5! Retirement is now on the
Highlands and Islands.
something I love and remain hugely passionate
horizon and there is a brand new Screen machine
Iain, characteristically, made the recognition
about. Having experienced that world first hand, I can
hitting the road in the Autumn. I always said I would
about rather more than himself, talking about the
appreciate just how much both Iain and the Screen
deliver SM3 then hand over the responsibility to
work put in by everyone involved with the Screen
Machine must have become part of the communities
other members of the RSS team. My SM journey is
Machine over the previous 21 years. Seven years later,
they visit.
coming to an end but my connection with the
he is finally preparing to finish. There is something
Highlands and Islands will be as strong as ever. My
particularly appropriate about the timing. Regional
Iain's Thoughts
partner Kay and I have just bought a 55 year old
Screen Scotland is also preparing the next generation
"I have met so many wonderful people over the years
MGB Roadster as a retirement project so if you see a
of its purpose-built Screen Machine, continuing a
and have made many firm and lasting friendships.
British Racing Green MGB touring the Highlands it
service which Iain has been part of almost from the
Weather has been no real barrier to the circuit as I have
could very well be us!"
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review and update* Your Exhibitor Portal just got an upgrade — now capturing a broader range of technical capabilities. Designed to streamline operations and enhance efficiency for exhibitors and distributors globally. Check your MPS KDM emails for your cinema login details. Thank you.
* over 4,000 screen capability updates a week by cinemas globally mps withmps.com
CHRISTIE
SOLVING OBSERVER METAMERIC FAILURE WITH HYBRID LASER ILLUMINATION Colour changed the way we watch movies when it came to the big screen in the 1930s and has wowed audiences ever since. As the director’s palate transforms every frame into a work of art, ensuring colours are accurately represented to all audience members is an essential part of the filmmaking process. Last year, CT Magazine covered observer metameric failure – the phenomenon that occurs when observers see an apparent colour mismatch of real-world objects observed with different light sources. Observer metameric failure (OMF) is a key reason postproduction houses have hesitated to join the exhibition market in updating their projectors to laser projection. With a focus on industry needs, Christie® introduced their new RGB hybrid (RGBH) projectors to alleviate the effects of OMF as well as other challenges such as speckle. WORDS: JUD CROSS, SNR TECH MANAGER, CHRISTIE
H projectors
ow do they do it? OMF comes from the
narrow-band
delivered
by
RGB
because
there
is
wavelength pure not
laser
enough
differentiation in the light and colour being projected to cover subtle differences in the biology of the observer’s eye. Thanks to the wider wavelengths of daylight, Xenon, and now RGBH projectors, the colour is spread through the visual spectrum in such a way that the cones of an observer’s eye will see colour as intended – even if there is a biological anomaly present. The trick is to capture the broader light wavelength without sacrificing the colour, contrast, features, and
Image: dual light sources diagram
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CHRISTIE
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CHRISTIE
BROADER COLOUR SPECTRUM
XENON
benefits of RGB pure laser. Christie accomplished this
RGB PURE LASER
RGB HYBRID LASER
The industry needed a way to broaden the wavelengths in successful, fieldproven red, green and blue lasers.
with a dual LOS system. They combined an RGB pure laser light source with a blue-laser phosphor light source for a true hybrid solution. The RGB unit provides the specifications required for modern theatrical visuals, while the phosphor component extends the wavelengths to ensure accurate visual representation to all observers.
required to monitor, control, and adjust the separate LOS’s
for
optimal
broadband-wavelength
representation across the desired colour gamut and intensity required – meaning this solution cannot be replicated by any other manufacturer. The result exceeds the required DCI colour gamut with a consistent broad-wavelength representation in the yellow portion of the spectrum to satisfy the critical red-to-green sensitivity overlap
Unforeseen Challenges
that varies greatly between individuals.
There is no doubt RGB pure laser has paved the way
needed a way to broaden the wavelengths in
To further help the industry succeed with RGB
for the future of cinema. With enhanced features,
successful, field-proven red, green, and blue lasers.
hybrid projectors, Christie created Hawkeye™, a
efficiency, colour, contrast, brightness, and
Christie accomplished this by adding a second laser
software calibration tool that allows an installer to
futureproofing, the benefits of RGB pure laser
optical system using blue laser and yellow phosphor
fine-tune the behavior of LiteLoc, accommodating
cannot be understated. However, as with any new
to expand wavelength diversity. The RGB hybrid
various native colour-spaces for non-Cinema and
technology, unforeseen challenges can present
models
alternative
themselves. For RGB pure laser, this came in the
efficiency, visual improvements, and technical
form of speckle and OMF. In DLP projectors, the
capabilities of the RGB pure laser models including
Thanks to this advancement, post-production
light-source is broken down into component
the 50,000 Hour lifetime of modern laser
houses can now make the update to laser
colours and recombined by the DLP process in very
projectors. The execution of this concept was
illumination without the concern of colour
specific ratios to attempt to very accurately
achieved through proprietary optical means to
discrepancies between observers. Lasers made
represent the real-world colours.
Even if the
homogenize two separate LOS’s into one integrator
more colours possible. Hybrid laser makes them
projector can measurably replicate all visible
rod to seamlessly illuminate a 3-Chip 0.98” 4K DMD
more consistent for everyone.
colours, the wavelengths of actual light present in
light engine with exceptional uniformity.
retain
the
industry-leading
energy
the system may fail to accurately represent the
sources
in
For more information on observer metameric failure
Options for Post-Production
and how the Christie RGBH
observers.
Available technology has evolved
To allow for use across exhibition and any screen/
projectors
significantly, but functional high-output broad-
brightness or colour standard in use, an evolution of
phenomenon, see the official
spectrum laser arrays have not yet. The industry
Christie LiteLoc™ software technology was
Deep Dive Webinar.
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and
post-production.
intended colors to a surprising number of human
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offset
MORE INFO
the
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LASER ILLUMINATION FOR EVERY THEATRE
Find the right light for your cinema
Best-in-class energy efficiency
The most advanced and efficient cinema projection
Ultra-fast processing electronics
Enhanced Wavelength Diversity
Electronic Color Convergence
LiteLOC
Expert projection, optimized effortlessly
NAVIGATION
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NAVIGATION
W O R D S : P E T E R K N I G H T, C O M M I S S I O N I N G E D I T O R , C T M
W
hat happens if a potential customer can discover your cinema, compare it with its competitors, check what’s
showing, find out whether a particular screening is accessible, look at the food offering and decide where to park, all without ever visiting your website? That isn’t a hypothetical future. The way people search for information is already changing, and some fairly mundane purchases I’ve made recently help illustrate just how different that journey can now be. I increasingly find conventional internet searches frustrating when I do not quite know what I am looking for. Google and Bing remain extremely good when I know precisely what I want: the name of a company, a particular product or the answer to a reasonably straightforward question. The difficulty comes when I know the problem I am trying to solve, but not necessarily the thing I should be searching for. Increasingly, I find myself turning to AI for searches, recommendations and research instead. I don’t necessarily begin with a carefully constructed question. I explain what I am trying to achieve, why I need it, what I already know and the things I think might matter. Some of that context turns out to be important and some of it doesn’t. We then have a
WILL AI FIND YOUR CINEMA? Peter J. Knight looks at what happens when AI becomes part of the customer journey before they ever reach your website, and why preparing for that change may have benefits far beyond AI. w w w. c i n e m a - t e c h n o l o g y. c o m
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NAVIGATION
conversation, dismissing the things that are irrelevant
wasn’t really the same thing at all. At £49 it was much
and refining the things that matter until the problem,
cheaper than the genuinely portable machines we had
and usually the answer, becomes much clearer. Voice
been considering, which were generally £150 or
adds another dimension to this. A conversation can
more, but it could solve enough of the immediate
continue while I am driving or doing something else,
problem. So I asked the assistant another question:
when sitting down to work through a page of
given everything we had discovered, did it actually
conventional search results simply isn’t practical. But
think I should buy this one?
the important change isn’t voice. It is being able to
I did. It isn’t perfect and I may still buy one of the
start with the problem rather than having to know the
properly portable machines in the future, but for £49 it
search terms.
does the job reasonably well when I am away with
A recent example involved coffee. I spend a lot of
work. More importantly, I had reached that decision
time travelling with work and wanted a coffee maker I
without spending an evening opening product pages,
could take with me. What I really wanted was one of
reading reviews, comparing specifications and trying
the genuinely portable machines which can heat their
to remember which machine did what. Much of that
own water. I don’t always have access to a kettle, I
work had happened inside a conversation.
don’t want anything horribly fiddly, pods would be convenient, and I like my coffee strong and white.
A few days later I had an even better example. An
THIS IS NO LONGER A NICHE BEHAVIOUR
If that sounds like an eccentric way of using the internet, the numbers suggest otherwise. In May 2026 Google said its
old mobile phone I use for audio playback had failed
AI Mode had passed one billion monthly
I didn’t know which machine I wanted because I
and I needed to replace it. Again, the important thing
users, only a year after launch, and that
didn’t really know what was available. So I explained
wasn’t really the phone. I needed to be able to play
the number of queries had more than
the
it
non-sync audio before screenings from an online app
doubled every quarter. Google has also
conversationally. The assistant researched the options,
or service. A CD player or conventional media server
reported that people ask much longer
we dismissed some, investigated others, looked at
therefore wasn’t the answer. This time I knew quite a lot
reviews and discovered that at least one machine
about what I thought I wanted. The replacement
which appeared attractive on paper seemed rather
needed to be unlocked, support two SIMs and still
less attractive once the experiences of people who
receive software updates. A 3.5mm headphone
billion. It is what people are doing
had actually bought it were taken into account. We
socket would be useful, although I could live with an
differently.
looked at pod availability, running costs, prices and
adaptor. I was perfectly happy to buy second-hand
follow-ups make sense when the user is
offers. Eventually I found another possibility in B&M. It
and didn’t really want to spend more than £150.
no longer trying to guess the perfect
problem
and
we
worked
through
questions in AI Mode than in traditional search and frequently continue with follow-up questions. The important point is not really the Longer
questions
and
keywords and can instead explain the
I explain what I am trying to achieve, why I need it, what I already know and the things I think might matter.
situation. Independent research from Pew Research Center points in the same direction. In an analysis of almost 69,000 Google searches, AI summaries appeared in just 8 per cent of very short searches of one or two words, but in 53 per cent of searches containing ten words or more. More significantly for anyone responsible for a website, users who encountered an AI summary clicked a conventional search result on 8 per cent of visits, compared with 15 per cent when there was no AI summary. There are plenty of caveats around those figures. The Pew study examined US
users
and
Google’s
products
continue to change rapidly. But the broad direction is difficult to ignore: people are becoming accustomed to asking
longer,
more
complicated
questions and, in at least some cases, getting enough of an answer that they do not immediately visit the websites from which the information came. And that brings us back to cinema.
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NAVIGATION
I gave the assistant those requirements rather than
Google for “Samsung A25 second hand” and get
Reaching Cinema Audiences Across AI Search and
the name of a phone. It researched the available
perfectly good results, but I have already made
Discovery Tools. The discussion brought together
options, identified some additional considerations I
several decisions before I type those words. I have
Oskars Killo of Mojo Works, Claire Beswick of The
hadn’t included, eliminated models which might
decided what I need, decided which manufacturer to
Living Room Cinema, Valentin Degen of International
initially have appeared suitable but were no longer
consider and probably narrowed the choice to a
Showtimes and Graeme Watt of The Boxoffice
particularly sensible purchases, and explained the
particular model. A conversation can begin much
Company. The Living Room Cinema provided a
compromises between the remaining choices. It then
earlier. I can describe the problem, provide the
useful practical example, having worked with Mojo
made a recommendation. I asked for the options as a
context, explore possible solutions, dismiss the
Works on how people might discover the cinema
comparison table instead. Once I could see the
things that don’t matter, discover things I hadn’t
through AI services. Rather than thinking only about
differences side by side, we narrowed the choice to
considered, narrow the options, compare actual
conventional keywords, the work considered real
two Samsung models. I then asked it to find actual
products and prices and eventually ask where I can
customer profiles and questions such as family
second-hand examples available to buy, with their
buy the thing we have selected. I can even get almost
activities in the Cotswolds at the weekend, then
prices and condition. Only at that point did I need the
to the end and then ask whether we have been
looked at whether AI systems could understand
links to the retailers themselves. Then, having almost
solving the right problem in the first place. In both
enough about the cinema to include it in useful
reached the end of the buying process, I went back to
examples I eventually needed a conventional retailer.
answers. That leads quickly away from the
the beginning and asked another question: was
B&M had to sell me the coffee machine, just as a
fashionable part of AI and into some rather less
buying another phone actually the right solution?
retailer would ultimately have to sell me a phone if
glamorous subjects: clear information, structured
What I really needed was a reliable way of playing
that is what I decide to buy. But the retailer’s website
data, schema, JSON, useful FAQs and consistency
online audio before a screening. I already had one
appeared remarkably late in the decision-making
between the cinema’s own information and the
possible alternative, a DAB radio, but reception inside
process. Most of the discovery, research, comparison
services which repeat it. The underlying idea is
projection rooms isn’t always reliable. That meant we
and decision had already happened elsewhere.
straightforward. If a machine is going to answer a
could step away from comparing phones altogether
customer’s question on your behalf, make it as easy
and consider whether there was a better way of
Already being asked by cinemas...
as possible for that machine to understand what the
solving the problem. That is the part which I think
This was one of the subjects explored at the 2026 UK
information means and where the authoritative
illustrates the difference particularly well. I can search
Cinema Association conference in the session
version lives.
FROM SEARCHING FOR A CINEMA TO SOLVING A PROBLEM Someone could search for “cinema Cardiff”, but a conversational journey might begin much earlier: “We’re staying near Cardiff for a few days and the weather looks dreadful tomorrow. We’ve got my parents and the children with us. Dad can’t walk particularly far. We’d like to do something in the afternoon and ideally get
get a proper meal? Roughly what will the
Conversational discovery can move much of the
afternoon cost? By the end of that conversation
discovery, research and comparison before that
the customer may have selected a cinema,
visit. The cinema website remains vital,
chosen a film, checked the accessibility of the
particularly as an authoritative source and a
performance, established where to park,
place to transact, but its position in the
looked at the food offering and worked out the
customer journey can change.
likely cost. And, just as with my coffee machine
This also means the cinema may be
and phone, they may have done all of that
competing
without visiting the cinema’s website.
customer hasn’t yet decided to go to the
in
conversations
where
the
The AI assistant can gather information from
cinema. The alternatives might be bowling, a
The person hasn’t asked for a cinema. They
the sources available to it and bring the relevant
museum, a restaurant or simply staying in. For
haven’t mentioned a film and may not even have
parts into the conversation. Only when the
audience development, that is potentially more
considered going to the cinema. But a cinema
customer decides, “That sounds good, let’s
interesting than merely asking whether your
could be an excellent answer. The assistant
book
venue ranks well for “cinema near me”.
suggests one and the conversation continues.
necessarily a handover to the cinema’s
They have already been there, so it suggests
booking system.
some food as well.”
the
3.30
performance,”
is
there
The question is no longer only whether somebody can find your website. It is whether
another. What’s showing tomorrow afternoon?
For years, much online marketing has
the service they are using can find, understand
Is the film suitable for an eight-year-old? What
concentrated on getting somebody onto the
and accurately represent your cinema. If it
time does it finish? Can Dad get into that
website: search for a film, see the cinema in the
cannot, a perfectly suitable venue may never
particular screen in his wheelchair? Is there
results, click, browse the programme, check the
enter the conversation. The customer simply
somewhere to park reasonably close? Can they
facilities, choose a performance and book.
never knew it was an option.
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The website may not be where the information lives
film is showing in Screen 3 at 19:30, with subtitles and
explore films and showtimes conversationally before
specified accessibility features, why should every
moving towards the booking. That doesn’t mean
This becomes particularly interesting in cinema
other service have to work that out by looking at a
every cinema needs a ChatGPT integration
because the website is often not the original source of
webpage? The same underlying data might
tomorrow. It demonstrates that the boundary
the most important information. The POS, scheduling
potentially feed the website, an app, Google, listings
between an AI conversation and a cinema’s ticketing
or cinema-management system may already know
services,
journey is already becoming permeable. The more
the film, date, start time, auditorium, ticket price,
accessibility tools and AI assistants.
digital
signage,
tourism
services,
useful question is whether the information flowing
available seats and, depending on the system,
This is where terms such as schema, JSON-LD, APIs
through those journeys is accurate, current and
presentation format and accessibility attributes. The
and data feeds enter the conversation. Cinema
website consumes that information and turns it into
operators don’t need to become web developers to
something a customer can browse and book.
understand the principle. A human can look at a
Benefits are much wider than AI
sufficiently structured to be reused.
Once you look at it that way, the question isn’t
page, see a poster, “Saturday 7.30”, a wheelchair
Most of the work described above remains useful
simply whether the website is “AI friendly”. It is
symbol and a Book button and infer the relationship
even if conversational AI disappeared tomorrow.
whether the information behind the cinema’s digital
between them. Computers work better when those
Consider something as mundane as opening
services is well structured and reusable.
relationships are explicit: this is a cinema, this is a film,
hours. One version appears on the cinema website,
this is a performance of that film, this is its start time,
another on Google, an old PDF is still indexed,
this performance has these accessibility attributes
Facebook hasn’t been updated and a local tourism
and this is where it can be booked. The exact
site copied last year’s information. An AI assistant
technical method will vary. What matters is that
repeats whichever version it happens to find. That
important information has meaning beyond its visual
looks like an AI problem, but the underlying problem
position on a webpage and, wherever practical, has
is information management. The same principle
an identifiable authoritative source.
already applies to cinema schedules. Nobody wants
If the cinema system already knows that a particular
staff to enter every performance into the POS and
This is already happening
then manually retype the entire programme into the
This isn’t entirely theoretical. The Boxoffice Company
website. Wherever practical, authoritative information
already operates across cinema websites, ticketing
should be maintained in one sensible place and
and discovery, with integrations into a range of
reused by the systems which need it. The same
cinema POS systems. In 2026, along with Regal
thinking can extend to accessibility, facilities, parking,
Cinemas launched a ChatGPT cinema discovery and
food and drink, ticket prices, screen information,
ticketing integration which allows customers to
presentation
formats,
subtitled
performances,
BEING FOUND IS NOT ENOUGH
1
2
3
There is an obvious problem with all of this.
For cinema, the consequences are easy to
A cinema cannot guarantee what an AI service
AI systems get things wrong. They can
imagine. An assistant recommends a 7.30
will say about it, but it can reduce the amount
misunderstand
old
performance which was cancelled yesterday. It
that service needs to infer or guess. There is a
information, combine correct facts into an
says the cinema is wheelchair accessible, but the
considerable difference between an assistant
incorrect conclusion or occasionally invent
particular auditorium is not. It finds an old menu
trying to establish wheelchair access from a
an answer altogether. The companies
and tells the customer the kitchen is open until
three-year-old customer review and finding a
building these systems acknowledge this,
nine when it now closes at seven. The customer
current, clearly maintained accessibility page
and the sensible advice remains to check
is unlikely to care whether the error came from
from the cinema itself. The same applies to
important information against authoritative
an AI model, an outdated listings site or a
programme information, opening hours, food,
sources.
forgotten page on the cinema’s own website.
parking, ticket prices and special screenings.
a
question,
use
They simply know that the answer was wrong. The objective, therefore, is not simply to make the cinema easy for AI to find. It is to make the right information easy to find, understand and verify.
NAVIGATION
ASK AI ABOUT YOUR CINEMA
relaxed screenings, parent-and-baby shows and
which nearby cinema has wheelchair access, where
event cinema. There is an accessibility benefit too.
you can see a film and get a proper meal, whether you
Many of the practices which make information easier
can take a baby, what the parking is like, or what a
for machines to understand also make websites easier
family could do on a rainy afternoon.
for people using assistive technology: proper
Try more than one service and look not only for
headings, logical page structures, meaningful links
whether your cinema appears, but whether the
Don't just ask an AI assistant for the
and buttons, labelled forms and important information
answers are correct. If several systems think your
name of your cinema. Start a new
presented as real text rather than trapped inside
restaurant closes at eight when it actually closes at
conversation, give it the sort of problem
images. A machine-readable site isn’t automatically
ten, investigate why. You may find an old page or
a real customer might be trying to solve
an accessible one, and proper accessibility also
contradictory listing which has been confusing
and see whether your venue appears.
involves keyboard operation, focus order, colour
human customers as well. Then audit the basics. Are
contrast, captions and the wider requirements of
opening hours consistent? Is the accessibility
WCAG. Nevertheless, there is useful overlap. Better
information current and detailed? Are menus and
›W e're looking for something to do with
information architecture can also make a site easier to
facilities described as accessible text rather than only
two children on a wet Saturday
maintain. Cinema websites accumulate content:
PDFs or images? Is there old content which should no
listings, bars, restaurants, membership, accessibility,
longer be indexed? Are third-party listings correct?
Then check whether what it says is actually correct.
afternoon in [town]. What would you recommend? › F ind me a cinema near [location] where we can watch a film tomorrow evening and get a proper meal as well. ›M y father uses a wheelchair. We'd like to see [film] near [location] tomorrow afternoon. Which screenings would be suitable,
and
what
accessibility
private hire, education, festivals, venue hire and
The next conversation is with the companies
loyalty schemes. Information gets duplicated and
supplying the cinema’s technology. Can programme
then one version is updated while another is
and showtime information be accessed as structured
forgotten. Clear authoritative sources and reusable
data? Does the website use appropriate structured
data reduce those opportunities for contradiction.
markup? Is there an API or feed for approved third-
Conventional search benefits from clear, wellorganised information too. Apps and third-party services can reuse it more easily. Future integrations
facilities are available? › I 'd like to see [film] this weekend, but I need a subtitled performance. What
become less painful. Staff spend less time chasing inconsistencies and customers are more likely to
are my options within 30 minutes of
receive the right answer. Seen in that light, this isn’t
[location]?
really a project to “optimise the website for ChatGPT”.
›W e're planning a date night in [town]. Find somewhere we can see a film,
AI is the reason we are having the conversation, but it isn’t necessarily the reason for doing the work.
have something good to eat and park nearby. Compare the best options. › I have a baby and would like to go to
What should an operator do? The first step doesn’t require a large technology
the cinema this week. Which cinemas
budget. Ask the machines awkward questions about
near [location] have parent-and-baby
your own cinema. Don’t simply type its name. Ask
screenings, and when are they?
where you can watch a subtitled film tomorrow,
›W hat makes [your cinema] different from the other cinemas nearby? Who would you recommend it for? › T ell me about [your cinema], including its
opening
hours,
parking,
accessibility, food and drink, ticket prices and anything I should know before visiting. Use current sources and tell me where each piece of information came from. › Try the same questions in several AI services, change the wording and ask follow-up questions. Don't stop at whether the cinema appears. Check the details. If the answer is wrong, the interesting question is why. Is your own information unclear? Is an old page still online? Is an accessibility detail missing? Is a third-party listing out of date? Used this way, AI becomes a useful free audit of how well the outside world currently understands your cinema.
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NAVIGATION
party services? How are accessibility attributes
attracting attention today. I don’t think that is the
represented? Where is the authoritative source for
right response here. Don’t build a website for
opening hours, facilities, food and drink and other
ChatGPT, Gemini or whichever AI service happens
venue information? If something changes once,
to be fashionable next year. Build better digital
where does that change propagate? How does the
foundations instead. Keep important information
platform support conventional search today, and
accurate and current, accessible, structured and
how is it preparing for conversational discovery and
reusable. Avoid unnecessary duplication, establish
agentic services? Those are questions I would now
sensible authoritative sources and make sure
want answered when specifying a new cinema
valuable information isn’t needlessly trapped inside
website, ticketing platform or POS system. They are
images, PDFs or systems which cannot share it.
useful questions even if the letters AI never appear in the procurement document.
Don't build a web site for ChatGPT, Gemini or whichever AI service happens to be fashionable next year.
Do that and the investment has value regardless of which AI products survive. The website can become easier to maintain, customers using
Cost, and the cost of doing nothing
assistive technology can have a better experience,
There is no sensible single price for this work. For
search engines have clearer information to work
some cinemas the first stage is little more than
with, other services can reuse the data and future
digital housekeeping: remove outdated pages,
integrations become easier. There is still a human
improve FAQs and accessibility information, correct
customer at the end of all this. The machine is simply
third-party listings and find out what structured
doing some of the research on their behalf. And
information the existing website already provides.
when
That may involve very little external cost. The next
“Where should we go to the
level may require developer or supplier time to
cinema tonight?”, your cinema
improve structured markup, content management
has a much better chance of
or integrations. More fundamental limitations in an
becoming
ageing website or POS platform could require
conversation.
that
customer
part
of
asks, MORE INFO
the
substantial work and, in some cases, are better solved by suppliers at platform level than by every independent operator commissioning its own workaround. That is another reason not to start by buying something labelled an “AI solution”. Start by understanding the information you already have, where it comes from and how well it can be reused. And what happens if you do nothing? Probably nothing dramatic tomorrow. The website will still work, customers will still book and conventional search will remain enormously important. The risk is quieter than that. A customer asks an assistant to find somewhere pleasant to watch a film and have dinner on Friday. Three cinemas could satisfy the request. The assistant confidently recommends two because it can establish that they serve food. The third has an excellent restaurant too, but relevant information is hard to find or buried in an old PDF, so it doesn't make the shortlist. That cinema hasn’t necessarily lost an existing customer. It has failed to enter the consideration set of a potential one.
Don’t build a website for ChatGPT The temptation with any fast-moving technology is to optimise for the product which happens to be
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TH E TE N M I N U TE O T E D I U G
G N I T A E CR
I A D G OO
S T P M O PR HT TER J. KNIG WORDS: PE
swork, r briefs: they cut gues tte be e ar s pt om pr r Bette able. AI outputs far more us e ak m d an k, or w re reduce en w to prompt clearly, th ho u yo s ow sh e id gu This quick trust it. mes back before you sanity-check what co
B
y now, most people will have tried AI at some point. You may have used a chat
4 POINTS TO
tool such as ChatGPT, Microsoft Copilot,
REMEMBER
Google Gemini, or one of the other popular assistants. You may have used AI for meeting notes too, for example Read.ai. If you have experimented, you will have seen the full range of outcomes: surprisingly useful, vaguely helpful, confidently
AI prompting is exactly the same. When
wrong, and occasionally so far off target that you
prompts fail, it is usually for one of these
wonder if it was answering a different question
reasons:
altogether. This is your quick ten minute guide to double-checking the quality of what comes back. It
1
is system-agnostic and deliberately practical. Think
purpose?
creating better prompts, getting better results, and
THE REQUEST IS VAGUE Make this better is not a brief.
Better how? For whom? For what
of it as the difference between shouting sort the booth out and handing someone a clear job sheet, a torch, and the keys. This is intentionally a quick, simple guide. There are more advanced techniques you can explore once you have the basics working.
A quick reality check AI tools can produce made-up details, confident
2
THE CONTEXT IS MISSING The AI does not know your
audience, your constraints, your house style, or what has already been decided.
3
THE OUTPUT SHAPE IS UNCLEAR
If you do not specify whether you want a
errors, and plausible nonsense, especially when
headline, a checklist, a paragraph, or an
they are missing context. Treat outputs as drafts, not
email draft, you will get whatever the
truth. If the task is safety-critical, compliance-
tool feels like producing.
related, financial, legal, or reputational, keep a human in charge and verify anything that matters before acting on it.
Why you get bad results Providing AI with a good prompt is like giving your
Providing AI with a good prompt is like giving your team a clear request to do a task. If you are not clear and do not provide the correct context, the person carrying out the task has to guess.
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YOU ARE ACCIDENTALLY ASKING IT TO INVENT
If you want facts, dates, and source checking, you must say so. Otherwise it will fill gaps with plausible-sounding filler.
team a clear request to do a task. If you are not clear and do not provide the correct context, the person
The underlying principle is simple:
carrying out the task has to guess. Guessing leads to
prompting requires you to think clearly
errors, wasted time, and that familiar moment when you realise everyone has been working hard, just not on the thing you actually needed.
about what you are asking and what you want the response to be. It also requires information and context. The more you work with an AI assistant, the better you will get at briefing it. (And if the tool remembers preferences over time, it may get better at matching your way of working, though you should never rely on that alone.)
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HOW TO PROMPT WELL
1
THE TASK (WHAT YOU WANT DONE)
Start with a verb. Draft. Summarise. Rewrite. Extract. Compare. Turn into a A useful way to think about prompting comes from Harold Lasswell, who described communication as five practical questions: who says what, in which channel, to whom, and with what effect. In other words, communication works best when you are clear about the speaker, the message, the route, the audience, and the outcome you are trying to achieve.
checklist. Suggest options.
2
THE AUDIENCE (WHO IT IS FOR)
AI prompting is the same idea. You are commissioning work. You are setting the audience. You
A
are choosing the format. You are defining success. Here is a simple prompt structure you can
projectionist on shift. A customer
cinema
general
manager.
A
use for almost anything. If you only learn one thing, learn this.
reading a foyer poster. A supplier. A board member who hates jargon.
3
THE PURPOSE (WHAT EFFECT YOU WANT)
Inform. Persuade. Reassure. Create actions. Reduce complaints. Save time. Make a decision easier.
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CONSTRAINTS (THE GUARD RAILS)
Length, tone, reading level, UK English, avoid buzzwords, do not speculate, keep it factual, keep it friendly, keep it formal.
5
INPUTS (THE MATERIAL IT MUST USE)
Paste what you have, even if it is rough: bullet points, messy notes, an outline, a half-written paragraph, or a bundle of this is what I’m trying to say thinking. In practice, many people start by dumping their rough thinking into a prompt, then use the AI to shape it into a coherent first pass. If you give the AI something real to work with, it can usually turn it into a coherent first draft faster than starting from a blank page. If you do not give it material, it will either ask for it or make it up.
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OUTPUT FORMAT (THE SHAPE OF THE ANSWER)
Headings, bullets, numbered steps, a table of actions, short and long versions, plus a list of questions or missing info at the end. If you want a one-line memory aid, it is this: Task + Audience + Purpose + Constraints + Inputs + Format. If you are not sure what a good prompt looks like, just ask the tool to help you write one, then refine it using the structure above.
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AI
Check your work A great habit is to use a second AI assistant, or at least a second chat, to challenge the result. That
A FEW PROMPT EXAMPLES
might sound like overkill, but it’s just basic editorial
THAT ACTUALLY WORK
discipline. Where possible, do this in a fresh chat so the AI treats it as a clean review, rather than
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continuing the drafting mindset.
CLEANING UP A MESSY PARAGRAPH Rewrite the text below for Cinema Technology Magazine
repetition, and make paragraphs clean. Limit to 180 words. Text:
Here is a simple review prompt you can reuse:
[paste].
Review the text below as a critical editor. Identify
readers. Tone: practical, neutral, UK English. Keep all facts, remove
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anything unclear or repetitive; any claims that might
TURNING A MEETING INTO ACTIONS
be wrong or need checking; anything that sounds
From the notes below, produce an action list with owners,
like marketing fluff; suggested improvements to
deadlines (if stated), and open questions. Keep it brief. Notes: [paste].
3
structure and readability. Then provide a revised version. You can also assign a different role. If you
CREATING CUSTOMER-FACING COPY
drafted a newsletter, ask the reviewer to act as the
Write a calm customer notice about [issue]. Audience: general
public. Purpose: reduce confusion and complaints. Provide a
editor. If you drafted a technical explanation, ask the
120-word version for web and a 40-word version for on-screen. UK
reviewer to act as a cinema manager who has ten
English. No jargon.
minutes between meetings. If the reviewer says I
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don’t understand this bit, take that seriously. That is
UNPICKING A MESSY BRIEF
your reader speaking. Another approach that works
Here are my rough notes and half-formed ideas. I need a clean
well for writing is to get a rough draft most of the way
outline and a first draft that still sounds like me. Ask up to 5 questions if
there, then switch to a more targeted mode: pick the
anything is unclear. Notes: [paste].
two or three paragraphs you do not like and ask for
Notice what these have in common. They do not try to sound clever.
alternatives, rewrites, or tighter versions. You stay in
They try to be clear.
control of the story, but you do not waste time fighting the blank page. Using AI well is a lot like training a new member of staff in a cinema. At the start, you do not hand them the keys and walk off. You show them the routine, explain what good looks like, give them boundaries, and check the work. Over time, they become faster, more reliable, and
WHAT WORKS AND WHAT DOESN’T
more useful. AI is just a tool, and like any tool it needs a bit of handling. Adding AI will not magically fix something if the underlying process is broken.
SPECIFICITY: The more precise
VIBES-BASED
Asking it to improve something without guidance
your brief, the less the AI guesses.
PROMPTING:
often produces something that is worse, less
CONSTRAINTS. Tone and length
Make your brief punchy
accurate, or simply not what you needed. But when
limits improve consistency fast.
and
you brief it properly and then review the output like
engaging
without
EXAMPLES: If you have a paragraph that sounds
audience, purpose, or format.
an editor, it becomes what we have always wanted in
like you, paste it and say match this style.
TEN OBJECTIVES AT ONCE: The assistant
a busy industry: a way to get from rough notes to a
ITERATION: Two short prompts often beat one
will choose what to prioritise and you may
usable first draft, a clear checklist, or a sensible plan
huge one.
not like its choices.
in minutes rather than hours. And if it still does not
ASK FOR QUESTIONS: If anything is missing,
ASSUMING IT KNOWS YOUR
land, that is not a failure. Sometimes the best value is
ask me before you finalise. This reduces
ORGANISATION: Unless you provide
that it gives you a direction, an
fantasy-filling.
policy, context, and facts, it will
angle, or a first pass you can
SEPARATE CHATS FOR SEPARATE JOBS: Treat
generalise.
each new task as a fresh thread. If you plan your
LETTING
WITHOUT
difference between staring at
shopping list and draft an article in the same chat,
REVIEW: Even excellent tools can
a blank page and getting the
you will get a strange hybrid of both.
produce confident nonsense.
job done.
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MORE INFO
react to. That alone can be the IT
PUBLISH
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CTEVENTS REPORTS AND REVIEWS OF GLOBAL INDUSTRY EXPOS
CineEurope 2026 Confidence Participation & the Premium Screen
B
arcelona’s CineEurope turned 35 this
sustainability and audience development, and many
The slate and what sat behind it
year, and did it in a better mood than the
of them are, but none of it works without a steady flow
The studio presentations remain the spine of the
industry has managed for some time.
of varied films that are properly marketed and given a
week, and this year’s programme took in Amazon
Peter Knight reports on four days of studio slates,
meaningful theatrical window. Supply has been the
MGM, Angel Studios, LAIKA, Lionsgate, MUBI,
trade show hardware and a surprising amount of talk
problem for years now, and an uneven slate has done
Paramount Pictures, Sony Pictures Releasing,
about what audiences think they are buying.
more damage than any streaming service. A stronger
STUDIOCANAL, Universal Pictures, Warner Bros. and The Walt Disney Studios.
CineEurope 2026 ran from 22 to 25 June at the
start to 2026 mostly demonstrated what happens
CCIB in Barcelona, its long-standing home, and drew
when the pipeline behaves itself. Consolidation was
There was no shortage of franchise material, and
more than 3,000 industry professionals. It was the
the other subject nobody could avoid. The continuing
animation and video-game adaptations continue to
show’s 35th anniversary, which might have made for a
restructuring among the majors brings the usual
take up more of the pipeline than they did five years
week of nostalgia. It wasn’t. Nothing much happened
questions about film supply, marketing spend and
ago. More interesting was how often the
that will be remembered as the announcement of the
release dating. From an exhibitor’s point of view, the
presentations came back to fandom. Audiences,
year. Instead, the same handful of subjects kept
requirement doesn’t change much whatever
several speakers argued, are increasingly buying
turning up in the seminar rooms, on the trade show
corporate shape emerges: volume, variety, marketing
their way into a conversation as well as a screening.
floor and in the bar afterwards, usually raised by
and sensible dates. A larger library is no use if the
That conversation happens in the auditorium,
people approaching them from completely different
individual films in it are stacked on top of each other.
online, across social platforms and inside fan
directions. Most obvious was the change in mood.
Protecting the theatrical window came up repeatedly,
communities, often all at once. Angel Studios has
from more or less every European exhibition body in
gone further than most in building this into the
the building.
business itself. Its Angel Guild now has more than
A better mood with caveats There were numbers to back it up. UNIC reported double-digit revenue growth in more than 15 European markets against 2025, with Germany, France, Italy, Spain and several Balkan territories all having a decent run. US studio releases did their share of the work, but so did local films. The local films are the part that gets forgotten as soon as the talk turns to tentpoles. Titles such as Buen Camino in Italy and Svadba in Croatia are a reminder that markets stay healthy on a mix of content rather than tentpoles alone. UNIC’s message came with conditions attached. Exhibitors can invest in premium formats,
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two million members who vote on which projects the company backs. The company presents it as a way of pressure-testing material with committed moviegoers before it ever reaches a screen. Agree with the model or not, it is a rare example of participation being treated as infrastructure rather than marketing. This is part of the reason the window kept coming back into the discussion. If the release is the moment the conversation starts, it needs to feel like an event in its own right, not simply the first stop on a distribution schedule. Disney used the show to flag Infinity Vision, a new certification programme launching alongside the release of Avengers: Endgame. There is a longer article to be written about that one, not least because it raises the question of what counts as a premium screen and who gets to decide. For now, it is another sign that presentation quality is becoming something that can be badged, marketed and sold.
Gen Z did not leave after all The Coca-Cola Retail Seminar, “Inside the Gen Z Mindset: Cracking this Generation’s Consumer Code”, started from a useful inversion. The generation cinema spent a decade assuming it would lose to phones, games and streaming is turning out to be one of the groups reshaping the theatrical experience. The research covered the UK, Germany, Spain, Poland and Romania, but the discussion around it was less about territory-by-territory data than about what younger audiences think they are paying for. For this audience, a film is often a starting point. TikTok, Letterboxd, memes, fan theories, creator communities and a genuine fear of missing the cultural moment all keep a title alive well beyond its run. The ticket buys the two hours, and it buys standing in the conversation afterwards. That brings fandom, premium presentation and cinema design into the same discussion. If participation is a large part of the value, the spaces around the auditorium start to matter as much as the room itself. Food and beverage, themed activity, social space and the ability to turn a screening into an occasion are not garnish. Wednesday’s Coca-Cola session came at it from another angle, looking at what cinemas might take from stadiums and live entertainment venues on frictionless service, data and guest experience. Exhibition has always rather enjoyed thinking of itself as a business apart. A lot of what I heard in Barcelona suggested operators should spend more time watching hospitality, sport and live music.
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Screening films to hosting events The ICTA sessions on event cinema, live experiences and streaming technology made a similar case in technical terms. Alternative content is hardly a new
AI TURNS UP AT THE FRONT DOOR
idea, but the delivery has improved to the point where it stops being a project. Reliable live streams, better IP
Artificial intelligence came up constantly,
workflows and more flexible cinema systems mean an
though thankfully not in the form of
availability and where it sits in an exhibitor’s premium
auditorium can do something other than play a DCP
posters generated by robots. The
line-up. Christie brought the European introduction
without half the technical team being on site to
business
of its RGBH hybrid-laser approach along with VDR
supervise it. Cinerji Entertainment described a model in Morocco that runs cinema and live-event operation together. Barco’s mFusion platform now carries
programme
included
a
dedicated AI presentation, and an ICTA session looked specifically at agentic AI and the cinema-going journey. The practical question underneath it is what
software. VDR is the interesting one. It adjusts laser power dynamically to improve contrast while cutting power consumption and extending laser life,
streaming capability alongside the conventional
happens when the customer no longer
so the direction of travel is not simply towards more
media server and audio functions. More than one
starts the trip on your website. People are
light. Image quality and running costs in the same
supplier spent as long talking about flexibility of use as
already asking conversational systems
sentence was a recurring feature of the week.
about playback. Cinemas are not about to stop
what is on nearby, what might suit the
Projection is not sitting still while direct-view LED
showing films, but a purpose-built room with a large
family on a wet Sunday, which cinema has
matures, and laser continues to get better at
screen, good sound and comfortable seats has value beyond one type of content. Live performance, sport, gaming, creator events and one-off broadcasts can
recliners or when they can see a particular title. As those systems get better at completing the transaction as well as answering the question, the route from
efficiency, contrast, integration and remote management. LED, meanwhile, looked a good deal less like a demonstration and more like a
turn a cinema into a venue as well as a film theatre.
“let’s go to the cinema tonight” to a
deployable option. GDC showed its Tricorne
Scarcity and shared experience count for a lot when
booked seat changes shape.
Premium LED technology, including an acoustically
everything else arrives instantly at home.
Premium as a collection of ideas On the trade show floor, everything came back to the word “premium”, with very little agreement about which technology it describes. Barco was the
That makes a set of famously dull
transparent version that lets the screen-channel
subjects suddenly strategic: structured
loudspeakers stay behind the image where they
showtime data, working APIs, accurate
belong.
venue
information
and
machine-
readable accessibility details. If an agent is choosing between three cinemas and it cannot parse yours,
The system scales from fairly modest
auditoriums up to screens beyond 30 metres, and supports HDR, HFR and stereoscopic 3D. That transparency addresses the awkward compromise
official projection partner and the main auditorium
yours is the one it doesn’t mention. The
at the heart of direct-view cinema: if the picture is an
ran as the HDR by Barco Auditorium, which mattered
programme went as far as pointing out
opaque electronic panel, where exactly is the
rather more than the naming rights suggest. Several
that cinema websites and showtime
centre channel coming from? Procella’s IMMERSIO
thousand
data
for
concept, also at the show, tackles the same problem
conversational recommendation as well
from the other end, engineering loudspeaker
delegates
watched
the
studio
presentations through it rather than being shown a slide about it. Barco also had its integrated booth story on display, including mFusion, Smart Amplifier and myCinema fleet management. HDR by Barco
now
need
optimising
as for search engines. AI in exhibition is moving out of the back office and towards the customer. The website journey we have spent twenty years
positioning around a non-perforated display. A separate announcement tied to the week confirmed that Lurdy Cinema in Budapest will install Samsung
has clearly moved past proof of concept; the
refining may end up mattering less than
Onyx, a first for Hungary and for Central and Eastern
conversation now is about installations, content
whether the data can travel.
Europe. The LED conversation has visibly matured.
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Nobody is still asking whether it can be done. They are asking which auditoriums, which audio architecture and which business case. Two of my own highlights from Samsung were nowhere near the main screen. Its Spatial Display produced a genuinely convincing three-dimensional image with no glasses involved, which has obvious potential for trailers, poster artwork and promotional material around a building. Samsung is positioning it for lobbies and premium spaces rather than as a cinema screen, and it is one of those things you really have to stand in front of. Samsung’s Colour E-Paper displays made an equally strong impression. Most people will have met the underlying technology in black and white on an Amazon Kindle or a similar e-reader. Rather than pushing light out at the viewer the way an LCD or an LED panel does, an e-paper display reflects the light already in the room, using tiny charged pigment particles that are
rather more weight than these awards usually do
shuffled into position to form the image. Once they
given the conditions the company continues to
are where they need to be they stay there, which is
operate in. Jeff Goldstein of Warner Bros. took
why a Kindle can sit on a page for weeks on a single
International Distributor of the Year, Roger Harris of
charge. Power is drawn when the image changes,
Unique X received the Distinguished Career Award
not while it sits on screen.What Samsung has done is
and Phil Clapp was given the UNIC Award of
take that principle up to a large wall-mounted
Achievement. The UNIC People Programme and the
signage panel and add colour, which is the part that
Women’s Cinema Leadership Programme continued
has taken the industry years to get right. The result
the focus on skills and progression, and to the industry’s credit that conversation is now happening
looks like a printed sheet under the ambient lighting of the room rather than a glowing rectangle, but the
specifically on how much of it goes on kit that isn’t
in seminar rooms as well as from the awards platform.
artwork behind it can be swapped electronically
doing anything. The easy savings don’t come from
Recruiting and keeping the next generation of
from the back office. For a business that has spent
dimming the picture during the film. They come using
technicians and managers is a real operational
decades hanging quads in foyers, the possibilities
automation devices like their PAA40+ to ensure
problem, not a diversity slide.
need very little explanation.
projectors, amplifiers and everything else aren’t left
Elsewhere, the premium formats carried on
running through the afternoon for no reason. Barco
Bigger than the screen
multiplying. CJ 4DPLEX talked about the next
talked fleet management and simplified booth
For a show marking 35 years, there was very little
generation of SCREENX and, more significantly,
integration. Christie tied better contrast to lower laser
back-slapping about having survived. Barcelona felt
about films being made for the format from the
power. Remote monitoring, automation and reduced
like an industry working out how to make the next
outset, with its team involved during production on
maintenance turned up in the same conversations as
stretch of cinema-going better than the last. The films
Spider-Man: Brand New Day. Dolby continued to
HDR and immersive sound.
matter, and so do the windows and the marketing.
press the case for Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos
The next phase of cinema technology looks like
The same is true of the screens, sound, seats, food,
together, and ICE, IMAX, 4DX and a growing list of
being about orchestration as much as individual
data, energy bill, social spaces and the increasingly
exhibitor-owned brands filled in the rest of an
boxes. Projectors, servers, sound, HVAC, lighting,
convoluted digital path to drive audiences. Those
increasingly busy landscape. All of them are selling
ticketing and building systems increasingly need to
subjects no longer sit in separate boxes. Cinema’s
differentiation: an experience different enough,
know what the cinema is actually doing and behave
advantage has always been that it offers something
visibly or audibly, that the customer understands the
accordingly. With energy prices where they are,
bigger than watching content at home, and in 2026
price on the ticket.
switching something off at the right moment is worth
that means more than screen size: a better picture,
as much as inventing something new.
better sound, a more social occasion, easier
Efficiency alongside the spectacle
discovery, more flexible programming and an
One genuinely encouraging thing this year was that
The people part
operation efficient enough to keep paying for all of it.
efficiency was no longer being discussed in a separate
CineEurope is also about the people behind the
The industry is not short of ideas. The harder part is
room from presentation. CinemaNext’s contribution
equipment.
deciding which ones improve the experience, and
to the programme concentrated on energy use, and
International Exhibitor of the Year, which landed with
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Multiplex
Ukraine
was
named
making sure the audience can tell.
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UKCA CON26: Getting them through the door, and bringing them back
edge. UK box office revenue had risen slightly in
around the country. None of this came with a
2025, reaching just under £990 million, while
miraculous formula. It relied on knowing the area,
admissions had fallen by 2.4 per cent to 123.5 million.
listening to people and being willing to try things that
More recently, July 2026 admissions reached 14.1
do not look like conventional film programming.At
million, nine per cent ahead of July 2025. There is
the Magic Lantern, the cinema has worked with
encouragement in those figures, but they also
dementia groups, Welsh-language learners, schools
underline the distinction that ran through the
and local organisations. It opens on Christmas Day for
conference. A strong film slate can deliver a busy
people who might otherwise be alone. Mareel is used
weekend. It cannot, on its own, rebuild frequency or
by services and community groups as well as cinema
turn an occasional customer into a regular one.
and arts audiences. Ashford has hosted music showcases, community meetings, a magic convention
Knowing the people outside the building
and events built around particular films. These
The opening audience-development panel brought
that may begin some distance from the week’s release
together operators whose cinemas, locations and
schedule. Dan Westgarth’s presentation on the
catchments could scarcely be more varied. Sara Hulls
Station Cinema in Richmond, North Yorkshire, gave
described the Magic Lantern in Tywyn, a single-
the fullest account of how this can work commercially.
he UK Cinema Association’s annual
screen cinema in a town of around 3,000 people.
The cinema is operated by a charitable trust, but it has
conference arrived later than usual this
Graeme Howell spoke about Mareel’s much wider
to earn its income. Community engagement still has
year. Held at Vue Westfield London on 12
civic role across Shetland. Ben Hammond explained
to support admissions and retail sales, even if the
and 13 May, rather than in its traditional March slot, it
how the Ashford Cinema, operating close to a heavily
return takes time. The Station’s dog-friendly
brought more than 380 people together under the
equipped multiplex, has made use of its unusually
screenings grew from the fairly basic observation that
heading Retention, Reach, Revenue: Growing
large foyer for events, music and community activity.
Richmond has a great many dog owners and Sunday
Cinema Audiences.
Geoff Greaves looked at the work Merlin Cinemas has
mornings were quiet. They now attract around 50 to
done in restoring and repurposing cinemas in towns
60 people, plus the dogs, which need tickets of their
T
The timing also gave the discussion a particular
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activities bring people into the building for reasons
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own. The idea gained national attention, but the more
activity related to the film, but the presentation was
cinemas inside hospitals accommodate patients in
useful part of the story was what happened before
clear that these were paying audiences. The figures
beds and wheelchairs, with nurses, volunteers and
and after the BBC arrived. The cinema found a group
shown at the conference said that 34 per cent were
cinema staff working together to make screenings
of people who faced a practical barrier, tried a
new to the venue and 13 per cent were returning after
possible. In 2025 it provided 1,600 screenings, at no
screening at a sensible time and kept doing it.
an absence of more than a year. Fewer than four per
cost to patients or the NHS, for nearly 22,000 patients,
Its work with neurodiverse audiences began less
cent of tickets were complimentary. The point is worth
family members and carers. It expects to reach more
successfully. The cinema first found a quiet gap in the
making because audience development is too readily
than 27,000 people during 2026.
schedule, put on a relaxed screening and waited.
treated as subsidised activity at the edge of the
The numbers only tell part of that story. Moving a
Almost nobody came. Staff then spoke to local groups
programme. Reclaim the Frame reported genuine
patient from a ward to the cinema can take 20 minutes,
about timings, familiar faces, movement around the
demand from people who had not previously felt
making the return journey alone a 40-minute
auditorium and the practical support people required.
represented or particularly welcome in cinema
operation. Screenings may be arranged for particular
The screenings are now arranged with those groups
spaces. Lionsgate’s presentation on The Housemaid
clinical groups, bereaved siblings or patients who are
rather than simply being placed in front of them. That is
showed what reaching an underserved audience can
especially vulnerable to infection. The new cinema at
a small distinction in wording and a fairly substantial
mean for a large commercial release. The campaign
Birmingham Children’s Hospital, which opened in
one in practice. Westgarth’s advice was to ask before
focused primarily on women aged 15 to 44,
March, has space for families to spend time together
programming. It sounds obvious. In an industry that
particularly readers, thriller fans and online
away from the ward. For some children it will provide
must construct a schedule before knowing exactly
communities already talking about the book, cast and
their first cinema visit. This is cinema serving an
who will turn up, it is also very easy to forget.
filmmakers. Early screenings, BookTok, reactions and
audience that cannot simply come to it.
talent activity gave those audiences material they
Audiences that have been overlooked Several
sessions
considered
would pass around themselves. The film eventually made more than £32 million at audiences
Young people have not abandoned cinema
that
the UK box office. Its UK result was equivalent to 26
Young audiences appeared throughout the first day,
mainstream cinema has served unevenly, including
per cent of the US total, comfortably above the 15 to
both as a subject of research and, usefully, as people
women, younger cinemagoers, deaf audiences and
20 per cent conversion that had been expected.
on the stage. Much of the conversation concerned the
people who do not see either themselves or their
There were many reasons for that success, including
relationship between the phone and the cinema
interests reflected in the usual programme.
the film itself, but the campaign understood whom it
screen. It is tempting to picture the heavy user of
wanted to reach and spoke to them in places where
TikTok or short-form video as somebody lost to
they were already engaged.
cinema. The BFI research presented during the scroll-
Reclaim the Frame has built a network around films by women and non-binary filmmakers, working with distributors, cinemas and local partners. Its events
MediCinema offered a different view of what
to-screen panel suggested otherwise. Daily users of
may include discussions, workshops and other
reaching an audience can mean. Its purpose-built
short-form video were also more likely to use other
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CINEMA AND HOME ARE NOT OPPOSITES
screen media, including cinema. They did not
One of the more unusual sessions
Her examples included the difficulty of attending with
particularly want phones to become part of the film.
considered the relationship between
her hearing children when the available performance
Only 14 per cent of the Gen Z respondents wanted cinemas to allow phone use and conversation during a screening. Cinema’s freedom from the second screen is part
cinema-going and watching films at home. The Go BIG and Go HOME pilots brought together BASE, Amazon Prime Video
and
ODEON.
Customers
attending selected films at ODEON
did not suit a family timetable. Deaf customers, she argued, should be able to choose a film and a useful time rather than accept the one performance a cinema has decided to make available.
of its value. For a couple of hours the audience
received a discount on a choice of films
The operator contributions prevented the
watches one thing, at full scale, with other people.
to rent or buy through Prime Video,
discussion becoming a simple account of failure.
Trying to reproduce the scrolling experience inside
while Amazon also promoted the offer
Movie House Coleraine has made every Monday
the auditorium would discard one of the few
and the cinema visit through its own
captioned and continued with the policy even when
experiences that cinema can still offer without compromise. The phone remains important before the visit. Younger audiences discover films through
services. The principle behind the trial was
that
cinema
and
home
entertainment are not necessarily competing for two separate groups of
early numbers were small. ODEON described the introduction of WatchWord captioning glasses at 14 cinemas and the work required to train staff, publicise
people. Regular cinemagoers are often
the service and learn from users. Vue outlined its
conversations, often long before they encounter a
among the most active film viewers at
open-captioned programme, WatchWord trials and
traditional trailer in a cinema. Carla Boyd and David
home.
the installation of Auracast assistive listening
Cameron described how Cineworld and Vue respond
persuading somebody to pay for an
to those conversations, sometimes with polished
individual film when so much other
short video, creators, memes, friends and online
campaign material and sometimes with a quick post that shows the cinema shares the audience’s excitement. Authenticity was mentioned repeatedly,
The
shared
problem
is
entertainment is available through subscriptions or at no additional cost. The results were encouraging. Sixty-six per cent of those surveyed
technology at selected sites. Personal captioning devices increase the number of performances a deaf customer can attend. Open captions remain important for people who prefer them, do not wish to collect equipment or simply want
found the offer appealing, half said that
the same experience without another device. The
sounds less authentic than a corporate discussion
it improved the perceived value of their
panel did not settle the balance between the two, and
about how to manufacture it. The sensible examples
cinema ticket and 28 per cent thought it
probably could not have done. It did establish that
involved giving creators and cinema staff room to
would encourage them to visit the
equipment, scheduling, information and staff
speak in the manner their audiences already
cinema more often. Respondents did
competence all matter. A pair of captioning glasses
which is always slightly dangerous because little
recognise. A local creator with a modest following may be considerably more useful to an independent cinema than a national personality with no connection
not see the offer as favouring home viewing over cinema. Eleven per cent of Prime Video redemptions came from new or lapsed customers, and those
stored in a cupboard achieves very little if nobody can find them or make them work. There is a technical responsibility further up the
who used the offer went on to buy
chain as well. Caption files and captioned versions of
evidence about what happens after the promotion
further titles, including at full price.
trailers need to be supplied, ingested and correctly
works. More than 200,000 free tickets had been
Those figures do not prove that a
included in the playlist. Accessibility fails rather
claimed by May. Survey data from its first 22
promotional offer will change long-
publicly when a cinema advertises a service and the
screenings found that half of attendees were new to
term cinema habits. They do, however,
expected captions do not appear on screen.
to the place. The Escapes programme supplied some
the cinema they visited, while 30 per cent were new to cinema-going. Ninety per cent said they were likely or very likely to return for a paid visit. Free tickets can remove the risk from a first visit. The cinema then has to earn the second one. That means a
suggest that the cinema ticket need not be the end of the transaction. A visit can keep somebody engaged with films afterwards, while home entertainment
Will an AI recommend your cinema? The session on AI search was one I expected to
services can direct their own customers
contain a fair quantity of hype. There was some,
back towards the cinema.
inevitably, but the practical examples were more
straightforward booking process, a welcome that
grounded. Claire Beswick of the Living Room Cinema
does not assume everybody already knows how the
explained that she had asked an AI service to identify
place works, and a good presentation when the film
had warned delegates beforehand that deaf advocate
the independent cinema in Liphook and received the
begins. Marketing may bring somebody to the front
Tianah Hodding had been encouraged to speak
wrong answer. That led to a review of what automated
door, but it cannot rescue a poor visit.
frankly. She did. Hodding described the limited
search services could actually read about the
choice of open-captioned performances, screenings
business. One discovery was that the cinema’s
Access, choice and captions
placed at inconvenient times and the particular
carefully designed food and drink menu existed only
The panel on welcoming deaf audiences was one of
frustration of arriving at an advertised captioned show
as a PDF. It worked for a person who had already
the most direct sessions of the conference. Phil Clapp
to find that the captions have not been switched on.
reached the website, but contributed little to a service
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Bringing the threads together The Executive Roundtable returned to several of the pressures already evident elsewhere in the programme: the need for a dependable supply of films, rising operating costs and a closer understanding between exhibition and distribution of who is watching, who is not and why. A healthier release slate certainly helps, but the rest of the conference showed why it cannot provide the whole answer. There is no single cinema audience waiting to be won back. There are regular cinemagoers who can be encouraged to visit more often, people who have not been for years, young people making their first independent visit, deaf customers who cannot find a suitable captioned performance, families watching every pound and trying to answer a question about what the cinema
a reason to choose one screen over another and can
people who do not yet regard the local cinema as
offered. The immediate remedies looked remarkably
justify a higher ticket price. The promise has to be
somewhere intended for them. Each faces a
similar to competent website management. Venue
understandable. A list of format names and badges is
different barrier, and each requires a different
names, addresses and facilities need to agree across
not much help if the customer cannot tell what will be
response. That is why so many of the useful
the cinema’s own site, Google, Apple, Bing and other
different about the image, sound, seating or
examples were small and specific: a dog-friendly
listings. Film, event and location pages need
auditorium. Whatever the label, the equipment and
Sunday morning filling an otherwise quiet screen, a
descriptive text and structured data. Showtimes must
presentation have to deliver it consistently.
captioned performance on the same night every
be current. Premium formats, accessibility provision,
Digital signage has a less glamorous reputation,
week, a free ticket removing the risk from a first visit,
seating and food should be described in terms a
perhaps because too much of it is used as an
a menu made readable to search services, or an
person might actually use when asking a question.
expensive replacement for a printed poster. Tim
auditorium display updating without somebody
Live showtimes are particularly important. An
Potter of OneCinema showed more useful
rebuilding it by hand. None is a solution to falling
answer assembled from information collected several
applications in which signage was connected to the
admissions on its own. Nor was it presented as one.
days
a
TMS and point-of-sale data. Auditorium displays
The conference did not produce a grand plan for
performance that no longer exists. Ticketing and
could update automatically with the correct film, time,
rebuilding cinema audiences. In truth, it was never
showtime providers will therefore have to consider
format and availability. Menu boards could change
likely to. What it did provide was a collection of
how current availability is exposed to search and
between morning coffee and evening drinks, or
practical examples from cinemas that had looked
assistant services, and how the customer is passed
display film-related offers before a show. Peter
closely at the people around them, found
into the correct booking page. There are larger
Critchley of TRISON widened the discussion to the
something getting in the way and tried to remove it.
questions about whether customers will continue to
complete customer route through a building.
Some attempts worked immediately and others
visit a cinema’s website at all, and what happens when
Screens, kiosks and interactive displays can inform,
did not. The important part was that the cinemas
an automated agent eventually books on their behalf.
sell and reduce some of the pressure on staff. They can
listened, changed what they were doing and tried
Those questions deserve attention, but the useful
also produce a noisy foyer full of irrelevant moving
again.Film supply, price and the wider economy
work can begin now. A cinema should ask the main AI
material. Context and relevance were his tests, and
will continue to shape admissions, much of it
services what is showing, what facilities it has and why
they are sensible ones. What does the customer need
beyond an individual operator’s control. The
somebody might choose it. The answers will reveal
to know here, at this time, and what action should the
cinema can still control how easy it is to discover a
where the basic information is missing long before an
display support? In some cinemas the correct amount
film, understand what is being offered, book a
agent starts trying to buy a ticket.
of digital signage will remain none at all. A well-
ticket, enter the building and enjoy the
earlier
can
confidently
recommend
restored historic foyer should not be made to
presentation. It can decide whether a customer
What happens after arrival
resemble an airport departure lounge simply because
feels welcome and whether there is a reason to
The conference finished with premium formats and
screens have become cheaper. The examples that
return. Audience growth is built from those
digital signage, returning the discussion to the
worked used automation while respecting the
decisions, repeated across every screening
building itself. Premium presentation gives audiences
character of the building.
and every visit.
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