109 Cinemas Select GDC to Bring the Best Possible Experience in Japan

GDC Technology Limited (GDC), a leading global provider of digital cinema solutions, announced today that 109 Cinemas, owned by TOKYU RECREATION (Headquarters: Shibuya-ku, Tokyo, President: Shinzo Kanno) selected GDC solutions for its newest cinema, including SR-1000 Integrated Media Block, TMS-2000, and the award-winning Cinema Automation (CA2.0) designed to fully automate work while reducing the cost associated with booth operations.

109 Cinemas is Tokyu's 20th cinema location, in April recently is comprised of eight screens. The cinema has 752 Shinjuku premium seats (Class A and S) with a total capacity of 2,000 seats, all-RGB laser projection and is located on the 9th and 10th floors of Tokyu Kabukicho Tower, 1-29-1 Kabukicho, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo, Japan. To commemorate the opening of the theatre works related to Ryuichi. The "Ryuichi Sakamoto Premium Collection" includes several screenings such as Bernardo Bertolucci's ‘Sheltering Sky,’ one of Sakamoto's masterpieces of film music, and ‘Tony,’ which has many fans both in Japan and abroad since its release in 2005. Guests are able to enjoy the finest movie music with the theatre sound ‘SAION -SR EDITION’ supervised by Ryuichi Sakamoto.

Tokyu Recreation's theatre manager, Yusuke Hirono, stated that they strive to create a unique and immersive experience at their ‘sensory-opening movie theatre’ by offering luxurious amenities and innovative technology that goes beyond the norm. They chose GDC's solutions because of the company's exceptional technology and customer service, as well as their proven product reliability. "One of the pleasures of working in the cinema industry is constantly meeting with our industry partners, such as Tokyu

Recreation to improve the moviegoing experience," said Dr. Man-Nang Chong, founder, chairman and CEO of GDC Technology Limited. "The installation of our newest products at 109 Cinemas provides them with the security of knowing their guests will enjoy the best possible moviegoing experience. Tokyu Recreation selecting GDC is a testament to the fact we have been on the right path for over 20 years."

Key Features and Benefits of Cinema Automation CA2.0

CA2.0 incorporates the SCL Centralised Playback Server Series - an integrated centralised storage and playback system designed to streamline content management, and leverages machine intelligence to increase efficiency while dramatically reducing the need for human intervention.

SCL series servers offer each auditorium access to a wide assortment of movies from a centralised server without the need for local storage attached to every media server. SCL series servers are designed with scalability and reliability in mind. Their storage capacity can be customized based on the number of screens (from four to 30) and the number of movie titles (up to thousands of DCPs) to be stored and streamed to all the auditoriums.

With the storage capacity increased by more than 100 times when compared to the traditional local storage of a cinema media server, SCL series servers are designed to meet exhibitors' demand for an online content solution that enables them to maintain competitiveness in today's market. By integrating SCL series servers with Cinema Automation CA2.0, manual operation and human intervention are significantly reduced. SR-1000 Standalone IMB is the only solution currently available that supports series 1, 2, 3 and 4 DLP Cinema projectors, making it the best possible solution for exhibitors with series 1 projectors that need the server replaced.

Flix Brewhouse Deploys GDC to Automate Content Transfer

GDC Technology Limited (GDC), a leading global provider of digital cinema solutions, announced today that Flix Brewhouse deploys GDC innovative CMS-3000, a web-based central Management Enterprise Software. CMS-3000 is designed to fully automate the content transfer and monitor real-time playback status, sound processors and digital cinema projectors for all the nine properties from the company's headquarters in Round Rock, Texas. Flix Brewhouse was founded in 2011 and now operates nine dine-in cinema concepts across Indiana, Iowa, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Texas and Wisconsin with a 10th under construction in Mansfield, TX. True to the company's knack for innovation, Flix is the only first-run movie theatre in the world to incorporate a fully functioning microbrewery. The cinema chain exhibits blockbuster films while serving fresh food and craft beer brewed inhouse. Auditoriums are equipped with state-of-the-art sight and sound technology, super comfortable leather seating, as well as dine-in food and beverage service at every seat. The circuit features the Flix Maximum Experience (MX) in select locations: a dynamic, state-of-the-art system offering large format viewing, 360degree immersive sound technology, ultra-high resolution, next-generation 4K projection, premium extra wide seating and a 60-foot wide, super low distortion, HD parabolic silver screen.

"Flix Brewhouse is a cinema hospitality company committed to providing our guests with the best possible cinema dining experience, said Chance Robertson, CEO of Flix Brewhouse. "We rely on our vendor partners, such as GDC to provide innovative technologies to achieve our vision to be the Gold Standard in the communities we serve. GDC's central management software was selected for its advanced features to centralise tasks done by the management of each site. By supporting multiple users access simultaneously anytime and anywhere with its web-based application, we have complete control of all nine locations at our headquarters." "CMS-3000 was developed from our 20-year knowledge of digital cinema and constantly working with our industry partners, such as Flix Brewhouse, said Annie Wang, president for GDC Technology USA LLC.

Sharp NEC Enhances Digital Cinema Viewing Experiences with New Modular Laser Projectors

Sharp NEC Display Solutions, a global leader in the projector and display market, announced the launch of two new modular laser projectors designed to create an engaging viewing experience for audiences across digital cinema. The new NC2003ML and NC2043ML projectors round out the company's NC2000 Series of modular cinema projection solutions, helping achieve greater operational and organisational efficiencies to deliver the next-level viewing experiences that today's audiences demand. Cinemas took a hard hit during the COVID-19 pandemic. But as vaccinations continue to increase and the worst effects of the pandemic appear to subside, audiences are eager to get back into the world of entertainment.

According to a recent study, 60 percent of U.S. adults reported that, as of March 2022, they feel comfortable going to a movie theatre. This outpaces those who feel comfortable attending a live concert, an amusement park, or a theatre performance. That percentage will likely grow with the summer blockbuster season just around the corner. The NC2003ML and NC2043ML projectors offer cinema operators unparalleled advances in operation, efficiency, and image quality. Both models enable theatre operators to lower their operating costs, increase efficiencies, and deliver an exceptional viewing experience to audiences.

Key features of the new modular projectors include a Modular Light Source, which allows for adjustments to be made according to different brightness demands. They also feature RB laser technology which is almost speckle-free compared to RGB technology, also providing similar benefits at a lower cost. The projectors are, by design, also environmentally friendly, requiring virtually zero maintenance thanks to an innovative long-lasting laser light engine that eliminates need for lamp or filter replacement costs. This results in a significantly lower total cost of ownership considering their reliability, low maintenance, and low power consumption. As business begins to pick back up, movie theatres across the country that feature the latest modular laser projectors will be ready to welcome audiences back to the big screen with an experience that's even better than before. Beyond cinema, these projectors can be used for projection needs including in museums, art houses and more.

'The Flash' tops UK-Ireland box office; 'Greatest Days' opens fifth

Warner Bros' The Flash topped the UK-Ireland box office on its opening weekend, with a £3.2m session. Opening in 670 sites, the film took a £4,739 average. Its opening is the 10th-highest of 13 DC Extended Universe films to date, behind previous DC standalone character openings Man Of Steel (£11.2m), Wonder Woman (£6.3m), Aquaman (£5.2m), Shazam! (£4.1m) and Black Adam (£5.6m). Including previews, The Flash is up to almost £4.3m. The film's low UK-Ireland performance mirrored that of its flat USD 55.1m start in North America. Sony's SpiderMan: Across The Spider-Verse added a further £2.5m on its third weekend in cinemas - a 37.8% drop. It is up to £20.2m, approaching double the £10.9m of 2018's first Spider-Verse film. Disney's The Little Mermaid held better than most titles on its fourth weekend in cinemas, dropping 38% with £1.3m. It is just beyond the £22m mark - well down on previous live-action remakes The Lion King

(£76m) and Aladdin (£37.3m), but ahead of post-pandemic Disney title Cruella (£9.5m). On its second weekend in cinemas, Transformers: Rise Of The Beasts dropped 52.8% with £1.2m. It is up to £5m for Paramount; it will aim to overhaul the £9.5m of 2017's The Last Knight, the current lowest-grossing title of the franchise. Elysian Film Distribution's Take That musical Greatest Days opened to £389,235 from the 585 sites to have reported so far, with 18 still to report and a £665 location average. It has £536,955 including previews. Takings for the top five came in at £8.6m. This was down 11.1% on the previous weekenda disappointing result given the presence of two new wide-release films plus strong holdovers at cinemas, although explained partly by the warm weather across much of the country. The next blockbuster with potential to increase takings is Disney's Indiana Jones And The Dial Of Destiny, in cinemas from June 28.

Dolby Achieves Milestone; 500th Theatrical Film in Dolby Vision & Dolby Atmos

Dolby Laboratories, a leader in immersive entertainment experiences, and Paramount Pictures, celebrate a new partnership milestone with the upcoming release of Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One, marking the 500th theatrical film confirmed in both Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos. The film, from Paramount Pictures and Skydance, will be released in theatres on July 12th.

"We're proud to empower the theatrical community with Dolby's pioneering audio and video technologies as we celebrate our 500th feature film in Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos with the upcoming film Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One," said Jed Harmsen, Head of Cinema and Group Entertainment at Dolby Laboratories. "We are excited to celebrate this milestone with Paramount and look forward to building on the momentum we created together with Top Gun: Maverick, which was one of the top grossing Dolby Cinema domestic movies of 2022." "Dolby has been an incredible partner of ours throughout the years, and we value the tools they have developed for our filmmakers to deliver our pictures in what we consider to be the best-in-class cinema experience - Dolby Cinema," said Chris Aronson, President of

Domestic Distribution at Paramount Pictures. "Following our successful collaboration on Top Gun: Maverick last year, we can't wait to continue working with Dolby on Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One, as we strive to deliver audiences the very best in entertainment." "I'm devoted to a fully immersive big screen experience and no big screen experience is complete without the extraordinary detail, depth, power and presence of Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos," said producer, director and Academy Award winning writer, Christopher McQuarrie.

Among the 500 feature films released or confirmed in both Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos include Paramount box office hits like Sonic the Hedgehog 2, A Quiet Place: Part II, Scream VI, and Top Gun: Maverick in addition to highly anticipated films such as Transformers: Rise of the Beasts and Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One. Since the opening of the first Dolby Cinema back in 2014, there are now 290 Dolby Cinema locations globally, spanning 28 exhibitor partners and 14 countries. Domestically, AMC

Theatres currently operates over 150 Dolby Cinema locations in the United States, including newly added locations at AMC Avenue Forsyth 12 (GA), AMC Stones River 9 (TN), and AMC Barrett Commons 24 (GA).

Over the past year, we have seen increased global momentum around influential sites including in the UK with the Dolby and ODEON opening of Liverpool's first Dolby Cinema at ODEON Liverpool One and with TOHO Cinemas who just unveiled its first Dolby Cinema in Lalaport Kadoma, marking the ninth Dolby Cinema location in Japan.