3D Geek Alert: AMC To Supply Podracer 3D Glasses, Darth Maul Face Painting And More!

Clearly some deep thought has gone into the marketing of STAR WARS EPISODE I: THE PHANTOM MENACE 3D by not only Lucasfilm but the AMC Theater chain.

What's a pure STAR WARS fan truly want to remember a special event? Collectibles! During opening weekend, all 3D ticket holders for MENACE will receive a new Hasbro STAR WARS Fighter Pod. While supplies last.

Further, a select 10 AMC Theaters will host activities, giveaways and interactive experiences:
- Exclusive Anakin Skywalker Podracer 3D glasses (these look awesome!)
- A LEGO feature area
- Darth Maul face painting! What does YOUR Sith look like?
- Special character appearances for photos
- Demos of the upcoming STAR WARS game using Kinect technology

Here are those 10 special AMC locations - have a look:
Atlanta: AMC Southlake 24
Boston: AMC Loews Liberty Tree Mall 20
Chicago: AMC South Barrington 30
Denver: AMC Highlands Ranch 24
Los Angeles: AMC Tustin 14 at The District, AMC Ontario Mills 30
New York: AMC Empire 25, AMC Garden State 16
Phoenix: AMC Mesa Grand 24
San Francisco: AMC Emeryville Bay Street 16

STAR WARS EPISODE I: THE PHANTOM MENACE 3D hyperdrives into theaters on February 10.

Quick Post: HUGE Sony deal with AMC For Digital 4K Projectors

Jim here. Just got wind of a mega deal for Sony to help them pull even with Texas Instruments in Digital 4K projector deployments.

It is a $315 million deal. TI has 5,476 deployments but this deal will bring Sony up to ~5,000 4K projectors in North America.

The Sony projectors will be installed starting in the second quarter of this year and will finish up in 2012.

AND... an exciting quote from Frank Rash a SVP with AMC: “Digital cinema gives us a huge opportunity to do 3-D, live broadcasts and playback of live events."

YES! I am really stoked about live 3D events too. A great deal for both parties.

AND more from Showest coming up! Stay tuned...

Quick Post: AMC and RealD Announce 3D Partnership

Nearly 8,000 Total RealD 3D Screens Committed by Theatres Worldwide

Kansas City, Mo. and Los Angeles (March 26, 2009) – AMC Entertainment Inc. (AMC), a leading theatrical exhibition and entertainment company, and RealD, the world’s leading outfitter of 3D-enabled theatres, announced today that AMC will add up to 1,500 RealD 3D screens to its circuit in the United States and Canada. The rollout of RealD 3D-enabled screens has already begun with new screens added monthly at AMC locations. This agreement brings RealD’s 3D network to nearly 8,000 total committed screens worldwide with approximately 2,600 RealD 3D screens installed today.

“AMC has a world-class reputation for guest satisfaction, and we look forward to bringing RealD’s exceptional 3D experience to all of our theatres, as our intent is to feature at least one screen in every AMC theatre” said Gerry Lopez, chief executive officer and president of AMC Entertainment Inc. “This partnership with RealD will give our guests an enhanced way to experience movies perfectly timed for the full line-up of 3D films coming from some of the biggest names in Hollywood.”

“AMC is a global leader in entertainment and we’re proud to work with them to enable this huge number of screens across their circuit with RealD 3D technology,” said Michael V. Lewis, chairman and CEO of RealD. “Audiences are seeking a new and truly engaging form of entertainment that AMC and RealD together can provide through this extensive commitment to build out one of the largest RealD 3D circuits in the world.”

RealD’s next-generation digital 3D is ultra-realistic, bearing no resemblance to the anaglyph red-and-blue glasses based 3D of old. A bright spot for the entertainment industry, RealD 3D is driving box office to the tune of three to four times per screen revenue of the same film on 2D screens.

Keep 'em coming fellas! :-)

Paramount Offers To Pay Print Fees Directly To Theaters!

Hey guys - Jim here. GOOD NEWS! ...And a quick catch up here - last year a consortium of players (AMC, Regal and Cinemark) joined together to obtain about $1 billion to finance the conversion of their theaters to digital and it was very good news indeed.

Then the credit crunch hit and money dried up fairly fast - even for money making ventures like the movies (which don't seem to suffer AT ALL during hard times).

Enter the studios and in particular Paramount, who are getting very anxious to get the theaters converted to digital and to provide the required equipment for 3D add-ons from companies like Real D. So Paramount has stepped forward today acoording to Variety and offered to pay the print fees directly to the theaters if they can finance their own conversions.

A print fee is representative of the old system of printing off copy reels of the original movies and distributing them to theaters across the country. It was expensive to do this. With digital movies, the print fee is practically eliminated and now the studios are saying that perhaps we will pay theaters this "virtual" fee (for digital movies) if they are willing to invest as well.

Apparently there are about 1,250 theaters converted to 3D from the 5,620 digital screens that are available (and growing).

Paramount will pay a "virtual print fee" to any theater owner that converts at least half of all of it's screens to digital and will pay even more of a fee for 3D conversions.
"We urge all studios to give this creative option a fair chance," John Fithian of the National Association of Theater Owners said.

This is awesome news. I had not expected movement from the studios on a wide scale on this front but the end result of higher profits is the golden carrot enticing everyone along. Great to hear this!!

Where The Hell Are Regal, Cinemark And AMC? Katzenberg Voicing 3D Concerns

In a recent interview by Variety with Jeff Katzenberg, JK expressed his displeasure with the big three theater chains namely Regal, Cinemark and AMC:

"In the last 30 days, things have not progressed as well as I had hoped, expected and, quite frankly, been committed to, by all the parties involved," Katzenberg said in response to an analyst's question. "It's ongoing as we speak literally now, but in terms of getting the big three (exhibitors: Regal, Cinemark and AMC) on board and actively moving forward, I feel as though things have dragged along, and it's been pretty disappointing."

I understand that budgeting for capital improvements can be tricky at best for these massive organizations, however if commitments have been made - and they have - then why the hell aren't they acting much more fluidly?

The theater chains don't stand to gain much more, if any, revenue from moving to digital projection. HOWEVER - digital projection is required for today's 3D technology (Real D, Dolby) where they can and WILL profit substantially through increased ticket prices; up to 50% more in some cases.

To ease the burden of moving to digital - even if they did not convert to 3D - the studios will pay a "Virtual Print Fee" to the theater chains because the studios save money by not having to print film reels and then distribute the very heavy canisters.

This isn't something that just recently surfaced either. John Fithian, president of the National Association of Theater Owners uncovered the slow moving theaters at NAB 2008 when he said "If the studios want this to happen in time for 2009, the deals have to be struck, and they have to be struck right now". They still haven't responded with the action required!

To be honest, the comments made by Fithian would have held much more water if he hadn't blamed Steven Spielberg for much of this inaction. As I posted earlier - that's ridiculous.

So where are we? Well let's see - we have:

1. The big three animation studios going fully 3D from now on - Pixar, Dreamworks and Disney have all committed to their future movies being 3D.
2. Massive budget 3D movies in production: Avatar for one with a $250m wallet (my projection).
3. Proven audience acceptance of 3D: "Beowulf" and Hannah Montana's concert movie both exceeded expectations. Even with increased ticket prices, the experience reigned supreme.
4. Overwhelming studio and directorial response to 3D: All major studios have 3D projects (see 3D movie list) - in FACT there are over 50 3D projects lined up to 2012 - and count James Cameron, Steven Spielberg, Peter Jackson, George Lucas, Tim Burton, Robert Zemeckis, Steven Soderbergh, Robert Rodriguez, and even upstart directors like Thomas Jane, as converts.
5. COMMITMENTS to roll out digital screens and 3D conversions over and above the existing ~1000 screens (See 3D theater list).

So, ummm - why the hell are the theater chains dragging their feet? Wake up and butter your toast guys; the time is NOW.

I invite representatives from those theater chains to get in touch with me via the "Contact Me" form below to present their side of things - until then, I am very disappointed as well. It's not just the studio executives you are letting down here guys - its the fans. Word is out.

IMAX Adding 31 More Regal Theaters

IMAX has been busy. They inked a deal with AMC Entertainment for 100 theaters back in December, 07 and now they have announced a pact with Regal Entertainment for an additional 31 theaters. Their IMAX screens can exhibit both 2D and 3D films and they are officially on the wide release distribution for Dreamworks Animation's "Monsters vs. Aliens", "How To Train Your Dragon" and "Shrek Goes Forth" pegged for 2009 and 2010 releases.

IMAX will have about 300 theaters running by the end of 2010. While this number falls well below competitive 3D projection screen numbers, IMAX is known for gloriously large screens. Keep up the good work IMAX.

3D fans in Alaska (you know who you are!) take note that one of the theaters opening will be in Anchorage.

AMC & IMAX Tag-team To Bring 100 New Conversions

Variety reported late yesterday that AMC Theaters and IMAX will unite in bringing digital IMAX 3D to 100 existing theaters. We know from reports as well as MarketSaw's own survey that a great deal of the recent 3D Beowulf movie's box office is indeed represented by 3D enabled theaters like Real D and IMAX. This move will essential double the number of IMAX theaters available. Note that this is the new digital IMAX 3D technology, not the older and much more expensive (in production and distribution) IMAX film.

IMAX will drop $500,000 a pop for the locations' projectors while AMC will reno 33 of the highest performing theaters with larger screens and seat reconfigurations. IMAX is anxious to grab the 3D bull by the horns after losing close to $17 million last year. The extra $35 million a year from these locations should assist in stabilizing the company. Of course the 3D onslaught of movies on the horizon won't hurt either.

Pragmatically, the 3-D movie industry has been proven to be legit (Beowulf, etc) and now openly through investments. Momentum has been building and you can expect to see much more excitement in the 3-D world in the coming months. Rollout of the first 50 theaters begins in July 2008, then 25 more in both 2009 and 2010.

Real D has been very busy lately as well. Check out there theater conversions coast to coast right here.