Digital movies and now 3D (Disney Digital 3D that is)

When Star Wars Episode II: The attack of the clones came out in 2002 I was one of the first people in the world to see it in digital.  I went to a charity premiere showing at the Cinerama in downtown Seattle a few days before the release and before the film it was explained that using the Boeing digital cinema technology that the film had been sent digitally from a server at Fox/ILM over a Boeing satellite to the theatre where it was stored on a hard drive and was going to be projected to the screen using a digital projector.  There was no 35mm film so you had no risk or scratches or dirt on the print.  Last year Boeing sold their technology to Access Integrated Technology who delivers digital "prints" of films to over 250 theatres worldwide.

 

When Disney’s Chicken Little was announce one of the things announce along with it was that it was going to be available at selected theatres in a new Disney Digital 3D.  Disney Digital 3D is done with Dolby Labs’s Dolby Digtal Cinema system.  For Chicken Little to be in 3D the guys at ILM (LucasFilms) did the rendering and REAL 3D’s technology (software, screens, and glasses) was used at the theatre.  REAL 3D has some cool technology.  They project both right and left images at 144 frames per second.  The also make sure that the screen is treated with a special silver coating to keep the polarization coherent with their glasses.  When the announcement of Disney Digital 3D was made I could not find any list of theatres that were going to have the technology on Dolby or Disney’s sites.  The initial press release said that it was going to be in the top 25 markets so I knew I would find it somewhere in the Seattle area.  Well the movie came out yesterday and I saw nothing in the ads that said "showing at this theatre in Disney Digital 3D".  i did find a site that listed theatres with digtal projects that also were "3D ready" and they listed two theatres in the suburbs of Seattle that had the movie in 3D.  The Bellevue Galleria was one of those theatres to I took the drive over only to find out that this was not the case at all.  They have the movie on a Digital DLP projector but it is not Disney Digital 3D.    Looking around today I actually found a press release on Digital Silence (www.d-silence.com) that shows the "top 25" markets and 84 theatres that showing the movie in Disney Digital 3D.  I will let you be the judge if this seems like it is top 25.  I guess if I want to see it I will have to drive to Portland, OR.

 

Markets showing Chicken Little in Disney Digital 3D (where is Seattle?????):

ATLANTA, GA
AUSTIN, TX
BALTIMORE, MD (3 screens)
BIRMINGHAM, AL
BOSTON, MA (3 screens)
CHATTANOOGA, TN
CHICAGO, IL (5 screens)
CINCINNATI, OH (2 screens)
COLUMBUS, OH
DALLAS, TX (2 screens)
DAVENPORT, IA
DENVER, CO
DETROIT, MI (5 screens)
EVANSVILLE, IN
FORT WAYNE, IN
GRAND RAPIDS, MI
HARTFORD, CT
HOUSTON, TX
INDIANAPOLIS, IN (2 screens)
KANSAS CITY, MO (2 screens)
KNOXVILLE, TN
LAS VEGAS, NV
LOS ANGELES, CA (9 screens)
LOUISVILLE, KY
MEMPHIS, TN
MIAMI, FL (3 screens)
MINNEAPOLIS, MN
NEW YORK, NY (9 screens)
ORLANDO, FL (5 screens)
PHILADELPHIA, PA
PHOENIX, AZ (2 screens)
PORTLAND. OR
SALT LAKE CITY, UT
SAN ANTONIO, TX
SAN FRANCISCO, CA (4 screens)
TAMPA, FL (2 screens)
WASHINGTON, DC (3 screens)

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