Hobbit Profits Report – H 2013
If you saw the world premiere of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey at the Embassy Theatre in Wellington, or attended a screening of The Croods earlier this year at DreamWorks Animation’s Campanile Theater, you have already previewed new RealD screen technology—effectively combining traits of a white screen and silver screen—that is being introduced this week at CinemaCon in Las Vegas.
Silver screens are used for projecting polarized 3D, a requirement for RealD and MasterImage 3D presentations. But they create a “hot spot” and light tends to fall off the screen the further it gets from that point. White screens tend to provide a more even distribution of light with a higher gain than silver screens.
According to RealD, its “Precision White Screen” technology for installations with RealD 3D systems combines “2D white screen performance with the ability to project polarized 3D images.”
It further stated that the technology “features edges four to five times brighter than a standard silver screen. The improved screen efficiency results in 40 percent more total light coming off the screen, providing more uniform brightness than a standard silver screen.”
Among the test sites is DreamWorks Animation’s Campanile Theater. Said DWA CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg in a statement: “RealD has been a great innovator dedicated to delivering the highest-quality moviegoing experience. They’ve now raised the bar even higher with the introduction of Precision White Screen technology. Once again, the winners will be audiences and exhibitors alike.”
Chapin Cutler, president and principal at Boston Light & Sound, added in a statement that the screen produces “great-looking 3D that respects the quality needed for white screen 2D presentations.”
Neil F. Bretan, president and CEO of Muvico Theaters, reported that the Precision White Screen technology is in use at the chain’s MuviXL auditorium in Thousand Oaks, Calif., and would soon be installed in Chicago and South Florida locations.
The RealD screen technology will be demonstrated at CinemaCon, both at the filmmakers’ roundtable Wednesday and during a product presentation Thursday.
The screens are expected to be available to exhibitors, production and postproduction facilities using only RealD 3D systems, initially through Ballantyne Strong’s Strong-MDI.
Pricing and availability date were not revealed.
