Earlier in the day Lucasfilm concluded separate agreements with CineComm Digital Cinema and Texas Instruments, two of the industry's leading forces in digital projection of motion pictures, to provide this opportunity to showcase this new technology to the public using The Phantom Menace. CineComm and Texas Instruments will each provide their digital projector technology on two screens in two cities, exact locations to be determined and announced at a later date.
Lucasfilm President Gordon Radley stated, "We went to CineComm and Texas Instruments because we wanted to bring the reality of digital projection to the eyes of the public as soon as possible. We are excited about the potential that this will bring to the entertainment industry and the benefits it will provide to the public. We're also delighted to provide this showcase to both of the leading developers of digital projector technology."
Commenting on the agreement, CineComm chairman Michael Targoff stated, "We are thrilled not only to be working with George Lucas, but as part of the most anticipated motion picture of the decade. Twenty years ago Star Wars represented the leading edge in film production technology and we are honored to provide this much-awaited prequel with a concomitant level of technology in its theatrical exhibition."
"This is both an enormous honor and a significant achievement for us," said Bob England, Senior Vice President and Manager of the Digital Imaging Division of Texas Instruments. "It is an honor for us to be chosen by Lucasfilm to participate in an entertainment event for which millions of people have been waiting for a long time. It is a significant achievement because it demonstrates that we are within reach of achieving our goal - that Texas Instruments' DLP Cinema technology delivers an on-screen image which rivals and perhaps even surpasses film."
"We have been working with the movie industry on the concept of digital cinema for several years," said Paul Breedlove, DLP Cinema Program Director for Texas Instruments' Digital Imaging division. "The decision by Lucasfilm to sponsor this digital electronic cinema demonstration will enable movie audiences to see the future of movie presentation for themselves."
Film has reigned supreme for movie presentation for the last hundred years. However, Texas Instruments believes that DLP Cinema projector technology will reinvent movie presentation for the next millennium. Movie distributors have recurring issues with the physical distribution of film; the high cost of film prints, the number of film prints needed, reduction of piracy and cost effective management of distribution. Digital technology provides potential answers to many of these issues through the use of known encryption techniques and distribution via satellite or optical disks. "We believe," said Paul Breedlove, "that people will look back on this digital electronic cinema demonstration as the event that started the transition to digital electronic projection in theatres."
Earlier Wednesday at ShoWest, the annual forum for film exhibitors and distributors, CineComm and Texas Instruments hosted a demonstration of Digital Cinema that was viewed by over 3,000 motion picture executives, exhibitors and filmmakers.
