Morristown N.J.—Dec 12, 2005
AccessIT Pioneers Presentation of Disney and Walden Media’s “The Chronicles
of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe” In JPEG2000 Digital Format
First Commercial Release of a JPEG 2000 Digital Cinema Feature Compatible with
the DCI Specifications At Company’s Pavilion Digital Showcase Theatre
In another digital cinema technology
“first,” Access Integrated Technologies, Inc. (“AccessIT”) (AMEX: AIX), in
cooperation with The Walt Disney Studios (“Disney”) and media player hardware
provider Doremi Labs, Inc., said today, it has premiered Disney’s and Walden
Media’s “The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe” at its
Pavilion Digital Showcase Theatre in JPEG2000 compression format as provided for
in DCI specifications. The Pavilion Theatre is the first, and to date, the only
movie theatre equipped to show digital movies to paying audiences utilizing this
advanced technology standard. By December 31, 2005, an additional 150 digital
cinema systems currently being installed by Christie/AIX, a subsidiary of
AccessIT, with regional theatre chains under its 4,000-screen rollout plan will
be JPEG2000-capable. Disney’s “Narnia” was released nationally December 9th in
both analog and digital versions.
“Today, thanks to the efforts of the talented team at AccessIT, we have been
able to achieve a significant digital cinema milestone, the presentation of a
full-length movie to audiences in compliance with the compression standards
created by the industry’s Digital Cinema Initiatives. AccessIT’s technology
leadership, operating digital cinema equipment at its Pavilion Showcase theatre,
was instrumental in making this important development possible,” said Chuck
Viane, president, Buena Vista Pictures Distribution, Disney’s distribution arm.
“We are pleased to play a supporting role in the effort to bring the most
advanced technology to exhibitors and audiences nationwide,” said Bud Mayo,
chairman and chief executive officer of AccessIT. “This presentation of Narnia,
the first to use DCI specified JPEG2000 before a paying audience, is a major
technological advance for everyone that has worked long and hard to see digital
cinema become a reality.”
In July 2005, Digital Cinema Initiatives, LLC (DCI), a joint venture formed by
Disney and the six other major studios in 2002, issued the Version 1.0 Technical
Specification for digital cinema systems. Included in the Specifications was the
designation of JPEG2000 as the uniform file compression format. While movies
have previously been shown on 2K digital projector systems, the commercial
presentation of full-length films in DCI-conforming JPEG2000 format had not been
previously achieved.
AccessIT’s Pavilion Theatre features five state-of-the-art 2K DLP Cinema®
digital projection systems produced by Christie Digital Systems as well as media
player hardware developed by Doremi Labs, among others. Doremi’s DCP-2000
digital cinema server, like the unit deployed at the Pavilion, is the first
commercially available server capable of playing DCI-JPEG2000 digital movies. It
is AccessIT’s intent to include Doremi players in many of the digital system
installations anticipated under its 4,000-screen rollout plan.
Russell Wintner, President and COO of AccessIT’s Digital Media Division, added:
“As soon as we decided to partner with Christie in a major deployment of Digital
Cinema systems, we set our goal on JPEG2000 for installations to begin this same
year. Our ability to support Disney’s ambitious agenda using JPEG2000 for
‘Narnia’ marks a critical objective met by our dedicated development team and
further evidence of the value of having a digital cinema showcase theatre for
advancing the joint goals of our movie industry partners.”
Camille Rizko, President and CTO of Doremi Labs, Inc. added: “We have been at
the forefront of JPEG2000 technology integration since its introduction. The
DCP-2000 server is the culmination of our effort to provide the Digital Cinema
market with the first server capable of playing digital movies with JPEG2000
compression. We are proud to participate in this historic event.
