Rome—Sep 6, 2007
Cinema Ambasciatori chooses Kodak for digital feature presentations
Kodak continues to be supplier of choice for Italian cinemas
Kodak today announced that Il Cinema A Trieste has purchased the Kodak Digital Cinema system for feature presentations in its highly-popular Cinema Ambasciatori auditorium in Trieste. The Kodak sale and installation includes the flexible and reliable Kodak Content Player JMN3000 and an NEC NC2500S cinema projector supplied by Prevost, NEC’s Italian distributor.
The Kodak system was temporarily installed to show ‘Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix’ in July but the permanent installation was completed in time for the Italian opening of ‘Shrek Terzo’ on 31 August.
“We need to know that our partners understand the demands of our business,” said Eolo Giorgio Maggiola, owner, Trieste Cinemas. “We liked the Kodak system but wanted to see how their company could respond to a challenge. And so, in late June, we asked them to have their system in place showing the new ‘Harry Potter’ movie, digitally, on July 11. When it ran flawlessly by that date, we signed the agreement for a permanent installation.”
“We were pleased to be able to exceed the expectations of Mr. Maggiola and his team,” said Enrico Ferrari, Kodak Digital Cinema manager for Italy. “Of course the equipment must perform, but this is really a relationship business. Our relationship with his company links two great brands – Trieste and Kodak – in ways where we can work together to bring new benefits to their movie audiences.”
The 500 seat Cinema Ambasciatori was refurbished in 1993 and is the largest cinema auditorium in Trieste. The Kodak system is expected to contribute to the cinema’s reputation for offering superior motion picture entertainment in comfortable surroundings.
“Large cinema auditoriums show the power and quality of the Kodak system,” says Kodak’s Ferrari. “We have a long history in pictures and we build Kodak technology and simplicity into everything we offer. And we handle full project management, installation and training, so when the system is up and running, the whole Trieste team can be comfortable and confident with this new technology.”
“We have great confidence in the reputation of the Kodak brand,” said Mr. Maggiola, “ and we are further impressed by the relationship Kodak has with Prevost, our projector partners who have been so important and helpful to our business. The Kodak system is easy to use, very flexible. We are impressed by their depth of technology, their willingness to listen to our needs, and their ability to provide a system that is right for today, but that we can build on for the future.”
The Kodak Content Player JMN3000 works smoothly with the cinema grade NEC2500 projector to deliver presentations that meet exhibitor standards and audience expectations. The Kodak Player handles 2D or 3D movies and automatically recognizes the compression format used – JPEG or MPEG – and employs that for playback.
Although used in a standalone mode for this single-screen application, Kodak content players can also be networked and driven by the Kodak Theatre Management System for unprecedented cinema automation and operational efficiency.
“There seems to be a real renaissance in Italian cinema,” says Ferrari from Kodak. “We are hearing from industry sources that 100 movies were produced in Italy in 2006 and that Italian titles are more than 40-percent of box office receipts this year. Because the Kodak system accepts both MPEG and JPEG compression, it’s flexible enough to show local language movies, documentaries, and other content, as well as major foreign features.”
“In Italy, the cinema market is healthy and offers promise for continued growth,” said Mr. Maggiola. “To maintain our success, we need to show movies with strong audience appeal, but we need also to continue to improve the entertainment experience. Having the right systems and the right partners will be important to accomplishing those goals. We look forward to working with Kodak Digital Cinema to help build our business for the future.”
