`MENACE' TO THE STATUS QUO? DIGITAL SHOWINGS OF FILM TOUTED AS CINEMA HISTORY.

Byline: Michael Coit Staff Writer

Visual effects were sharper, sounds stood out, and when the first commercial showing of a digital movie - the ``Star Wars'' prequel - concluded, industry pros said it would lead to a film revolution.

George Lucas changed movies forever 22 years ago with the original ``Star Wars,'' and Friday's historic digital showing of ``Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace'' left viewers anxious for the time when movies shot entirely on digital cameras replace the use of celluloid prints.

``Lucas is (proving) again that you don't have to accept the way it was,'' said Nick Castle of Coyote Moon Picture Co. in Pasadena.

``There's the pluses and minuses of both formats,'' Castle said. ``But considering this is the first out of the box, it's a pretty good start.''

Digital artist Danny Braet also walked out of the Pacific Winnetka 21 - one of four theaters across the nation to screen the filmless ``Phantom Menace'' - enthusiastic about a new age in movie making.

``Most of the time there's no grain on it. For us, it would be cool to have a whole movie without grain,'' said Braet, of Station X Studios in Santa Monica.

The shutter flickers, film scratches and colors fade as prints deteriorate. That would be eliminated with digital cinema.

But the same industry pros and a movie fan who flew in from Seattle also said the average moviegoer probably won't notice much difference between digital and a new, first-quality film print.

``You pull in people who have never seen it before and don't tell them you're not showing it on a projector, they won't notice the difference,'' said R. Kelly Nelson, also of Coyote Moon Picture Co.

In the audience was J.V. King, a Seattle machinist who had not yet seen ``Phantom Menace'' and wanted to be a part of movie history. He sat next to industry pros who vowed he would be blown away.

``I don't think it was necessarily sharper,'' King said.

``My main impression is it's going to up the ante for special effects people,'' he said. ``I like the live-action better. You want the computer animation to blend so you don't see the difference. That's why I think it will be a benefit to the theatergoer in the long run.''

One of the differences noted by many viewers of the digital ``Phantom Menace'' came in scenes combining computer-generated characters with real actors. They said transferring computer-generated images to film produces a grainy quality, but the digital reproduction was brighter and featured sharper lines.

``It seemed like a lot of characters blended well with the live action stuff,'' said Luke McDonald, a digital artist with Station X Studios.

McDonald said even the often irritating amphibian creature Jar Jar Binks improved on digital. ``I definitely want to kill him, but overall it's more pleasing.''

Scenes with the star-filled universe as the backdrop also didn't flicker as in the previous ``Star Wars'' episodes.

``It was crisp, the resolution was good,'' said Jim Smith, who produces religious films for Archangel Co. in Pacoima.

``The sound was incredible,'' he said. ``I don't want to see it on film.''

That very reaction is what developers of the two leading digital projection systems are counting on during the four-week digital run of ``Phantom Menace.''

CineComm is backing the Hughes-JVC Image Light Amplifier system used at the Pacific Winnetka 21. Texas Instruments' Digital Light Processing system also went on display Friday at the AMC 14 in Burbank.

The two other digital showings, featuring the same two systems, were at two theaters in New Jersey.

The theaters will continue screening the movie on conventional celluloid in other auditoriums.