REAL IMAGE OBTAINS PARTNER; TECHNICOLOR ENTERS NEW ERA.Byline: Dave McNary Staff Writer Digital movies received a major boost this week when film processing giant Technicolor pledged to invest $83 million in technology to show films without conventional celluloid celluloid [from cellulose], transparent, colorless synthetic plastic made by treating cellulose nitrate with camphor and alcohol. Celluloid was the first important synthetic plastic and was widely used as a substitute for more expensive substances, such as . Technicolor's move to buy as much as 59.5 percent of Los Angeles-based Real Image Digital may jump-start a new era in which movies are exhibited at theaters without film reels. The first movies using the still-in-development technology could be delivered electronically to theaters during the first quarter of 2000, according to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. Wayne Schoenfeld, Real Image's chief executive officer. ``What the partnership with Technicolor means is that we're moving from the research stage to the real world,'' Schoenfeld said. The first digital movies - which carry the dual attraction of improved visual quality and tremendous cost savings in distribution - began showing in June with four theaters showing ``Star Wars: Episode 1 - The Phantom Menace'' for four weeks and a single theater showing ``An Ideal Husband.'' Each theater showed movies taken from an array of hard discs through digital projectors See data projector. . The Technicolor partnership goes a step further by establishing a complete ``supply chain'' with technology that can compress and encrypt See encryption. film-quality images. ``Our challenges are to complete work on compression technology, work within the industry to establish standards and set up a business plan,'' Schoenfeld said. Currently, conversion of the nation's 34,000 theaters to digital technology still faces two major hurdles: Who will pay for the installation of $100,000 digital projector systems and which format will be used? Real Image Digital, which is privately owned, has been working on methods with New Jersey-based Sarnoff Corp. to distribute films digitally by compressing com·press tr.v. com·pressed, com·press·ing, com·press·es 1. To press together: compressed her lips. 2. To make more compact by or as if by pressing. 3. the signal before transmission. Technicolor's current businesses process film stock, produce release prints and duplicate DUPLICATE. The double of anything. 2. It is usually applied to agreements, letters, receipts, and the like, when two originals are made of either of them. Each copy has the same effect. videotapes and DVDs. The company, which operates a plant in Camarillo Camarillo (kă'mərē`yō), city (1990 pop. 52,303), Ventura co., S Calif.; inc. 1964. It is the center of a fertile farm area where citrus fruits and flowers are grown. , said the investment in Real Image is part of its previously announced strategy to move into new formats, specifically digital media. ``Just as we moved from film to video and more recently from video to DVD DVD: see digital versatile disc. DVD in full digital video disc or digital versatile disc Type of optical disc. The DVD represents the second generation of compact-disc (CD) technology. , we are now ready to lead the evolution into digital distribution,'' said Lanny Raimundo, chief executive officer of Technicolor. Technicolor, a subsidiary of British conglomerate conglomerate, in business conglomerate, corporation whose asset growth, often very rapid, comes largely through the acquisition of, or merger with, other firms whose products are largely unrelated to each other or to that of the parent company. Carlton Communications, will pay $23 million for a 49 percent stake in Real Image with an option to buy 11.5 percent more. It has agreed to invest $60 million more if Real Image's technology works. ``Technicolor is positioning itself, in a very sensible way, to move into the distribution business,'' said entertainment analyst Kevin Skislock of Laguna Research Partners. ``They clearly see major potential returns. It's a good business model - every time the zeros and ones are moved on a distribution system, they'll collect a toll.'' |
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