Valley theaters get some movement in pre-show ads.

VALLEY filmgoers may have noticed something new this past month at their local movie theater. Those once static slides accompanied by sound that pushed everything from cell phone service to newspapers shown just before film showings are now largely gone.

Instead, they have been replaced by moving images powered by a new PC-based system being rolled out at a number of theaters in the Valley this month.

"The San Fernando Valley is really one of the best locations to roll out this technology because of the number of theaters it has," said Chuck Battey, president of Kansas City-based National Cinema Network, a unit of AMC Theaters Inc.

The new system, dubbed "Digital The-atre Distribution System," or DTDS is making its initial rollout in the Valley, parts of Los Angeles and 10 other major U.S. markets.

Theater operators could purchase the system or rent it. But Battey would not say how much each system would cost theater owners or what the rental rate was.

The change is meant to attract more business to local theaters which use the brief spots running usually 30 seconds to sell advertising.

"We've already seen a jump of between 30 and 70 percent in business for the spots in our Kansas City test market," Battey said.

So far, the public response has been positive, said AMC spokesman Rick King.

"Our guest reaction is much better to the DTDS programming than to the static slides we used to show," he said.

"The higher the quality of our pre-show materials, the better they are accepted by our moviegoers."

Under the new system, advertisers will have the chance to develop advertising programs featuring computer animated messages or specially-edited 60-second music videos and presentations animated via a system resembling flash animation.

"The great thing about this system is that it's much less expensive than video and can be put together quickly by our technicians," Battey said.

In development over the last five years, the system replaces a slide projector which was used to project advertising for local merchants and businesses, coupled with a soundtrack or music. The new system, however, uses a personal computer using an Adobe Photoshop-based program that is hooked up to a special projector that can show animated images of advertising content.

The system was rolled out last week in a slew of Valley theaters, including AMC Promenade 16 in Woodland Hills, Burbank Media Center's two theater complexes and scores of other Valley theaters operated by several chains, including Mann, Pacific Theaters, CinemaStar and Southern California Theaters.

Nationwide rollout

Altogether, the company plans to roll out the system in Chicago, Dallas, Philadelphia, Atlanta, Houston and New York to cover an estimated 1,200 screens or an estimated 80 million theatergoers annually.

The system, aimed at improving revenue for a struggling industry, has been welcomed by theater operators. John Fithian, president of the National Association of Theater Owners, said the industry has been hurt by the popularity of home entertainment like video games, the Internet and DVDs and is only now beginning to rebound.

Despite huge crowds jamming theaters showing such hits as "Pirates of the Caribbean," in recent months, troubled theater chains like Regal Entertainment Group, Mann Theaters and AMC are still trying to recover from a down economy and overall decline in total theatergoers in the last few years.

The construction boom of megaplexes of the late 1990s which resulted in a glut of movie theaters helped kick start the industry's troubles today, said industry analyst Dennis McAlpine, who heads MacAlpine Associates.

Many companies like Edwards Cinemas, Regal, United Artists and others were forced to file for bankruptcy protection in 2001 as they closed scores of underperforming theaters around the country.

But the closures coupled with some solid performing films last year and so far this year, have helped improve the overall picture, said Bishop Cheen of Wachovia Securities.

Efforts to improve theaters' bottom line like discounted tickets or National Cinema's advertising projection system are welcome, he said.