Marcus Theatres®, a division of The Marcus Corporation (NYSE:MCS), today announced it has completed the installation of digital cinema systems in 630 first-run screens at 47 company-owned locations. As part of its large-scale digital cinema rollout, Marcus Theatres now offers moviegoers a complete digital experience – the Marcus Digital Xperience (MDX).
The Marcus Digital Xperience provides the most pristine visual presentations, along with the very finest digital sounds and acoustical conditions in its auditoriums. In addition, Marcus Theatres is offering NEC digital cinema projectors featuring 4K digital projection technology versus the standard 2K technology in 93 of its largest auditoriums. With greater than a 2500 to 1 contrast ratio and the ability to project 35 trillion colors, the NEC 4K digital projection technology allows for even higher resolution, definition and depth, as well as faster digital projection speeds that enable more dramatic special effects and impeccable camera shots.
“It all adds up to the ultimate visual experience,” said Bruce J. Olson, president of Marcus Theatres. “The new projection technology is just one element of the entire Marcus Digital Xperience. The quality of the audio is as important as the image in providing moviegoers with a memorable cinema experience. When customers go to the movies, they expect to be ‘wowed’ and enjoy powerful, immersive sound they can’t hear anywhere else.”
“The experience of seeing a movie in a theatre is truly unique, from the minute you enter the front doors to when you leave. We continue to update our theatres with new lobby areas, self-serve concession stands and comfortable, memory-foam cushioned seats to make the moviegoing experience exceptional. The excitement of seeing the latest blockbusters enhanced by state-of-the-art digital technology combined with a comfortable environment and a wide variety of delicious concession options completes the Marcus Digital Xperience,” said Olson.
“As part of our enhanced digital experience, we are extremely pleased that we will now be able to offer closed-circuit captioning for our hearing-impaired patrons through the CaptiView Closed Caption Viewing System. This innovative technology from Doremi Cinema can be used from any seat in the theatre through a bendable support arm that fits into the theatre seat-cup holder. In addition, Doremi’s Fidelio system will allow for personal headsets to receive audio descriptions for visually-impaired guests. This system will be available in January. How exciting this will be for our patrons with hearing or visual impairments,” added Olson.
Olson said these two technological advancements will be available on most, but not all motion pictures. Studios must add the captions and descriptive audio to the digital content that they provide to theatres. Marcus Theatres has been running a limited number of open caption films when made available by studios at very limited times on a weekly basis. Now major studios will provide these features on almost every film. Patrons will simply ask at the box office for either a personal headphone or Closed Caption System for any showing.
Olson also noted that digital cinema technology will enable the company to offer more presentations of live and recorded alternate programming such as sporting events, concerts and Broadway plays, in addition to more 3D systems as needed.
Doremi Cinema is providing the digital servers for the Marcus Theatres digital cinema deployment and NEC Display Solutions of America (NEC) is providing the digital cinema projectors, in conjunction with Ballantyne Strong, Inc. (NYSE Amex: BTN), NEC’s digital projection system master reseller. Strong Technical Services, Inc., Ballantyne’s service group, handled all installations and is responsible for continued maintenance and remote monitoring from its state-of-the-art Network Operations Center in Omaha.
