Liege Belgium—Apr 25, 2006
30 new digital screens of Utopia Group join XDC roll out initiative.
Utopolis Kirchberg 10 screens cinema is the first multiplex to be fully digital in Europe! Utopia Group has just signed an agreement with XDC for the roll out of 30 digital screens spread over four countries: Luxembourg, Belgium, France and The Netherlands. In Luxembourg, Utopolis Kirchberg is upgrading 3 existing digital screens and is adding 7 new screens. This cinema will be the very first one in Europe to be fully digital! The group’s Luxembourg arthouse cinema Cine Utopia is also installing 3 new screens. In Belgium, both Utopolis Turnhout and Utopolis Mechelen are upgrading 2 screens each and are adding 2 new screens. In France, Utopolis Longwy will have 3 new screens. Last but not the least, in The Netherlands, Utopolis Almere is upgrading the 3 existing digital screens, the recently opened Utopolis Emmen will equip 2 new screens and Utopolis Zoetermeer will install one digital theater. “Hence, 10 existing screens (which were equipped with EVS servers) are currently upgraded and 20 new screens
are being installed, all of them with state of the art XDC MXF Interop servers”, says Bernard Collard, General Manager of XDC. “As one of the first customers of EVS Digital Cinema and as a digital cinema pioneer, Utopia Group has chosen the most flexible offer available on the market in joining XDC, which is the largest pan-European digital cinema roll out initiative. Indeed, more than 210 screens are now financed and operated by XDC services”, adds Laurent Minguet CEO of XDC.
All the theatres will be equipped with Barco 2K DLP CinemaTM projectors which are DCI compliant. “Barco has been dealing with Utopolis for a while and we are very proud to be the selected manufacturer for this important digital roll out”, says Nico Vernieuwe, VP Marketing & Business Development at Barco Media & Entertainment. The XDC digital cinema servers are perfectly well suited to the specifications presently used for digital film distribution. As a matter of fact, all the systems which will be implemented are compliant with the digital cinema norms which are progressively applied for worldwide digital cinema roll out.
“Utopia has chosen XDC because XDC represents the most suitable offer available on the market today, and it has a great potential of meeting the future needs of the industry” says Nico Simon, CEO of Utopia Group, “XDC has a long and outstanding experience in digital cinema equipment and operations. XDC team is committed to the best service level for their clients. Last but not the least, XDC gives the assurance of a maximum of flexibility and efficiency in terms of upgrades, maintenance and hot line.” We are very excited about getting the next digital movie on our screens”, concludes Nico Simon.
