CYPRESS, CA—Dec 7, 2006
Christie Celebrates Carmike Cinemas’ 1,000th Digital Cinema Installation
Part of Christie/AIX Digital Cinema Roll-Out, Carmike Wynnsong 12 Theatre in Iowa Expands Movie Studios' Options With Premiere of “Charlotte’s Web”
Christie, a major provider of visual solutions for business, entertainment and industry, announced that Carmike Cinemas (NASDAQ: CKEC) has installed its 1,000th Christie CP2000 DLP Cinema(r) projector as part of its unprecedented drive to become the first major exhibitor in the U.S. to “go digital” in 100 % of its screens. Carmike contracted last year with Christie/AIX, the special-purpose entity owned by Access Integrated Technologies (NASDAQ: AIXD), to digitize over 2,300 screens with 2K DCI-conforming DLP Cinema projectors.
The installation, at Carmike Wynnsong 12 Theater, offered a ribbon-cutting ceremony with the mayor of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and featured the world premier of “Charlotte’s Web,” a Paramount Pictures release. The event underscores the way in which Digital Cinema is revolutionizing the presentation of feature releases from Hollywood. Studios can premiere movies such as “Charlotte’s Web” via “digital prints” in small cities around the country as easily as they could in larger cities. It places Carmike Cinemas at the forefront of a major shift in the industry, in which Digital Cinema is providing a competitive edge that is helping exhibitors attract an increasingly sophisticated audience seeking a superior movie-viewing experience.
“Carmike Cinema’s rapid accomplishment of this industry milestone reflects the speed with which Digital Cinema is being adopted,” observed Craig Sholder, Vice President, Entertainment Solutions, Christie USA. “As the first major player to transition to digital cinema, Carmike Cinemas proves to be a visionary in the exhibition community, recognizing – and delivering upon – the enormous opportunities of Digital Cinema to transform the industry.”
Since the historic introduction of Christie/AIX, over 2,600 theaters in the U.S. and around the world have installed DLP-Cinema systems, with Christie/AIX accounting for a majority of those systems.
Chuck Goldwater, President and COO of AccessIT’s Media Services Group and Christie/AIX, remarked, “This is another Digital Cinema milestone among many that we have achieved this year. Christie/AIX continues to repeatedly and consistently hit its mark, progressing steadily toward the installation of its contracted 4,000th complete turnkey digital systems in the U.S. Digital Cinema is delivering on all its promise to bring more movie-goers back to the theatres with its superior on-screen presentation and a growing wealth of new revenue-generating options for exhibitors, including 3D and alternative content programming.”