Time Andaeus, Christie, and Doremi will join in an 800-screen digital cinema rollout in China. Time Andaeus partnered with Doremi to develop its Montage CDCS2000 digital cinema server. Shanghai Daily estimates that 50% of the country’s 4000 cinema screens will be digital by end of year.
Sony and RealD will be providing systems to CinemaxX screens in Germany and Denmark. CinemaxX will obtain 56 Sony 4K projectors, 30 of which will be equipped with RealD. 3 of the systems will be installed in Denmark.
NATO hired Mitch Neuhauser for its 2011 trade show. Following the sale of the Sunshine Group to VNU in 1998, Mitch was given increasing responsibility for the organization of its cinema trade shows. He’ll be a tremendous asset to NATO as it takes center stage in 2011 with its first cinema trade show since its sale of ShoWest to VNU in 2001.
Arts Alliance Media (AAM) prepares for its Norwegian bid, with the merger of Nordic Digital Alliance (NDA) and cinema advertising aggregator Intellinet. AAM is a joint venturer of NDA, which is now fully positioned to compete with Unique Cinema Systems, a competing provider in Norway of digital cinema and cinema advertising services.
Viacom and Warner Bros put the Chinese Theatre on the block once again. In flip-flop fashion, the two studios, partnered as Cinamerica, first sold the theatre, along with the Mann chain, in 1997 to Weststar Cinemas. (Chuck Goldwater was then CEO of Cinamerica.) Weststar went bankrupt within 2 years, and Cinamerica, renamed WF Cinema Holdings, bought the theatre back, along with the rest of the Mann chain. If there is method to the madness, the studios pulled a good property from bankruptcy, and helped rebuild it to success.