American Cinemathequeís Egyptian Theatre InauguratesKodak ScreenCheck Experience

American Cinematheque's Egyptian Theatre is among the first cinemas certified by the Kodak ScreenCheck Experience. The announcement was made at the 1999 ShoWest convention in Las Vegas, on March 10. The recently restored landmark picture palace is owned and operated by The American Cinematheque, which presents new and classic domestic and foreign films in this historic cinema which was once owned by the legendary Sid Grauman. The Egyptian is expected to host its share of the nine million tourists who visit Hollywood annually as well as locals. The Egyptian opened its doors in 1922. It was the site of countless Hollywood premieres, which marked the ""golden age"" of cinema. American Cinematheque Director Barbara Smith says that the organization is dedicated to ensuring that audiences experience movies the way they were meant to be seen with bright images flawlessly projected on a giant screen. ""It is an incomparable experience when audiences see a movie that is properly projected on a big screen,"" she says. ""In some ways itís like the difference between seeing a great painting reproduced in a book and going to a museum to see the real thing."" The ScreenCheck Experience is a service offered by the Cinema Operations group, which is part of Kodakís Professional Motion Imaging division. Certification verifies that the cinema satisfies industry standards for projecting a sufficiently bright image on a large screen in a room that is designed and maintained to provide an optimal movie-going experience. Paul Balbirnie, who manages the restored Egyptian, reports a ""hugely favorable response"" since the cinema re-opened its doors. ""In addition to tourists from every part of the world, we are presenting movies to the worldís most discriminating audience - Hollywood filmmakers,"" he says. ""Weíve presented extremely successful retrospectives including one of films directed by James Cameron, and everyone was thrilled by those screenings. When people like that speak well about how their films are Kodak presented, you know you're doing something right."" Balbirnie says that while the ScreenCheck Experience is still a new concept, it is already helping to send the right message to the audience. ""It tells them we are committed to providing a great environment for experiencing films,"" he says. ""The Kodak trademark on signage and literature is widely recognized as a symbol of quality by moviegoers from around the world. Thatís another plus."" The Egyptian is divided into a large and small auditorium. The Lloyd E. Rigler Theatre seats 620 and can present films in all popular formats. The acoustical design uses a series of movable baffles to maximize the particular soundtrack available whether it is digital surround sound, traditional mono or live music to accompany vintage silent movies. The I80-seat Steven Spielberg Theatre will primarily be used for press and industry screenings.""This program is designed to accomplish two things,"" says Don Lane, ScreenCheck Experience manager. ""We partner with exhibitors to evaluate viewing experiences on their screens, and where necessary, we diagnose problems and recommend Solutions. Usually, some relatively inexpensive tweaking can make a big difference. Our signage, trailer and other promotions are designed to inform moviegoers where screens have been optimized for their enjoyment. Participating screens are re-certified at regular intervals.""Lane says that The Egyptian and other landmark screens which will be certified during the coming weeks mark the rollout of the ScreenCheck Experience in the U.S. and later this year in parts of Europe and Asia. ""This is one of a number of innovative initiatives undertaken by the Cinema Operations group,"" he says. ""We believe that on the average we can work with exhibitors to improve the quality of images projected on cinema screens by as much as 100 percent or double what you see today. The Egyptian is a great place for us to make that statement because of the commitment of The American Cinematheque to excellence, and the fact that movies presented on those screens will be seen by so many film fans from every corner of the world.""Professional Motion Imaging focuses on the motion picture, television and commercials industries and is part of Kodak's Entertainment Imaging. For additional information about Kodak, visit their website on the Internet at: www.kodak.com/go/motion.