Disney To Explore Electronic Cinema

The Walt Disney Company has announced the creation of a new arm in the Walt Disney Motion Picture Group division to explore electronic cinema. As previously reported, industry interest in a digital cinema delivery system is increasing. Phil Barlow will head the effort as Executive Vice President. ""We can see the future and the future is not that far away,"" said Barlow of the new electronic technology. ""Itís around the corner, not miles away ñ if we all do our jobs right.""Executives at the company want to assure exhibitors that they are committed to working with them to ""ensure a quality experience for moviegoers.""The concept of digital or electronic cinema replaces traditional film reels with digital-based distribution using satellites , fiber optic lines, or video discs whose signal is fed to a digital projector in the theatre. ""For the industry not to explore and take advantage of this technical advancement would leave us running the risk of playing second fiddle to digital systems at home,"" Barlow said. ""The physical and social experience of cinema must continue advancing in the logical next stepÖ.and is on a par with the coming of sound and color as far as importance to the industry is concerned."" At the ShoWest convention in March (see Todayís News March 12 and 13) CineComm Digital Cinema LLC (a venture involving Hughes-JVC) and Texas Instruments showcased their digital projection technologies in comparison with 35mm Kodak print film. Also at ShoWest (see Todayís News March 24), George Lucas announced that his new Star Wars Episode One: The Phantom Menace will be shown in an all-digital format in four theatres (to be announced) in New York and Los Angeles beginning June 18.The Disney Company is the first distributor to create a position and enlist a division to explore and test the means to electronically distribute films to theatres.