Miramaxís ""An Ideal Husband"" Premiere Digitally ProjectedBy Gary Reber

Miramax Films has a surprise for George Lucas: ""Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace"" wonít be alone when movie history is made today, June 18 ñ because ""An Ideal Husband"" will also be in theatres in digital cinema, thanks to the digital projection technology from Hughes-JVC Technology Corporation, a wholly owned subsidiary of Japan Victor Company (JVC).""An Ideal Husband"" and ""Star Wars: Episode I ñ The Phantom Menace"" will be the first two motion pictures to play in movie theatres in a format that looks better than film on the big screen. The new format, commonly known as ""digital cinema"" projects a video picture with color, contrast, depth and richness that matches or exceeds show print film quality ñ without the scratches, fading and other problems that result from wear and tear on film.In Los Angeles, ""An Ideal Husband"" is being shown digitally at the Laemmle Sunset 5 theatre. In New York City, thereís only one place to see the digital future: ""An Ideal Husband"" is being shown at Clearview Chelsea Cinemas (""The Phantom Menace"" is only being shown digitally on screens in New Jersey ñ see Todayís News June 18, ""Farewell To Film""). Both ""An Ideal Husband"" locations will show the picture in digital form for four weeks ending July 16, 1999.""We are proud to partner with Hughes-JVC on this technological breakthrough,"" said Rick Sands, Miramax Films Chairman of Worldwide Distribution. ""We are also honored that ëAn Ideal Husbandí is one of the first films to be offered to moviegoers in a digital format.""""This is something you have to see to believe,"" said Mark Gill, President of Miramax/LA. ""Weíre thrilled to be involved in changing the way movies are shown for the first time in the 100-year history of the motion picture.""Seizo Watanabe, Hughes-JVC President added, ""We have for several years demonstrated our technology in private screenings in Hollywood and at projection industry tradeshows (including a Digital Sneak Preview of ëAn Ideal Husbandí at the INFOCOMM tradeshow in Orlando, Florida, on June 10-12). Now the moviegoing public will at last have the chance to experience digital cinema for themselves. We are very pleased that Miramax shares our vision of bringing the digital revolution to the motion picture screen.""The projector behind this revolution in cinema, the ILA-12K, incorporates the Image Light Amplifier or ILAÆ, the same projector being used to digital project ""The Phantom Menace"" in a Sacresus, New Jersey theatre and a Chatsworth, California theatre (see Todayís News, June 18 ""Farewell To Film""). This liquid crystal light value technology is the key to the projectorís unique ability to meet or exceed 35mm motion picture film in every area of image quality. Lifelike colors, outstanding contrast and extraordinary brightness produce a crisp, dazzling image with the authentic look and feel of film - and a richness that some say is missing with other digital technologies.According to John Banks and Bill Bleha, the two Hughes-JVC technicians responsible for the setup and calibration of the ILA-12K digital projector at the Laemmle Sunset 5 theatre, three Hughes-Lexington-made CRTs converge the discrete RGB signals onto a flat 1.85:1 aspect ratio 35-foot wide perf unity gain screen. On screen luminance levels are set to the SMPTE standard of 12.5 footLamberts. Unique to the Hughes-JVC technology is a CCD camera that looks at the screen and in a few seconds reads various test patters for gamma, color and gray scale to automatically make corrections and calibrate the projector. This automatic setup and calibration process is said to provide a long term means for electronic projector maintenance. The digital source is a Panasonic D-5 format digital tape recorder, with one audio channel of Dolby Digital 5.1 bitstream, which is fed to the theatres audio rack for playback decoding. (With ""The Phantom Menace,"" the soundtrack is discrete 6.1 linear PCM at 44.1kHz/20-bit resolution.) The picture resolution is 1080 interlace out of the D-5 recorder. Because the image is written on a continuous surface with CRTs, the raster-based projected imagery is smooth with no individual pixels apparent, even at close range. Both resolution and contrast are said to measure almost exactly as film. And because there is no mechanical wear associated with the process, at the end of the month, using the same source master tape, the picture will look the same as on opening day.Of particular interest to enthusiasts is that Hughes-JVC is working on new digital projection technology that will enable the ILA-12K to project an 1080 progressive image at three times 24 frames per second or triple flash 72 fps from material sourced from newly developed 1080p telecines. That would produce an amazing super-resolution picture with virtual three-dimensional qualities. The new upgrade will be available by yearís end. Hughes-JVC is able to implement upgrades rather simply since, unlike the Texas Instrumentsí fixed-pixel matrix Digital Light Processor technology, the projector is a raster-based device.As a bonus, Miramax has produced a 20th Anniversary compendium of Miramax films, which has been digitally telecined and is being digitally projected along with the normal Miramax trailers preceding ""An Ideal Husband."" Of further note to enthusiast, the Laemmle Sunset 5 theatre is not THXÆ-certified.""An Ideal Husband,"" starring Cate Blanchett, Minnie Driver, Rupert Everett, Julianne Moore and Jeremy Northam, is a romantic comedy inspired by the classic Oscar Wilde play. It is the tale of a devoted womanizer and tireless partygoer Arthur Goring (Rupert Everett), who is famed throughout London for his elegance, repartee and refusal to take anything seriously. He is called upon by his life-long friend Sir Robert (Jeremy Northam), a man who has everything. A brilliant politician and a perfect gentleman, Sir Robert is the ideal husband for the captivating Lady Chiltern (Cate Blanchett). Admired by all, they present a picture of wedded harmony until the scheming adventuress Mrs. Cheveley (Julianne Moore) threatens to reveal a dark secret form his past and the very foundations of Sir Robertís career and marriage look set to crumble. Concerned, he turns to Arthur. ""An Ideal Husband"" is adapted and directed by Oliver Parker. The film is produced by Barnaby Thompson and Uri Fruchtmann of Fragile Films and Bruce Davey of Icon Entertainment.For more information, contact Patricia Booher, Hughes-JVC Technology Corporation at 760 929 5365 or Andrew Stengel, Miramax Films at 212 941 3800.