BoxOffice® Pro - November 2012

Brett Winter Lemon Photography
WE
REMEMBER
BOB LAMBERT, a senior executive at The Walt Disney Company
for 25 years until 2010, has died at the age of 55. Respected
throughout the entertainment industry, Lambert’s work spanned
all platforms, from cinema and television to online and mobile. He
played a central role in the development of computer-animated
feature films and in the transition from film to digital cinema
exhibition. While working for Disney Feature Animation, Lambert
conceptualized a strategy and methodology for replacing cel
animation with CGI production and selected Steve Jobs’ newly
acquired company Pixar to design the software and oversee the
collaborative process between the two companies. The resultant
digital production system earned Disney an Academy Award for
Scientific and Technical Achievement.
Lambert was also a founder and chairman of DCI LLC, the
six-studio consortium that laid the groundwork for the historical
transition of movie theaters from film to digital exhibition
by establishing and documenting digital cinema specifications
that ensure a uniform and high level of technical performance,
reliability and quality control. In addition, he was chairman
emeritus and chief strategic officer of the University of Southern
California’s Entertainment Technology Center (ETC@USC),
a think tank that brings entertainment studios, technology
providers and other key industry stakeholders together in order
to improve digital entertainment initiatives.
Said Kenneth S. Williams, ETC@USC CEO and executive
director, “Bob was one of the most respected technology
executives in the media and entertainment business. Always
generous with his time, his friendship and tremendous insight
will be greatly missed.”
4 BOXOFFICE PRO NOVEMBER 2012