Boxoffice-November.2001

or George D. Scheckel of QuVIS in attendance.
But Digital Projection's Peter
Nicholas and Ballantyne of Omaha's Pat
Moore did appear as scheduled, and Gerd
Jakuszeit stepped in for his Technicolor
Digital Cinema colleague Russ Wintner.
Among the concerns expressed by the
conventioneers, most of whom are independent
theatre operators, were quality,
the outdating of equipment and the
Investment not only monetarily but in
training personnel and repairs, in addition
to the age-old question. "Who will pay?"
Technicolor Digital Cinema proposed
a solution for the latter issue at
ShoWest. Jakuszeit indicated that the
company's plan has evolved since then,
especially in light of NewCo, a studio
consortium that has come up with
another alternative. He was unable to
comment publicly, however, as the
absent Wintner is the official spokesperson
for Technicolor Digital Cinema.
Unfortunately, despite the panelists'
assurances that the quality of digital cinema
right now is very, very good, they were
unable to illustrate their point with a demo.
But they described SMPTE's goals to
ensure that any digital cinema technology
would be interoperable and backwards
compatible and conveyed the reliability of
the recent prototypes in place in theatres.
"We will see digital take over in our
movie theatres, but film will be around for
quite some time," Moore said, describing
the seeming inevitability of this technological
shift. "This isn't something to be
afraid of any longer." Nicholas said.
BOXOFFICE interviewed Nielsen.
Wintner and Moore as well as NATO's
digital cinema consultant Michael
Karagosian. Great States chairman Dan
Klusmann and Marcus Theatres Bruce
Olson in the magazine's Great States preview
coverage in the October 2001 issue.
DAY THREE: GRAND FINALE
Great Staters Have a Great Time
Given the stress experienced by all
during the Great States Theatre Convention,
the Western barbecue planned
for the Grand Finale was a welcome
opportunity to really let loose and have
a good time. Held on the Levingoods
shooting range quite a ways outside of
Kalispcll. conventioneers could choose
from such pastimes as ft\ fishing in a
manmade pond, shooting claj pigeons
or observing elk grazing in a pen nearby.
After helping themselves to a bullet of
Louisiana chicken wings, baked beans,
corn muffins, crawdads. steak and portabello
mushrooms, attendees were treated to
a sei bj country-western quintet RobQuist
Bnd the Great Northern Band. A bonfire
provided warmth in the chill) night air.
On the bus rule home, the conventioneers
bursi out m a spontaneous chorus ol
America the Beautiful" a poignant
coda expressing both the joy the) had
experienced that night and the sorrow
the) had fell throughout the week. Hi
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