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EXHIBITORS Luxembourg

Expanding the digital experience

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Digital projection in cinemas is slowly becoming more common. One of its pioneers, the Luxembourg Utopia Group with operations in the entire Benelux and in French Lorraine, takes stock of the situation for Cineuropa.

The Group’s local flagship, the Utopolis multiplex in the Kirchberg neighbourhood of Luxembourg City, was the first European multiplex to have all its screening rooms – ten in total – fully equipped with digital projection equipment, allowing for the projection of regular features (from Star Wars to Bergman’s Saraband [+see also:
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), 3D films (U2 3D, currently playing) and special events such as live football matches and opera performances that take place elsewhere.

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“We just want the customers to have a good night out,” explains Utopia CEO Nico Simon, “and giving them the highest quality projection possible is a part of that. We want to remain the best venue to see a film.”

After its success in Luxembourg, the Utopia group has also partly equipped two of its Belgian (Malines, Turnhout) and two of its Dutch multiplexes (Emmen, Zoetermeer) with digital projection equipment.

Says Simon: “You have to equip several screening rooms at once, so that a digitally projected film can start its career in a big room and move to a smaller room as the weeks pass. Otherwise, you would still need a 35mm copy when moving it to a smaller room.”

Despite the obvious commitment to digital projection, Utopia Group’s CEO still calls the investment in digital technology an “investisement d’apprentissage” or investment with a learning curve.

Simon: “There is no proven working model to fall back upon, and we are still trying to work out a viable way to recoup costs. For the moment, it is up to the exhibitor to invest in the very expensive equipment, but it is the distributor that is saving a lot of money because it does not need to produce 35mm copies. Obviously, we need to work something out.”

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