United Cinemas International Central Europe Opens First Digital Theatre In Hungry
Las Vegas, NV – March 5, 2002 - United Cinemas International Central Europe (UCICE) announced the opening of its first nine screen Multiplex theatre, ‘The Palace‘ at the Mompark Shopping Centre in Budapest, sponsored by Pepsi. UCICE becomes the first Exhibitor in Europe to independently equip a digital theatre.
The opening of the state of the art, 6,100 square meter, 2,487-seat Palace Multiplex, which boasts an impressive entrance, a unique art deco concession area and some of the biggest screens in the city will be marked by a grand reception and live concert on March 1, 2002. Most significantly for the progress of Digital Cinema in Europe, however is that the largest of it’s impressive nine auditoriums has been has been sponsored by Pepsi and equipped with a Barco D-Cine digital projector and ACSAR alternative content input switcher. The digital theatre is scheduled to open with the Buena Vista blockbuster Monsters Inc, running from a QuVis ST cinema server, completing the digital projection suite supplied and installed by Kinotone GmbH.“UCICE is dedicated to people, entertainment and fun,” stated V.J. Maury of UCICE . “We are building a team dedicated to providing first-rate service at this state-of-the-art facility. The Palace is about bringing excitement back to the cinema-going experience. An important part of this strategy is the installation of the Barco D-Cine projector which will not only ensure that films shown in Digital theatre be pristine quality but, equipped with ACSAR, will also afford us opportunities to show new types of entertainment on the big screen, such as sporting events and concerts.”
According to the terms of the contract with UCICE, first line support for the installation will be provided by Mikropo ltd, the Barco distributor in Budapest.
“Barco is delighted to have been chosen by an exhibitor as prestigious as UCICE for their digital cinema expansion plans,” stated Keith Morris, International Marketing Manager, Barco Digital Cinema. “This project marks the first such installation in Central and Eastern Europe and we commend UCICE for their dedication to their patrons in showing them the future of cinema today.”
About UCICE
Arthur Goldblatt and V.J Maury are the founders of UCICE, which was established in 1999 with the financial backing of Argus Capital Group. Mr. Maury is also the General Director of UCICE which currently operates in Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic. UCICE is affiliated with United Cinemas International (UCI), one of the largest cinema operators in the world with operations in 11 countries with 106 sites, 1010 screens and over 6,500 employees. UCI is a joint venture of Paramount Pictures and Universal Studios. Other UCICE projects include Bratislava, Slovakia at the Aupark center, scheduled to open in May, and the Tesco-owned regional mall at Letnany, Prague in the Czech Republic, scheduled to open in October.
BARCO Background
BARCO Digital Cinema, a part of Barco Projection, is one of only two active licensees of Texas Instruments DLP Cinema™ technology. TI developed DLP Cinema™ technology working in close co-operation with the key players in the movie industry, and will continue to work closely with BARCO to develop Cinema Projectors and support systems based on this technology, which meet the requirement of studios, film distributors and exhibitors alike. BARCO is headquarters in Kortrijk, Belgium and has three key activities. Barco Projection serving various markets for large screen display. BarcoView providing display systems for life critical applications and Barco Vision offering systems for visual inspection and quality control. In 2000, the entire BARCO group recorded a revenue of Euro 751 million.
BARCO has a network of subsidiaries, distributors and agents in 97 countries, has been quoted on the Brussels Bourse since 1986, and is now quoted on Brussels/Euronext. BARCO is a BEL 20 and a Next 150 company and is a member of the Dow Jones Sustainability Indexes.
