ICTA Seminar at CinemaCon

On the final morning of CinemaCon 2023, ICTA President, Frank Tees, kicked off the well-attended ICTA seminar on Beyond the PLF: The Technology Behind Event Cinema and Live Events.

With digital cinema entering its third decade, the theatrical landscape is rapidly shifting, fomented by the pandemic, the rise of streaming service and the ongoing technical evolution.  As audiences seek out elevated movie experiences, premium auditoriums featuring global brands like IMAX, Dolby Cinema, ScreenX, RealD, 4DX, and exhibitor branded premium concepts have over-indexed performance. But premium format cinemas represent only about 14% of screens in North America, and a slightly lower percentage worldwide.

Many exhibitors are investing in event cinema and live cinema capability to bring in new audiences to their non-PLF auditoriums. Bolstered by broadband and cloud-based technical innovation and necessitated by the dearth of Hollywood films through the pandemic, event cinema and live cinema have achieved real success.

The Beyond the PLF: The Technology Behind Event Cinema and Live Events seminar featured industry experts:
Kristina Warner, EVP of Marketing and Distribution at Iconic Events, who have partnered with DCDC and exhibitor partners, to build a permanent live network in cinemas.
Jason Brenek, Founder and CEO of MetaMedia, who created a global platform for delivering movies, live-streamed events, and other big-screen programming into cinemas.
Nick Mitchell, CTO of DCDC who provides digital delivery of theatrical content to cinemas across the country through next-generation satellite and terrestrial distribution technologies.
Kirk Griffin, Director of Presentation Technologies at Harkins Theatres, the 7th largest domestic exhibitor, who has successfully implemented live and event cinema in their locations.
The seminar was moderated by Loren Nielsen, VP Content & Strategy at DTS/Xperi and member of the ICTA Board of Directors.