DREAMWORKS - THOUSANDS OF 3D THEATERS TO BE ADDED BY MAY

THOUSANDS OF 3D THEATERS TO BE ADDED BY MAY

The movie industry's plan to convert the nation's theaters to digital 3D is expected to take a great leap forward in the coming months, DreamWorks Animation chief Jeffrey Katzenberg has told the New York Times. The plan, which calls for theaters to pay for the initial cost of the conversion but receive from the studios a credit for every movie distributed to them on disk rather than on film until the loans for the equipment are paid off, has reportedly been delayed by the current lending crisis. However, the Times reported, Katzenberg told a conference in Los Angeles on Thursday that a financing vehicle arranged by J.P. Morgan will provide the nation's three biggest theater chains, Regal, Cinemark and AMC, to up the number of digital 3D screens in the U.S. to 3,800 by December and to 5,000 by next May.

18/09/2009