Boxoffice.com - Tracking Movies Online

ISE/AMSTERDAM - Christie has announced the launch of two new projectors, the Christie LX505 and Christie LX605. Targeted to the Pro A/V market, these versatile projectors offer the latest in LCD technology enhancements. Additionally, both projectors feature 3D Keystone technology, a new four-corner geometry correction function for versatility in projector placement and easy display set-up.

"The LX505 and LX605 are full-featured, high-lumen products with exceptional price-performance," notes Christie Business Products Product Manager, Frank Anzures. "They are designed for flexibility and ease of use with the latest in LCD technology and new networking capabilities. With the added four-corner digital keystone correction function, users have a wide range of projector positioning while still maintaining a perfectly square display."

The projector boasts numerous product enhancements over its predecessor, the Christie LX500. In addition to 3D Keystone technology, the projectors feature motorized lens shift, focus and zoom, and come with a suite of high performance lenses that can be switched with a one-button lens release. They also offer users the ability to upgrade to more advanced network monitoring, control and display via an optional CCM-LX network module.

The Christie LX505 is a 5000-lumens 3LCD projector for users in higher education, fixed installation, and houses of worship markets looking for a combination of performance, features and high brightness at an exceptional price. The long life, inorganic 3LCD panels provide an improved contrast ratio, and its 10-bit image processing delivers superior gray-scale rendering and video with smooth, artifact-free images. The 13,000-hour maintenance free AutoFilter reduces the hassle of changing filters; an easy access top-loading lamp makes lamp changes fast and easy; and built-in networking capabilities allow for better troubleshooting.

The light-colored chassis of the Christie LX505 enables it to blend in with ceiling tiles for an unobtrusive fit in most rooms.

The Christie LX605 is a 6000-lumens projector designed for the Pro A/V professional seeking a new standard in 3LCD projection for medium-to large size venues. The versatile projector delivers Christie quality, dependability, performance and a low cost of ownership to rental and staging markets, fixed installations, houses of worship, higher education, and lighting markets. A hard-working, durable projector designed for heavy use in virtually any Pro A/V environment, the Christie LX605 is equipped with the same rich feature-set as the Christie LX505 but with 6000 lumens.

The Christie LX605 offers easy installation and set-up, and perfect image placement in any application. The richly featured Pro A/V connectivity is perfect for professional use and the projector's black chassis helps conceal the wear and tear in demanding environments.

The projectors began shipping in January.

Total tweets for February 5th Openers

Dear John had an eye-opening 2,103 tweets reference it yesterday on Twitter, good enough for the 6th largest Monday in my records since September of last year. I had said in my last column just how strong of a lead up week it had last week but even with that this is highly impressive. In eyeballing the actual tweets and profile pictures they seem to be made up of a high percentage of teen women, with some older women and very few men. A lot of recognition of the book and its author is also present and ties to The Notebook. This is a solid sign since The Notebook did very well at the Box Office and rentals. Still, this demographic and hype (not only around the book ala mini-Twilight effect, but also around Channing Tatum ala Megan Fox-effect from Jennifer's Body) is a recipe for a massive ratio. In terms of comparison, Jennifer's Body had 975 tweets on its Monday before release, and Whip It had 624. I chose those two because of the mass appeal of one star to a younger audience (Fox in Jennifer's Body) and its connection to the young female Twitter user (Whip It). I do still think there will be a higher percentage of older women wanting to see this than either of my two comparisons which should bring it down somewhat. My early estimate will be for a 1,200 - 1,500 ratio. Even with that in mind, it appears to be on track for a 12,000+ tweet week which might push it to high single digits to low double digit millions for Friday

From Paris With Love started the week with a solid 509 tweets. The film is trying to appeal to young to middle-aged males with no desire to line up for Dear John, and it no doubt hopes that the waning power of Avatar or the Super Bowl weekend won't affect its chances. In terms of comparisons, Surrogates had 452 tweets its Monday before release, Law Abiding Citizen had 623, Men Who Stare At Goats had 495, Armored had 173, and Edge of Darkness had 545. Early days yet but it seems on course for ~3,000 tweets for the week, and assuming a ~600-700 ratio; low to mid double digits for the weekend.

Check back tomorrow to see the Tuesday numbers and more comparisons.

Twitter tracking history. (For 2009's ratio history please check here.)

The ratio is the number of tweets per $1 million of Friday Box Office gross. A film with 1,000 tweets and a $10 million Friday would therefore have a ratio of 100. In general, films that appeal to very young or older audiences have lower ratios since those audiences are not big users of Twitter. By comparison, films that appeal to younger audiences (18-35) have much higher ratios since those audiences are much more active users of Twitter.

Kansas City, Mo. - AMC Entertainment Inc. (AMC), a leading theatrical exhibition and entertainment company, announces the hiring of its first senior-level food and beverage executive outside the exhibition industry to steer the company's strategic and operational functions in that arena. George Patterson, senior vice president of food and beverage, will lead the team's efforts to expand AMC's concessions offerings from the company's headquarters in Kansas City, Mo.

"We are pleased to have George join the AMC leadership team," said John McDonald, executive vice president, U.S. operations at AMC. "His experience with the restaurant industry greatly complements our plans for expansion and enhancement of the food and beverage options we offer our guests."

As director of brand asset strategy and multibrand execution for the KFC division at YUM! Brands, Patterson standardized systems and concepts across all company and franchised restaurants and determined the optimal use of KFC assets. Previously, he served as an executive at Cool Mountain Creamery & Café, a company he co-founded, and at Wendy's International and Burger King Corporation.

"I look forward to continuing the innovative work AMC has recently launched in the areas of in-theatre dining and 'grab-and-go' concessions. I'm also excited to deliver on the company's commitment to bringing more diverse and healthy food and drink options, in addition to 'better-for-you' offerings, to its guests," said Patterson.

Patterson will report directly to John McDonald, AMC's executive vice president of U.S. operations, and he will manage the associates who lead the company's food and beverage team.

MORRISTOWN, N.J. - Cinedigm Digital Cinema Corp. (NASDAQ: CIDM) and Vista Entertainment Solutions, Inc. announced today an agreement for Vista and its network of business partners to exclusively distribute and support Cinedigm's Theatre Command Center software in certain major international territories.

Cinedigm is the global leader in digital cinema. The company's Theatre Command Center software is the most widely used theatre management system in the world for operating digitally-enabled movie theatres. The system has been operating on thousands of screens since 2005 and has supported more than 15 million showings.

Digital cinema and Cinedigm's Theatre Command Center greatly simplify the process of managing theatrical entertainment, saving exhibitors significant time and money and enabling a wider variety of content for the consumer.

Cinedigm's latest Windows-based operating system is designed to fully automate digital cinema-equipped theatre operations and enable more efficient circuit-wide management of content, schedules, systems, data and resources.

New Zealand-based Vista Entertainment Solutions is a leader in worldwide cinema Point-of-Sale and circuit management software, with offices and business partners in the U.S., Europe and Asia.

"We have worked closely with Vista and its worldwide business partners for several years. Like Cinedigm, they are innovators in cinema technology and services and we are very excited to be working together in providing solutions that will define the future of cinema," said Jim Miller, president of Cinedigm's Software division.

Murray Holdaway, CEO of Vista said, "Digital Cinema is gaining traction around the world and Cinedigm's Theatre Command Center is an important technological advancement in the management of Digital Cinema Projection. Vista is pleased to be working with Cinedigm to offer customers not only world leading Cinema Management Systems but also the latest in Digital Cinema Management Technology."

This upcoming weekend we again have two new wide release openers in Dear John and From Paris With Love. Once again Avatar will almost certainly remain king, but its just a matter of seeing how much of the scraps these two can pick up.

Dear John had a hugely impressive 2,599 tweets last week. That's good enough for the 6th highest pre-release week tally since last September. Its core demographic will be women, spanning from teens through to 35 which will no doubt give it a very high ratio, but still, these numbers are impressive. It would appear as though high teens or more are in order here.

From Paris With Love had 1,061 tweets reference it last week on Twitter. In terms of comparisons, Surrogates had 810 tweets its week before release, Armored had 322, and Book of Eli had 1,422. As of right now its looking like low to mid teens similar to Surrogates. A lot will depend on how it holds up during the week but we should expect a ratio in the range of 500-700.

Check back Monday night for analysis of the Monday tweet totals.

Twitter tracking history. (For 2009's ratio history please check here.)

The ratio is the number of tweets per $1 million of Friday Box Office gross. A film with 1,000 tweets and a $10 million Friday would therefore have a ratio of 100. In general, films that appeal to very young or older audiences have lower ratios since those audiences are not big users of Twitter. By comparison, films that appeal to younger audiences (18-35) have much higher ratios since those audiences are much more active users of Twitter.