The digital cinema rollout took another big step forward with the opening of Chicken Little on November 4. The Walt Disney Studios production was released in Disney Digital 3-D™ on many screens. Dolby, in a historic collaboration with Disney, installed Dolby^® Digital Cinema systems on 84 screens for the 3-D rollout. (The movie opened in digital 2-D on other screens.)

Audiences responded enthusiastically to digital 3-D. As word spread about the spectacular effects, moviegoers headed to the 3-D screens, and the box-office numbers (not to mention long lines at the theatres) reflected their enthusiasm. Chicken Little was the top-grossing film over the November 4th weekend, taking in $40.1 million. The Dolby Digital Cinema 3-D theatres, which made up 2.3 percent of the sites, took in 5.1 percent of the gross. Also, eight of these sites were among the top-ten-grossing theatres across the nation. Chicken Little continued as the top-grossing movie for its second weekend, as well.

While 3-D movies are not new, of course, digital 3-D improves on its 35mm film counterpart. Digital 3-D provides smoother action and a more convincing dimensional effect, free of the eyestrain that frequently accompanied traditional 3-D film presentations. In the digital 3-D process employed for Chicken Little, a Dolby Show Store feeds separate left-right data streams to a pair of Dolby Show Players, where the streams are decoded and sent to the digital projector. The movie is shown with alternating left-right images at 144 fps, a rate that’s impossible with film and is faster than the eye can detect. An adapter mounted on the projector polarizes the alternating images.

Moviegoers wear special glasses, in which the lenses have corresponding polarization, so that intended left images are seen only by the left eye and right images by the right eye. The special glasses are passive devices and inexpensive. Moviegoers can take them home, so theatres avoid the logistical problems of sanitizing and maintenance.

The Dolby Digital Cinema system easily accommodates 3-D content and is designed for exceptional durability and reliability in real-world cinema environments. The massive deployment for the Chicken Little rollout was remarkably smooth, and exhibitors were very happy with the Dolby equipment and Dolby installation support as well. The following comments are typical of the feedback we have received about the rollout:

“I have been involved in a number of new theatre technology rollouts before, and Dolby did an excellent job. Everything went very smoothly, and we were impressed with the level of service and accessibility of Dolby’s staff,” said Rob Kurrus, President, Premiere Theaters, LLC, Melbourne, Florida. “Over and above how wonderful the rollout was, the Dolby system is just extraordinary—it is very intuitive, easy to use, and reliable. Once you schedule the system, you don’t even have to press play, it just runs perfectly and every show starts on time, every time. We hope to get more Dolby Digital Cinema systems soon, and are excited about the new digital movies coming out.”

“It’s remarkable; the Dolby Digital Cinema system just slid right into place and runs smoothly,” said Dale Harvey, General Manager, Megaplex Theatres, Sandy, Utah. “The system functioned just as it is supposed to function, and it was extremely easy for our projectionists to learn how to use the system.”

Chicken Little in Disney Digital 3-D and Dolby Digital Cinema will open in Tokyo in mid-December 2005.

For more information about Dolby Digital Cinema, and to locate a cinema near you showing Chicken Little in 3-D, visit our website.