Apollo Cinemas announced the opening of the first fully digital, all 3D multiplex in Europe.

 

Working in conjunction with Sony and RealD, Apollo are opening one of the most technologically advanced cinemas in Europe. Apollo's new multiplex will be home to six digital cinema screens, each of which will be equipped to display stunning 3D.

NEC Display Solutions is intensifying its collaboration with Cine Project GmbH (CP), a specialist in cinema design and audiovisual technology for film theatres.

A joint sales agreement will see the purchase of several hundred of NEC's new Series 2 digital cinema projectors.

The last twelve months have seen successive Hollywood 3D blockbusters (Avatar, Up, Alice in Wonderland) taking cinema fairly and squarely into the digital age.

While there is no doubt that these films have been largely responsible for an upswing in the number of digital cinemas in Europe, their success has also heightened concern among smaller cinema operators, for whom the costs of digital conversion may be prohibitive.

 

Linked to this issue is the fear that European films will be "squeezed out" of many cinemas by a tide of US 3D blockbusters.