Here’s a date film buffs should pencil on their calendars: June 18. That’s the date Roxy Theatre owner Carl Rankin is eyeing as the launch date for the Roxy Theatre’s brand-new fully digital projection system.
“Going digital at the small-town level has gone from being an option to being a necessity,” Rankin said in an interview Tuesday. “By mid-June — ideally by June 18 — we’ll be fully digital at The Roxy.”
Rankin said he has, for between $80,000 and $90,000, purchased a Christie CP 2220 digital projection system that will forever do away with the old-school film projection system.
That means local film fans will, as of mid-June, be able to see not only regular 2-D films but 3-D ones as well. And Rankin aims to show people exactly what that means.
“I want to hold a mini-film festival with four or five films over four days so people can see in 3-D the films we didn’t get to see when they came out in 3-D,” he said, adding that the lineup would likely include Avatar, which was shown for two weeks in 2-D, as well as other recent releases that are fully digital and 3-D.
Rankin knows what you’re thinking: “3-D? Doesn’t that mean those glasses? Won;t we have to pay for those?”
Actually — not, he said.
“The glasses will be free and are built into the price of the ticket,” he said. “We just ship them back to the manufacturer. They melt them down and make new ones.”
Going fully digital with the Christie CP 2220 digital system will not only help boost film attendance at the theatre by negating the need to travel to Salmon Arm or Vernon to see the latest 3-D films, but could be a boon for anyone who wants to show a high-quality DVD to a large audience.
“Let’s say you’re a school teacher who wants to show PBS program to two or three classes all at once… you could jam them all into a classroom or a gym and try to show it to them on a TV or you could bring the DVD and all the students to The Roxy and see it on a big screen,” Rankin said. “We can even hook you up with a wireless mike so you can interact with the audience.”
