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Since Edison Laboratories introduced the first motion picture camera in 1891, movie production and screening have progressed from silent to sound, black and white to color, film to digital; all with the goal of improving the audience experience. At Christie®, this is the goal that drives everything we do. In collaboration with some of the greatest minds in movies, we explore and push the boundaries of the magic and technology that redefine the movie-going experience, including playing a part in the roll out of digital cinema through VPFs, ease of use, affordability, and sustainability. The incredible advances made by our Xenolite® lamps and original digital cinema projectors give way to Christie Real|Laser™ illumination technology, and CineLife+™, the most advanced, efficient, and future-proofed electronics platform on the market. These technologies set the benchmark for how movies should be shown and raise the expectations for moviegoers. At Christie, we invest in both the advancement of existing technologies as well as in experimental cinema experiences and formats. We help drive cinema’s creative community and enable our industry’s leading technologists. |
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The future is now: advancing cinema technology
Our advancements continue to focus on industry needs, from increasing capabilities for directors to reducing expenses for exhibitors.
The true beauty of an onscreen image comes to life with the trillions of colors and up to 6,000:1 contrast found in Real|Laser projectors. With this kind of color and contrast available to them, filmmakers can push the limits of imagination in their movies.
With Avatar: The Way of Water, director James Cameron does just that by creating a story that stretches the bounds of cinema technology. And the only way to see the movie as he intended is to watch it on a system capable of 4K 3D in variable frame rates. Something you get with our CineLife+ Real|Laser projectors. Combined with Christie Mystique™ Cinema , our PLF projectors deliver an incredible onscreen performance, recreating the director’s vision with laser precision.
The advancements we make aren’t limited to a director’s vision. We continue to improve both visual enhancements and day-to-day theatre operations with software updates designed for our partners behind the booth.
With Remote UI, exhibitors can access their projector software using a web browser and Wi-Fi connection, allowing them to analyze and program their equipment from anywhere, at any time. Electronic color convergence (ECC) and Christie LiteLOC™ sustain color and white balance so projector brightness, color, and contrast retain the crisp, clean look from day one. Our ultrafast processor equipped with a standalone cave board includes HDMI and SDI inputs for an easy way to play an expanding library of alternative content, such as eSports or streaming services.
We haven’t just redefined the premium in large format, we’ve redefined what’s possible.
The journey of high frame rate and ultra-realism
In 2016, legendary director Ang Lee’s Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk began to revolutionize both 3D and the cinema experience. Ang Lee discovered that by using technologies that offer 3D at significantly higher brightness and true 4K resolution, he could eliminate the movement jitters typically found at 24 frames per second (fps).
Photo courtesy of Ben Rothstein for Paramount Pictures
Lee smashed through the technical limitations in cinema held over from the age of film, removed the status quo of 24fps, and perfected a frame rate at 5 times that amount. Billy Lynn offered audiences a 3D movie experience that boasted an incredible 120fps.
Three years later, Lee further refined the craft of ultra-realism with Gemini Man in 3D at true 4K and 120fps for each eye. This action-thriller broke ground in technology befitting an action movie, removing the exaggerated chaos to give a much crisper and clearer, life-like feel to the fights and motorcycle chases.
Photo courtesy of Ben Rothstein for Paramount Pictures
These advancements in filmmaking paved the way for James Cameron’s new endeavor, Avatar: The Way of Water. This project arrived in theatres to further the phenomenon for audiences and exhibitors alike that was first introduced by the original Avatar in 2009, the highest grossing film of all time.
In anticipation of the new film, the re-release of the first movie tested the capabilities of PLF projectors at 4K 3D and in high frame rate. The results are in and the best way to view 4K 3D is with Christie CineLife+ PLF projectors. And when paired with Mystique Cinema, they’re now capable of 120fps and 4K 3D per eye.
The only way to prepare for the future of cinema and the series of Avatar films to come, is to equip your premium large format auditorium with the new CP4445-RGB or CP4455-RGB.
