The Visulite is scheduled today to unveil digital cinema, featuring enhanced video and sound, at its Staunton moviehouse.
The new technology – which provides digitally projected rather conventional film images — is the first picture-quality update the industry has seen in decades and “really accentuates the experience,” said box office analyst Jeff Bock, of eRc Box Office, an entertainment research firm based in Los Angeles.
Only about 15 percent of theaters offer digital projection, according to Screen Digest, an industry trade publication.
In addition to offering crisper picture and sound, digitally projected films improve the movie-watching experience because they don’t degrade with repeated viewing as film does, Visulite owner Adam Greenbaum said.
“I definitely think people should come out and see it,” he said. “The image is incredible. The visual and audio is so precise.”
“Crazy Heart,” “Precious” and “Nine” are scheduled today on the North Augusta Street theater’s two new digital screens.
The Visulite plans to offer 3-D movies beginning March 1 with “Alice in Wonderland.”
The upgrades also will make independent and artistic movies, of which limited numbers of film prints are made, more available to the theater, Greenbaum said. The Visulite frequently offers independent and foreign films.
Zeus Digital Theaters, set to open in September on Lew DeWitt Boulevard in Waynesboro, is expected to include eight digital screens, two of which will be 3-D capable. The design includes reclining seats, a “Zeus thrown room” for parties and a retail store offering aT-shirts, toys and accessories.
“Digital projection is the wave of the future in theater,” Zeus developer Brett Hayes said.
Visulite originally was a partner in the Zeus project but withdrew several months ago.
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