Eastman Kodak Company

Kodak, Century Theatres and Cinema Screen Media Team Up For Digital Pre-Show

Key to the Kodak sale is CSM’s new multi-year agreement with Century Theatres giving CSM the exclusive right to provide a revolutionary digital pre-show program without rolling-stock commercials.  The program is designed to be both entertaining and informative for Century’s guests.

With both the Century and CinéArts brands, Century Theatres is one of the top exhibitors in the U.S. with more than 900 screens in eleven states; they expect to open more than 250 new screens over the next three years.

 “Century Theatres has a long history of offering the best in presentation, programming, and customer service,” said Don Vassel, CEO of Cinema Screen Media.  “They’re widely admired for their ability to innovate with a sense of style and a concern for their theater guests.  Because of our custom design capabilities and our partnership with Kodak for digital cinema systems, we are able to provide a unique program that complements the Century movie-going experience.”

“This continues Century’s tradition of making every visit to the movies special,” said Nancy Klasky, Vice President of Marketing for Century and CinéArts Theatres.  “When our theaters are fully outfitted with the CSM show and Kodak systems, we will be the first major exhibitor to offer a full digital pre-show program in all theatres and to all of our guests around the country.”

“We’re thrilled to have Kodak play a role in this,” said Bill Doeren, general manager of Kodak Digital Cinema and Kodak vice-president.  “Don and his team are having great success in the marketplace because they have fresh ideas and a strong business focus.  Together with Century, they will again set new standards for the digital pre-show.”

In November 2003, Cinema Screen Media purchased more than 225 Kodak digital cinema pre-show systems.  They are currently in use by CSM to provide a market-leading digital pre-show entertainment program in the Chicago, Phoenix, and Charleston markets.

The new agreement with Century will extend the delivery of CSM’s digital pre-show entertainment program to the important Los Angeles, San Francisco, Sacramento, Denver, and Portland markets, among others.

As part of the agreement, Kodak is providing CSM with system installation, as well as the service and support necessary to prepare and deliver pre-show content to Century and CinéArts Theatres’ screens.

When installation is complete, there will be more than eleven hundred Kodak Digital Cinema systems in the marketplace, throughout the U.S.  Playing on them, the CSM-produced pre-show offers a unique mix of marketing messages and entertainment.

 “Local marketing messages are important to our presentation because Century has strong ties to the communities they serve,” Vassel said.  “We intermix those local messages with full audio and visual entertainment – music videos, behind-the-scenes featurettes, and other entertaining content that audiences can’t see anywhere else.”

“We’ve made a commitment to our audiences,” said Century’s Klasky.  “We don’t play television commercials because we – and they – believe the cinema should be unique.  We call it a ‘seamless experience’ and we expect every part of everything we do – including the pre-show presentation – to contribute to that.”

“Kodak provides the technology and support we need,” Vassel added, “so we can concentrate on creating a differentiated pre-show.  Audiences tell us they find our digital pre-show to be more colorful, more engaging, and more entertaining than the slide presentations it replaces.”

 “We like the CSM solution,” said Klasky, “because it allows our theater guests to be entertained while still maintaining an environment for them to socially interact.  We believe the CSM concept has the capability to evolve to include new elements and new ways of presenting entertainment.”

2004