Silver screen innovation-AMC, Lions Gate team up to distribute

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- A new science fiction movie starring Robin Williams is coming to theaters with a little high-tech wizardry of its own.

"The Final Cut," which tells of computer chips that record a person's life but can be edited of wrongdoing after death, will be released on Oct. 15 in 27 markets. The movie will be shown exclusively at 115 theaters operated by AMC Theaters, the film's distributor, Lions Gate Films, said Thursday.

Rather than being sent to theaters on clunky and expensive film reels, the movie will be transmitted by satellite, the first major Hollywood release to do so. Once at the theater, the movie will be stored in a computer hard drive and shown with a digital projector.

"This is the perfect picture to showcase groundbreaking innovation with present day filmmaking," said Tom Ortenberg, releasing president for Lions Gate, in a prepared statement.

The studio didn't return repeated calls for comment Thursday.

Kansas City-based AMC Entertainment Co., the country's second-largest theater chain with more than 3,500 screens, has used the satellite system to distribute advertising and other non-studio programming shown before a movie starts, as well as for replaying concerts and sporting events. Many other chains have similar systems.

But last month AMC experimented with feature-length programming by releasing the independent film "Evergreen" to its theaters by satellite.

AMC has refused to release box office or attendance figures for "Evergreen," which opened Sept. 10 to mixed reviews. But officials said they were encouraged enough by the technology to try it with larger projects.

"We know there is a growing demand for specialty films in our theaters, and it's a good use of this technology to meet that growing demand," said company spokesman Rick King.

The theater industry is closely watching AMC's efforts.

John Fithian, president of the National Association of Theater Owners, estimates distributing films costs the studios around $1 billion a year, keeping some smaller films from ever being seen by a larger audience.

"Digital technology will eventually eliminate the distribution hurdle," Fithian predicted. "I applaud AMC for taking one of the first test steps in that direction."

The next step will be projection quality. The system AMC currently uses has a lower picture quality than that of standard films.

Exhibition chains hope to eventually replace their standard film projectors with digital projectors that could provide picture quality surpassing high-definition television. But they have been bogged down in negotiations with the studios over projection standards, film formats and who will pay for the equipment.