15-11-2013

Poland Hits Digitalization Goal

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    WARSAW: Poland has digitalized 99 local and art-house cinemas in 88 cities through the Polish Digital Cinemas Network programme, with more plans to convert more in 2014.

    Poland has more than 1,000 screens, with 80%of them (over 800 screens) part of the multiplex chains. The Polish Digital Cinemas Network, a programme under the Polish Film Institute with the support of the National Film Archive to modernize local and art-house cinemas with high quality and standards of screenings with capability to 3D screening and digital surround sound, was launched in 2011. The programme has reached at least one local or art-house cinema in every Polish province, with the greatest number of digitalized cinemas located in the Wielkopolskie, Mazowieckie and Łódzkie Provinces.

    The leading multiplex chains in Poland are Cinema City with 62 cinemas, 538 screens and 110,000 seats; Helios with 33 cinemas and 166,000 seats; and Multikino with 22 cinemas and 44,000 seats, acquired by British company Vue Entertainment in October 2013.

    The average cost of digitalizing a cinema is 350,000 PLN. Local cinemas and art-house cinemas can receive 50% of the amount financed by PISF’s "Cinema Development" Operational Program. All of the 99 modernized cinemas are part of a chain launched in November 2011 with 31 cinemas and coordinated by the National Film Archive.