Marcus Theaters announced it will be putting digital cinema systems in 630 first-run screens, the result of a licensing agreement with Cinedigm Digital Cinema subsidiary CDF2 Holdings.
The deal includes 64 digital cinema systems that are already in place and encompasses 47 company-owned theaters. When completed, which is scheduled to be before the end of 2011, nearly all Marcus Theater screens will offer digital technology. These theaters are in Wisconsin, Illinois, Minnesota, Ohio, North Dakota, Iowa and Nebraska.
Marcus Theaters said the costs will be met primarily by the virtual print fees that studios pay for theaters who adopt digital systems. The terms call for Cinedigm to purchase the digital projection systems, license them to Marcus Theaters, and structure, implement and administer the studios’ virtual print fee agreements.
“Marcus Theatres is proud to continue its long history of technological innovation and quality by entering into this agreement with Cinedigm to enable the conversion of our circuit to digital cinema and assure that our guests can experience the pristine visual presentations digital cinema offers,” said Bruce J. Olson, president of Marcus Theatres. “The advantages for our guests will be brighter and better focused images and a consistently clear and steady picture with truer, more vibrant colors, whether they see a motion picture on its first showing or in its last week of exhibition,”
In unrelated news, Cinedigm Digital Cinema Corp. today announced that it has entered into a definitive securities purchase agreement with accredited investors, for the issuance and sale in a private placement transaction of 4,338,750 shares of Class A common stock at a purchase price of $1.60 per share. The company expects this action to yield approximately $6.9 million, which it will use for general working capital purposes and unspecified strategic opportunities. Merriman Capital, Inc. acted as the exclusive placement agent for this transaction.
