by Prix D. Banzon

Davao City (31 March) -- Davao City has a good market for movie theaters with top-of-the-line facilities as can be observed with the first 3D cinema in the city run by SM.

SM cinema manager Ed Bayani said the 3D movie had been doing good up to this time since it was first shown to the Dabawenyos on March 19, 2010. The regular run cinemas are doing well also, he said.

He said Dabawenyos really wanted to get a good material of films that is why they still want to see this in theaters.

Meanwhile he said as to the first 3D movie, they got a good response from moviegoers here saying that Davao came in next to North Edsa in terms of sales for the first movie "How To Train A Dragon". Next to be shown is "Clash of the Titans".

SM Cinema Davao came in fourth among SM cinemas with top sales of the first 3D movie together with SM Megamall, Mall of Asia, SM North Edsa, SM Cebu, SM Marikina, SM Baguio, SM Bacolod, SM Iloilo.

He said SM Cinema wants to offer also the best for the Dabawenyos that is why SM continues to bring in sophisticated facilities for their market here.

SM Cinema introduces the advancement in entertainment technology to the Philippines by opening the first digital cinema in the country - The SM Digital Theater.

The digital theater is a set of equipment consisting of a digital projector, sound system, server, storage, delivery mechanism and security purposes as defined by Digital Cinema Initiatives (DCI), an organization established in March 2002 as a joint venture of the biggest names in the movie industry like Disney, Fox, Paramount, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Universal and Warner Bros. Studios to establish and document voluntary specifications for digital theaters to ensure a uniform and high level of technical performance, reliability and quality control.

Bayani said a digitally produced or digitally converted movie can be distributed to theaters via satellite, physical media, or fiber optic networks. The digitized movie is stored by a computer/server which serves it to a digital projector for each screening of the movie.

He said with this top of the line facility there is no more color fading, jump and weave, scratching and dirt accumulation which are common problem that plaque film.

Moviegoers can see a movie in its original pristine condition, exactly the way the director intended it plus the Dolby digital sound system creates the unsurpassed total movie experience of Dabawenyos, he said.