The three dimensional era has caught up with New London’s own Grand Cinema Theaters.
After multiple years of 3D hype, the Grand has made many upgrades to theater including replacing all traditional film projectors with digital projectors and sound equipment and the ability to view films in 3D, specifically on the Grand Screen. Digital projectors will allow for better picture and sound quality on all four screens. With such a large amount of films being released in 3D every year and over fifty percent of theaters making the leap from film to digital, this transition was just a matter of time.
Though the size of the digital projectors compared to the large reel film projectors may be a lot smaller, the transition in the theater was a large task. An equipment crew was hired for the job of bringing the Grand into the digital age. The crew was busy, during non-show time hours, installing new speakers in every theater. Each theater will have Dolby Digital 5.1 sound capabilities. The transition to 3D on the Grand theater screen was more involved. The crew was busy replacing the old screen with the new 3D compatible screen.
The viewing difference with the new digital projectors will be like night and day. As picture quality goes, every theater screen will now virtually look like the HD movies in your home, but on a lot bigger scale. For those employees who prepare for each movie by spending time threading film into projectors and rushing to start them on time, each digital projector is programmed to play the movie at the appropriate start time. But even with this big change, the owner realizes that not everyone wants to view their film in 3D so there will be separate time options throughout the day to view the same film in 2D.
The reason for this investment and leap in technology is more than just keeping pace with changing times. For the film studios, it’s much more efficient and saves them billions of dollars in shipping cost. No more shipping heavy rolls of film. Instead, theaters will now be receiving each film on a hard drive that has been described to be around the size of a paperback novel. This is then inserted into the digital projector. In Hollywood, there are only an elite, small number of filmmakers shooting on film. Shooting on film is quickly becoming a dying art, as equipment goes. Nevertheless, most directors have switched from shooting movies on film to digital. It just ends up simply being easier for everyone. The filmmakers can shoot as much as they want on digital without worrying about wasting expensive film, and the studios now have a much more convenient medium to send to the theaters.
With respect to 3D technology, there are many people interested in this new way to view films. It is said, like with any new technology, that 3D will keep on growing and only become better and better as time goes on to enhance the viewing experience. Overall, this is an important milestone in the history of the Grand Theater, a building with such a tremendous history. It’s a building that has been kept preserved with the help of the community and is still fighting to give back to the people that made it what it is today. Even though the equipment has completely changed, the Grand’s tickets and concession prices are still lower than other theaters in the area, the employees are very friendly, and because of this, the Grand’s unique history is still living on strong. Expect your next movie experience at the Grand to be a more three-dimensional one; just don’t forget to put on the glasses!