Cinema technology has been in the news recently, with a series of major deals announced around Cinemacon and before. Cinema finances have recovered sufficiently for technology investment to be a possibility once more although caution is still a watchword.
Omdia view
Summary
Cinema technology has been in the news recently, with a series of major deals announced around Cinemacon and before. Cinema finances have recovered sufficiently for technology investment to be a possibility once more, although caution is still a watchword. Laser is the norm for projectors, and High Dynamic Range, now defined for cinema, has taken the first steps in cinema projection and is already available for Direct View LED screens.
Cinema tech deals for the largest exhibitors
Vue Cinemas will install 1,000 Barco laser Series 4 projectors across its estate of nearly 2,000 screens over the next four years, swapping out the now-discontinued Sony projectors that the company went with when digitizing its cinemas. In Poland, cinema circuit Helios will convert its entire screen estate of 300 screens to Christie’s RGB laser solution over the next two years.
In the US and Europe, the world’s second biggest cinema group, Regal Cineworld, will bring 4,000 Barco laser projectors (again series 4 and accompanied by a Barco server) to its cinemas. Regal is also involved in the staged rollout of High Dynamic Range (HDR) by Barco in three locations in the US.
US circuit AMC, also owner of several circuits in Europe and elsewhere, and the world’s largest exhibition group, has put together the AMC Go Plan, investing in a wide-ranging and diverse mix of premium technologies. This aims to invest up to $1.5bn over 4–7 years on premium experiences, including investment into Premium Large Format, Extra Large Format, Imax, Dolby Cinema, and branded laser projection. Key aims are a tripling of Prime at AMC locations to 100, a potential tripling of Laser at AMC screens (over 2,000 now) and adding up to 250 new XL screens (over 40 feet wide) in the US on top of the 68 in Europe already, growing Imax Laser from 42 to 150 screens as well as growing the number of Dolby Cinema locations.
The detailed AMC plan highlights how cinemas are pivoting to premium or high-quality experiences for customers, thus driving those higher ticket prices, and also how varied the experiences out there can be for each location. The lack of clarity on the timing of the AMC Go Plan underlines how cinema financials have had to build back up after the potentially existential impact of COVID-19 on the sector, and the uncertainty this can bring.
Dynamic range extends its scope in cinemas
On the subject of HDR, or more specifically Extended Dynamic Range (EDR), this is making some progress in cinema screens with well over 1,200 screens installed worldwide now, according to Omdia’s tracking data, playing catch up to HDR in the home on streaming platforms. Pixar‘s Inside Out 2 was presented in HDR, and previously, Lightyear and Elemental were also released in HDR. Inside Out 2 was screened in 4K SDR, where 4K was available and only appeared in HDR (i.e., as the filmmakers intended) on LED cinema screens.
EDR can extend to HDR and VDR in the future, but does not in most cases in cinema as HDR needs to fit in with the published specification by the Digital Cinema Initiative (DCI). On February 24, DCI released an HDR Addendum, followed by a specific Direct-view display addendum in April 2024.
Figure 1: Extended Dynamic Range in cinemas, by manufacturer (2017–24)
Source: Omdia
In the EDR area, IMAX’s laser screens are leading the way, with Dolby Cinema slightly behind, while China’s Cinity brand is on a growth path. LED cinema screens are also pushing the numbers up, mainly Samsung, but now joined by many others, as a legislation-driven rollout begins in China. The manufacturer Christie also very recently launched Variable Dynamic Range (VDR), a software update that enables all Christie CineLife+ projectors to playback HDR DCPs if the option is switched on. Christie and Dolby have also announced they are to develop the next generation of Dolby Cinema machines. HDR by Barco is now being trialed in a few cinemas around the world, based on the light-steering technology that Barco developed after its acquisition of Canadian company MTT Innovation in 2016.
HDR by Barco is the first projection-based system to be classed as HDR, and that required a significant technology breakthrough to achieve, which was known as light-steering. Achieving HDR with projectors is more difficult than with LED screens, as light is always at a premium for projection. Christie’s E3LH machine, which was developed for Dolby Vision over a decade ago, was at first attributed with HDR, with a stated contrast ratio of 1,000,000:1 compared to under 5,000:1 for most lamp or laser projectors. This machine would now come under EDR. More recently, Christie and Dolby have now collaborated on a new machine, unveiled in March 2025, which enables a single machine to run Dolby Vision. The system previously required dual projection for any size screen, but only screens larger than 58 feet wide will need the second projector. This will bring the cost of Dolby Cinema down, which has been a brake on post-COVID-19 rollout.
Direct-view (LED) screens: activity heightens as manufacturers see opportunity
LED screens (also known as Direct-view screens and capable of HDR) are also making gradual progress into cinemas, with somewhere over 200 installed worldwide (around 0.1% of the installed screen base). The momentum is certainly picking up if the applications for certification to the studio-led DCI venture is a guide. There were only three such applications up to 2021 and 24 applications since 2021, of which eight were in 2024.
Figure 2: DCI: Initial certification test for LED cinema screens, 2017–24
Source: Omdia, from DCI
Korean manufacturer Samsung is the pioneer here, launching the first DCI-certified screen in 2017, and is the market leader by some distance. However, it has been joined by over 20 other manufacturers with LED screens now certified for cinema. The majority of these are Chinese companies, and while many have not made it out of China yet, some have. Leyard has 20 screens installed outside of China, and HeyLED (Timewaying) recently installed a screen in Romania, as well as others outside of China. A cinema in Germany has also installed Cinity LED systems from China Film Group in all 10 of its auditoriums. The momentum from China is driven by government legislation to ensure that cinemas need to install or retrofit a certain number of LED screens per year. In fact, the only non-Chinese companies involved in direct-view screens or cinema are Sony, Samsung, LG, Barco, NanoLumens, and GDC for servers (SRC-5500).
Immersive motion seating and screens advance along with 4D
Switching to 4D and Immersive Motion Seating (IMS) technology, Canadian immersive seating provider D-Box recently reached a milestone of 1,000 screens equipped worldwide, accounting for over 23,000 seats. North America accounts for nearly half of the screen count (46%), EMEA just over a quarter (28%), South America for 15% of screens, and Asia & Oceania 11%.
In Europe, Germany is a particularly strong market with 200 cinema screens fitted with D-Box seating, its second largest territorial footprint. In South America, D-Box is almost doubling its presence within Cinemark Argentina sites due to a recent deal for up to 32 screens from the current 18.
As for 4D cinema, a close cousin of immersive motion seating, as part of the AMC plan detailed above, the circuit will install 40 4DX screens worldwide, including in US locations for the first time, as well as 25 ScreenX auditoriums. 4DX and ScreenX are products of Korean media group CJ Group, through the 4DPlex subsidiary, and count just over 1,200 4DX screens worldwide. Available films in both D-Box and 4DX formats include Minecraft: A Movie, F1, the latest Mission: Impossible, and many other major releases.
In another projector deal, immersive wraparound screen technology ScreenX, made by CJ 4DPlex, has signed a five-year deal with Barco for up to 1,000 laser projectors by 2030, building on the agreement two years ago for Barco to be the sole projection partner for ScreenX. There are over 400 ScreenX auditoriums in place worldwide as of end 1Q25.
For a more detailed view of Premium cinema, including 4D and immersive motion seating, Branded PLF and Exhibitor PLF, see our upcoming report, Premium Cinema Formats 2024.
Tech is one aspect of cinema’s future
Technology has taken a back burner while the cinema industry focused on, first, survival and then re-engaging audiences. That engagement work continues, but the eased financial situation of an “80% return to cinema” enables some planning for the future to resume. Premium and experiential cinema is popular, as the AMC deal underlines, both for audiences (greater experience) and exhibitors (higher ticket price) alike. However, the cinema industry is at risk of over-complicating dynamic range for consumers, to whom the technology specs will not mean much, but the elevated experience will. Branded experiences have been shown to resonate with people, even if not all branded experiences are equal.
Appendix
Author
David Hancock, Chief Analyst, Media & Entertainment
