Sony strikes digital deal with Odeon & UCI

Subject to the terms of the deal and picture-by-picture booking terms, SPRI will provide its motion picture content in digital form to Odeon/UCI cinemas deployed with DCI-compliant digital projection systems. SPRI will also contribute to the digital conversion fees.

The deal covers all seven territories in which Odeon/UCI operates including the United Kingdom, Ireland, Spain, Portugal, Germany, Italy and Austria. 

Long-term digital deployment deals have now been confirmed with all six major Hollywood studios and various independent distributors to support the digital conversion in the UK.

Rupert Gavin, CEO of Odeon & UCI Cinemas Group, said: “This deal with Sony completes the big studio picture for us in the UK, where all of the major Hollywood studios are now on board. Given Sony’s fantastic film franchises such as Spider-Man and Men in Black and its overall commitment to digital cinema and 3D, we welcome Sony as an invaluable addition to the list of digital content suppliers going forward.”

Mark Zucker, President, Sony Pictures Releasing International Corporation, added: “We are thrilled to be associated with Odeon/UCI’s decisive move into digital which coincides with our strategy to enhance movie-goers’ theatrical experience all around the world.  Odeon/UCI will be offering audiences an opportunity to view Sony’s future motion pictures in theatres containing state-of-the-art digital cinema projectors.”

As of end of June 2010, Odeon/UCI operated 491 digital screens across all of its territories, including 280 in the UK, an overall increase of 145% in just the past three months. The company now has the most digital screens of any exhibitor in the UK and Europe, as well as the most 3D screens.