'Journey' to screen in 3-D
Film is first feature to bow on Swedish digital
Theater owner SF Bio plans to install digital 3-D equipment at least one of its Stockholm cinemas in the fall, with live action "Journey" as its opening film.
"We are looking to start in other cities, like Gothenburg," SF Bio head of theaters Steve Sodergren said.
SF Bio owns 206 screens in 32 cinemas all over Sweden. Digitizing them all is expected to takebetween three and seven years. Right now, Sweden only has seven digital screens, as compared to the U.S. with close to 4,000.
SF has not yet decided which digital 3-D system to use. At a demonstration in Stockholm Tuesday, the Dolby system was used.
"We are still testing everything, from the machines themselves to the glasses," Sodergren said.
It is estimated that providing a screen the size of the largest at the Sergel theater will cost $291,525. Smaller screens will cost $220,000.
Tests also showed that subtitling foreign films, which are rarely dubbed in Sweden, worked satisfactorily, he said.
