Cinema chain raises curtain on major digitisation project

Plans should improve user experience

Vue Entertainment is embarking on an 18-month project to digitise its entire 69-strong cinema estate

Cinema chain Vue Entertainment is planning to fully digitise its cinemas in a multimillion-pound project aimed at improving quality of service and maximising sales.

Currently there are only two Vue cinemas using solely digital technology, while the chain’s other multiplexes show a mix of digital and traditional cellulose-based films.

The project, due to start later this year, will take between 18 months and two years to complete. The company is currently in talks with third parties that will supply the necessary technology, which will include new servers.

According to Roland Jones, Vue’s IT director, the digitisation process will trigger “profound changes” to the way the cinema chain operates and also simplify working processes involving partners such as film distribution companies.

Since movies can take up to 200GB of disk space, the digitisation project means that the firm will need to place a sharper focus on integration and future storage demands.

“[Going fully digital] is a massive leap forward. It also means that customers will always see a perfect image on the screen, whereas with cellulose films, there is a difference in image quality between the first play and the twentieth,” Jones told Computing.

Jones added that operating with digital technology as opposed to having to handle cans of film will allow Vue to show more movies over the course of the day and give customers more choice in terms of showing time.

Other recent IT initiatives aimed at improving efficiency at Vue include the outsourcing of user support and technical service management for its head office and across its 69-strong cinema estate.

By employing IT services company Retail Assist to provide an around-the-clock point of contact across the business for technology-related issues, some “considerable savings” were generated in its yearly IT budget as a result.