It’s All Christie All The time At Southern Theatres’ Grand 14 Esplanade

Gail Chiasson, North American Editor

Southern Theatres recently selected Christie, a major brand in the digital cinema market, to power every auditorium in its new, state-of-the-art 14-screen theater complex at the Esplanade Mall in Kenner, Louisiana.

christie_logo_high_resThe Grand 14 Esplanade, scheduled to open December 12, will be the first to feature the ‘complete Christie experience’, fitted exclusively with Christie Solaria Series digital cinema projection technology and the Christie Vive Audio systems.

Christie’s Managed Services team is providing complete support, from designing the technology floor plan, to installing and integrating all of the products, as well as providing 24/7 remote monitoring, maintenance and support through Christie’s own Network Operations Center. This Christie experience is expected to be used for all cinema advertising as well as feature films.

The Grand 14 Esplanade will offer Southern Theatres’ branded auditorium, equipped with the Christie Duo dual-projection system using Christie CP4230 4K DLP Cinema projectors, ensuring that the RealD 3D images on the huge three-story screen are the crispest and brightest possible. The GPX auditorium will also feature Christie Vive Audio configured for 46 channels using Dolby Atmos, a new audio solution that revolutionizes the experience of sound in entertainment. The groundbreaking new Christie Vive Audio system features speakers with an innovative single enclosure line array design combined with ribbon driver technology and high-powered Class D amplification – the first to be used in a cinema environment.

Christie management says that the combination of two Solaria projectors and the Duo integration kit is significantly less expensive than other branded ‘big screen’ industry solutions. With lower upfront costs, and no ongoing revenue sharing, Christie Duo is the global solution for creating an affordable, premium large screen movie experience.

Specifically created and built for the digital cinema environment, Christie Vive Audio’s unique parabolic line array design envelopes audiences with dynamic, richly detailed and enhanced audio where speech, special effects, music, and alternative content sound incredibly natural and lifelike.

Southern Theatres, LLC., owned and operated by George Solomon, was formed in May of 2002. In April 2005, Veronis Suhler Stevenson (VSS) made a $30 million equity investment in Southern Theatres, LLC. VSS is a private equity and mezzanine capital fund management company dedicated to investing in media, communications and information industries in North America and Europe.


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