News from around the digital realm

Traveling this week (SF to Boston to NY to SF), so just a few news-y links:

- Access Integrated Technologies says they'll have 150 digital screens installed by the end of this year. Their ultimate goal has increased from 2500 screens to 4000. Disney, Twentieth Century Fox, and Universal have all agreed to supply movies. Here's Information Week's story on those plans.

- Sheigh Crabtree of The Hollywood Reporter says tomorrow's release of "Chicken Little" in "Disney Digital 3-D" will succeed or fail based on the successful installation, integration, and operation of three different technologies: Dolby's servers, Christie and Barco's projectors, and Real D's 3-D gear. She writes, "At stake this weekend is the viability of digital cinema, digital 3-D and the promise of a new out-of-home experience."

Joshua Greer of Real D tells Crabtree that more than 84 theatres wanted to show "Chicken Little" in 3-D. "We had in excess of 100 exhibitors interested, but we couldn't get the equipment. Digital projector suppliers are used to selling 5-10 units a month, and all of a sudden they had an order for 50."

I suspect Dolby will have technicians on hand at maaannny of those 84 theatres this weekend, keeping an eye on the equipment to make sure it works.

- Director Robert Greenwald, whose documentary on Wal-Mart screened in New York on Tuesday night, publicly accused a Wal-Mart consultant in the audience of trying to use his cell phone to pirate the movie. According to the New York Times:

Minutes into the premier of the film, "Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price," the director, Robert Greenwald, said he spotted the consultant pointing his open cellphone toward the screen. A confrontation ensued in the lobby. "Get out of here," Mr. Greenwald yelled, according to the director and a Wal-Mart spokeswoman. "This is a disgrace."