Paramount's first digital cinema release

Without a bit of fanfare, Paramount Pictures released its first movie for digital theaters earlier this month: `She's the Man,' on March 17th. (It's listed here on the Texas Instruments site.)

Paramount was the last major studio to have not done a digital release, but when I was last over there, they hinted to me that one was on the way. I was assuming it'd be `Mission: Impossible 3' later this year.

`She's the Man' is only playing in three digital theaters - one in the Seattle area, one in Michigan, and one in Brooklyn. That last theater, the Pavilion, happens to be owned by AccessIT.

They, of course, are the company that manages more digital cinemas than anyone else in the U.S. right now (they only own that one multiplex, which they use as a showcase). While AccessIT hasn't announced any sort of on-going deal with Paramount, they did do a deal with DreamWorks in November... and following Paramount's acquisition of DreamWorks, Paramount distribution is being handled by Jim Tharp... the very same DreamWorks distribution exec who did the deal with AccessIT last year. (And `She's the Man' is a DreamWorks movie.)

One source tells me that from here on out, every Paramount release will be available in digital form as well as film.