4K digital projectors come to LA

Cinematical and The Hollywood Reporter have coverage of Landmark Theatre's new multiplex at the Westside Pavilion in LA, which features Sony SXRD 4K digital projectors in three of its auditoriums. These, along with one auditorium at Landmark's NuArt, are the only places where average ticket-buyers can experience 4K projection in Los Angeles. (4K projectors are already in place in Landmark cinemas in Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Indianapolis, New York, San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle and Washington.)

But there's a hitch: there isn't very much 4K content available today, or in the pipeline (most digital movies are now released in the lower-res 2K format). From Carolyn Giardina's piece in The Hollywood Reporter:

Sony Pictures and Warner Bros. Pictures have created select 4K deliverables, but today's digital cinema content is typically available in 2K.

"(4K content) is being developed as we speak," [Landmark co-owner Mark] Cuban said. "HDNet [Films, one of Cuban's production companies] plans on actively using 4K for productions and for distribution of content beyond just 4K theatrical." He said that some of the upcoming films he is producing would be mastering and distributed in 4K, though he declined to reveal details.

Citing the aforementioned 4K content from Sony and Warners, Andrew Stucker, director of Sony's digital cinema systems unit, said: "It's still an expensive proposition. While 4K is coming, we expect the majority of the content will be 2K."

Here's the official Landmark page on the new multiplex... and coverage from Variety and the LA Times. (And one more from Variety.