Quebec’s D-BOX extends reach into American Midwest cinemas
Company technology moving bums in seats in 13 countries
Quebec’s D-BOX Technologies said Thursday it will install its patented rock ’em, roll ’em seats in up to 10 more cinemas across the American Midwest over the coming year.
The deal with Goodrich Quality Theatres will up D-BOX’s presence to 179 cinemas worldwide, from North America to New Zealand. It’s already in two Goodrich cinemas in Indiana and Illinois.
“We say up to 10 more cinemas, because we don’t know until we get there whether every one of them will be adaptable to the technology,” D-BOX president and CEO Claude McMaster told The Gazette Thurs- day afternoon.
He would not reveal the value of the deal, but said it was important.
“The more cinemas you’re in, the more you generate new revenues from royalties and ensure you capture a larger part of the market,” McMaster said from D-BOX head- quarters in Longueuil.
The company doesn’t plan to expand in Canada, where its seats are installed in 18 Cineplex theatres, including several in the Montreal area.
“We’re pretty well covered for the moment, with them,” McMaster said.
But in other countries, “yes, for sure,” the company will expand, he added.
Since 2009, D-BOX has put its seats in cinemas in 13 countries: Canada, the U.S., Britain, France, Holland, Germany, Austria, Slovakia, Russia, Japan, Taiwan, Hong Kong and New Zealand.
“If you only knew how hard we’re working,” McMaster said. “Putting in place a world standard is quite a challenge.”
In Quebec, there are D-BOXequipped cinemas in Montreal, Beloeil, Laval, Joliette and other cities.
“D-BOX Technologies has added a new dimension to traditional movie watching,” said Martin Betz, chief operating officer of Goodrich, which is based in Grand Rapids, Mich.
“Our first few installations have been greatly successful,” Betz said in a news release, “and we look forward to expanding it to multiple locations to give our customers the best technology for movie-going.”
D-BOX designs, manufactures and markets motion systems used mainly by the entertainment and industrial simulation industries. The technology is used in cinemas as well as on DVDs and Blu-rays.
In theatres, D-BOX-encoded seats pitch and roll, heave and vibrate in sync with the action that’s happening on screen. The first movie to feature D-Box was Fast & Furious, in April 2009.
Goodrich operates 30 theatres with 277 screens in Michigan, Indiana, Illinois and Missouri, all of which use digital projection.