style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; text-align: justify; ">Mumbai-based Scrabble Entertainment Limited (SEL), which is India’s first and only deploying entity that installs Digital Cinema Initiative (DCI) 2K and 4K systems and aims at converting all the single screens in the country to the Digital Cinema Initiative Platforms. Recently; the company has been actively involved in converting Single screens like Sangam Theatre in Bhopal and Narendra Talkies in Ujjain to a 100% digital platform. 

PVR in Ujjain was also recently digitised by Scrabble as a result of their Partnership with PVR Cinema. In this pioneering move, Sangam Theaters becomes one of the first single screens theaters in Madhya Pradesh to go 100% digital. After Sangam Theaters, SEL aims at penetrating further into the major theater exhibition market which exists in Madhya Pradesh. The company now looks to target 50 screens to DCI compliant platforms by end of 2012.

Ranjit Thakur, CEO, Scrabble Entertainment specifically highlighted that “The response from theater owners has been quite encouraging, and regions such as these are the point of focus for our organization as we go forward. Overall, the experience has been fantastic. We have now expanded our reach to Bhopal, Ujjain and Indore with the existing single screen exhibitors and are partnering with complexes such as Cinepolis to adapt to 2k technology in the MP region. 

The owners are quite ecstatic about the transformation of the technology and the response from their customers” DCI platform will allow exhibitors to provide the best movie viewing experience to its patrons especially as Hollywood and 3D films become increasingly popular in the region. 

This can be seen by the recently released Hollywood movie- Titanic 3D; the Madhya Pradesh region alone has contributed almost 33L to the total box office collection since its release. With close to 60 Hollywood films up for release before the end of 2012, digital conversion is a lucrative path for exhibitors to take.

“As a whole, there are a total of 12000 – 18000 screens in India and only 35-45 % of these screens have adapted to digital platforms till date. Recently, Scrabble has tied-up with PVR Cinemas to deploy 2K technology to 500 screens in India. The global market is also noticing a great change in the industry wherein it is expected that Hollywood physical print will cease to be available by 2013 and Bollywood physical print will become obsolete by 2015 – 2016,” opined Ranjit Thakur.

In their effort to focus on the central market, Scrabble has already partnered with Sangam Theatre in Bhopal, and is in the process of closing deals with some of the known exhibitors in this region by the end of this year. Scrabble intends to convert all the Multiplex Screens to DCI compliant Digital Screens which will enable exhibitors to showcase alternate content and 3D content enabling them to maximize their revenues with a flexible advertisement models.