Paramount confirms major sequels, Pompeii Live a UK hit; Sony, Vue and Eagle Rock team for Aerosmith release.

Pompeii Live a big success

The British Museum’s Pompeii Live event cinema release on June 18 and 19 sold more than 50,000 tickets in the UK, British Museum Head of Digital Media & Publishing Tim Plyming has revealed at CineEurope.

The programme went out to more than 280 cinemas in the UK, targeted as all consumers on June 18 and school groups on June 19. It grossed more than £450,000, a figure that will be enviable to some smaller indie film releases.

Plyming noted that Pompeii Live also received more than 15,000 Tweets in one night. The museum show has so far welcomed 250,000 physical visitors. He said the museum’s executives were currently reviewing the success of the Pompeii programme to see if it should be repeated in future with exhibitions like the forthcoming Vikings.

To read more about CineEurope’s event cinema panel click here.

Paramount presentation

Paramount Pictures International’s slate presentation included confirmation of several new franchise sequels: Hansel & Gretel 2, GI Joe 3 and Mission: Impossible 5 included. The reel teased the 3D Spongebob Squarepants movie, the first film from Paramount Animation; and Dwayne Johnson and director Brett Ratner appeared from an office in Budapest to tout Hercules, which is now enterting production.

Other trailers included Pain & Gain, Jack Ryan, Labor Day, Noah, plus teaser footage from Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues.

The Paramount slate also includes Transformers 4 starring Mark Wahlberg, Michael Bay’s Ninja Turtles reboot and Paranormal Activity 5.

The studio then screened World War Z [pictured] for CineEurope attendees.

AAM signs VPF deal with Ireland’s Empire

Arts Alliance Media has signed a virtual print ree (VPF) deal in Ireland with Empire Movieplex. AAM Irish partner Cinetech will install projection and server equipment as well as AAM’s Screenwriter Theatre Management System. Empire will use AAM’s VPF deals to recoup the cost of digital conversion.

Michael Breen of Empire Movieplex said “We’re delighted to have signed with AAM to handle our conversion to digital. Having someone on board with the expertise to handle both the technical side and the VPF management means that we can relax and look forward to operations being made easier with digital - being able to schedule shows at the touch of a button will make running our multiplex much easier.”

Sony rocks with Aerosmith

Sony DIgital Cinema has announced an exclusive deal between Eagle rock and Vue Cinema to distribute the concert film Aerosmith: Rock For The Rising Sun, on July 16 across select UK cinemas. Sony is providing the technical support with its 4K systems.

Harnkess relaunches Modeller

Harkness Screens has launched version 2.0 of its Digital Screen Modeller, a 3D simulation tool used by architects, engineers and exhibitors.The upgrade includes a new user interace as well as new digital cinema manufacturer content, among other features.

The company has also released a new version of its Digital Screen Archiver app, used by projectionists, managers, engineers and exhibitors. Both apps ahd been launched for free during CinemaCon.

Qube launches QubeMaster Preview

Qube Cinema has introduced QubeMaster Preview, its standalone software application for previewing DCPs. The software allows DCPs mastered from any source to be viewed on a PC. QubeMaster Preview provides users of QubeMaster Xport and QubeMaster Xpress with a means to play back DCPs directly from their original location on the local drive. Qube’s offerings also include QubeMaster Pro, QubeMaster Packager, QubeMaster Xpress and QubeMaster Xport.