CineStarz to open on Brant Street June 5th - play bill not yet decided on.

By Pepper Parr

May 29, 2015

BURLINGTON, ON

There is no business like show business – the bright lights and the Hollywood Stars and the Red Carpet and the dress that reveals more than the one your wife wears – the glitter and the glamour – some of it is working its way to downtown Burlington.

The frumpy bumpy theatre that operated out of Upper Canada Place shut down their marquee for the last time a number of months ago and the place remained dark. The previous owners found that the cost of upgrading the equipment to run digital operations was more than they were able to handle.

Gone are the days when cans of 35mm film were shipped to theaters around the country – today the flick comes loaded onto a hard drive tat is slipped into a server and programmed fr viewing. CineStarz technician is testing the system before a planned June 5th opening.

CineStarz, an organization with six movie theatres under its management is doing a major upgrade to the space and the facilities.

“I’m putting more money that I planned on spending into the renovation” said Bruce Gerburg, the man overseeing the opening of the new location.

Projector is one of seven in the room – one for each theatre at the CineStarz.

Server sits beneath the projector. Films are loaded onto a hard drive and just slide into the server.

The renovation and upgrade of the theatre that will have everything its predecessor didn’t have.
Bigger screens, better projection equipment and a much more modern look.

Bruce Gerburg, who lives on his cell phone, runs a six theatre operation and will open the latest one in Burlington on June 5th. He prowls through the projection room where equipment is being wired and programmed for the big opening.

Painters, carpenters, electricians and video technician are crawling all over the place to have things ready for the opening on June 5th
What will projected on the screens? – Gerburg can’t or won’t say until he has firm information from his booking agent.

The intention is to have all the current cinema offerings with at least one of the six screens devoted to “art” films.

Art wasn’t a term that Gerburg defined.

The biggest difference, besides the look of the place, is going to be on the second floor where all the projection equipment is located.

Movies are all digital now – there are very few that have reels of 35mm film trucked in. “These days we get what is basically a hard drive that we slip into the server” said Gerburg. “We program the projectors from a lap top or from something as simple as a smart phone”

Technician can program any server in the seven theatre set up from a smart phone.

“I can have the guy who is selling popcorn in the lobby program a projector in another city” – the technology makes all this possible.
New seats are being installed and “there isn’t a seat with a poor sight line” said Gerburg.