"WOW! That's all I can say!" an Abilene movie-goer was overhead exclaiming in the Premiere Cinema lobby this weekend.

It seemed that "wow!" was a popular buzz word being used by movie-goers as thousands of fans got their first look at Premiere's new digital cinema technology that was installed in all auditoriums of its multiplex at the Mall of Abilene last week. Catching the most views was "Wolverine" starring Hugh Jackman as the most popular "X-Man" which opened on multiple screens and grossed a whopping $83 million domestically, and Abilene crowds were blown away at the clarity and quality of the new digital projection technology.

"It's an amazing transformation from traditional film projection," said Lavone Crosby, Premiere's Associate Director who has worked at the cinema for 20 years. "You can definitely see the difference, you can walk right up to the screen and the image is crystal clear no matter where you're sitting in the theatre." In Abilene people are already getting spoiled jokes Mr. Crosby; "They're saying they'll never see a movie again if its not in digital!"

The quality behind digital cinema is revolutionary thanks to advancements in DLP technology over the past few years by Texas Instruments. The move to convert Abilene to digital comes after two years of successful beta-testing by Premiere. To date Premiere has converted about half of its stadium mutliplexes to digital with the remainder to be completed in time for summer.

George Smiley, Premiere's Director of D-Services has installed hundreds of systems now and touts digital as "the wave of the future that's here today; it improves everything about the way we show and watch movies, the brightness, focus, sound, automation, it's all as close to perfect as you can get." With no more film to thread through projectors, Smiley explains "The movie looks as good the hundredth showing as it does the first, there's nothing to scratch, no dirty film, no film breaks, that's all a thing of the past." In fact the only thing he says digital can't improve is "the story-line" which he quipped "isn't exactly in my scope".

Fortunately for movie-goers, the "story lines" are in Hollywood's scope and the studios have enjoyed a stellar year at the box office; 2009 attendance is increased significantly over last year and summer's just beginning.

Instead of bulky film reels, digital movie content is now beamed to the cinema and stored in huge racks full of terabyte servers. Each movie is managed by a secured library management system which sends the movie out to the appropriate auditorium on cue every time. The server is programmed each week and the computers do the rest says Smiley, "Lights dim, audio switches, stereo surround sound kicks in, the proper film ratio is selected, it's all automation to eliminate error."

Movie-goers say the difference between watching conventional film and digital is remarkable. "We go to movies all the time," said Rosa Ortiz while exiting the theatre with her two children, "but this time it was like, wow, this looks really amazing. We didn't know it would be so noticeable." Adds Crosby, "It does sort of jump off the screen at you, it's almost like being there live in the scene and having it play out in front of you."

Aside from enhancing the quality of Hollywood movies, the technology allows Premiere to play increasingly popular 3-D films and an ever-expanding variety of alternative programming including sporting events, concerts and live video feeds. "It's a big leap from film but I don't think movie-goers will miss film. I know we won't miss threading it 50 times a day!"