LAS VEGAS -- Prior to receiving the Vanguard Award on Thursday evening at CinemaCon, actor Andy Serkis talked with The Hollywood Reporter about his latest role as director of Warner Bros.' live action take on Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book.

This story first appeared in the April 4 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine.

LAS VEGAS — "4D" theater system provider MediaMation said Thursday at CinemaCon that it has closed deals with cinema chains Santa Rosa Entertainment and City Cinema in Oman.

Each plans install the first of several MediaMation X4D Motion EFX theaters in time for the summer movie season. These theaters offer a "4D" experience with motion-controlled seating and effects such as wind, strobe, fog and scents.

Now that the Digital Cinema Distribution Coalition has started to roll out its satellite digital cinema delivery service, stakeholders believe it could enable growth in the alternative content market, as well as open up new promotional opportunities.

Speaking Wednesday at CinemaCon, Cinemark CEO Tim Warner projected that with satellite delivery, the market for alternative content -- which currently represents just 1 percent of the domestic box office -- could grow to 5 to 10 percent in the next few years.

LAS VEGAS -- Digital Cinema Distribution Coalition has signed a letter of intent to acquire the Deluxe/EchoStar satellite network, adding nearly 1,000 theater sites to DCDC's 17,000 committed screens across 1,200 theaters in North America. The value of the deal was not disclosed.

The Deluxe/EchoStar joint venture -- DCDC's primary service provider -- was formed in 2010 between Deluxe Digital Cinema, a subsidiary of Deluxe Entertainment Services Group, and satellite operations/transmission operator EchoStar Satellite Services, a subsidiary of EchoStar.

LAS VEGAS – The Amazing Spider-Man 2, The Expendables 3 and Transformers: Age of Extinction will get a mix in Barco’s immersive Auro 11.1 sound format, the company revealed during CinemaCon.

To create a soundscape of wind, rain and animals that were carried on the arc in director Darren Aronofsky's Noah, the sound team -- led by supervising sound editor/sound designer/re-recording mixer, Craig Henighan, and re-recording mixer Skip Lievsay -- was the first to use Deluxe New York's new mixing theater, which is equipped with Dolby's immersive sound format Atmos.

LAS VEGAS -- Barco unveiled its vision of where cinema is heading through a series of technology demonstrations that included new features for theater owners and expanded creative options for filmmakers, on Tuesday at CinemaCon.

LAS VEGAS -- Seoul-headquartered "4D" cinema company CJ 4DPlex has inked a deal with AEG to install its first U.S.-based 4DX system at Regal Cinemas L.A. Live Stadium 14 in Los Angeles, which will be a 100-seat theater expected to be completed in late June or early July.

LAS VEGAS -- Premium Large Format could be the key to revenue growth in cinemas as technology continues to change the moviegoing experience, but it also means more competition in that space, according to an analyst from IHS Technology.

Speaking Monday at theater owners confab CinemaCon, David Hancock, IHS’ director of film and cinema, asserted that theater owners can market and monetize a premium experience not just with one new technology but a combination including 3D, immersive sound — and in the coming years, potentially laser projection.

The ongoing issue of how to make digital cinema screens brighter for 3D has put a lot of attention on the potential of laser projection, and this week at CinemaCon, projector makers Barco and Christie will both be previewing models.

Barco will show a laser projection capable of reaching up to 60,000-lumens as well as a high frame rate of 60 frames per second and 3D in 4K.

According to Barco, Cinemark will house the first installation in North America. Then it plans to make the projectors available in the U.S. and China during Q2, and worldwide during Q4.

As CinemaCon opens at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, Dolby reports that the number of features that have been mixed and released -- or are scheduled to be -- in Dolby Atmos has surpassed 100 titles since the immersive sound format was launched in spring 2012.