In May of 2002, the Attack of the Clones (Star Wars II) was released after a great effort by George Lucas. He encouraged cinema exhibitors to cross over to digital projectors, hoping for 1,000 and getting 100. At the time the digital light engine was a meager 1.3 meg, with pretty low light levels, and contrast that left a bit to be desired, especially in the blacks (muddy browns). Against the mighty beauty of a first run print showing fully saturated colors...especially a dark movie like Clones...the digital print looked pretty weak.
On the other hand, showing that same print 10 days later, cutting back and forth to the digital presentation, one really notices how much saturation gets lost from that plastic which gets run up to melting point by the lamp before the gate opens. Then when the electro-static charge is at its peak the gate opens, attracting and melting in the dust and grit. Suddenly the digital print shows promise - the colors which were once a little weak in comparison are actually better than the film's. The judder is gone, making the picture easier to look at – no small attraction to kids who grew up with stable video presentations watching the cool new animations and CGI heavy movies of 2002 and '03: Shrek II, The Incredibles, Harry Potter II, Nemo, Shark's Tale...
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