Required theater upgrades to screen Phantom Menace in 1999?

I remember hearing that Lucasfilm required certain minimum A/V standards for theaters to be allowed to screen Phantom Menace when it released in 1999. I know for a fact that the single-screen theater in my hometown had to shell out for some upgrades prior to the release. However I’m struggling to find much information about this on the internet. I found this quote:

“Phantom Menace” is getting a far smaller initial theatrical release than your typical blockbuster would usually get, because exhibitors must have a projection system, sound system and environment that meets Lucasfilm’s standards. Lucasfilm wanted to make sure this film was shown with the best possible projection and sound, in order to take full advantage of the film," - Paul Dergarabedian (http://www.cnn.com/SHOWBIZ/Movies/9904/21/lucas.laws/index.html)

Are there any details about the specific requirements?

Do you mean THX? A standardisation of image and sound quality that was needed for many theaters who weren’t showcasing movies in a good quality in the 70s and 80s? If so, that started around the time of Return Of The Jedi, although it wasn’t until around the mid 90s where the smaller theaters, independents, or those located outside the major cities installed or subscribed it? Probably due to the installation costs involved, and annual charges like technicians showing up once or twice a year to check and approve the theaters were still adhering to the specifications?
 

There’s a little more on this, here:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/THX
https://www.lucasfilm.com/news/lucasfilm-originals-thx/
https://originaltrilogy.com/topic/Info-Wanted-Did-the-THX-logo-accompany-Return-of-the-Jedi-in-theaters/id/47301
https://www.reddit.com/r/movies/comments/15a6hes/whatever_happened_to_thx_certs/ (see VisibleEvidence’s post)

The reddit post above has some of old tricks some theaters used do to save money, and not show films in their best light.

But there’s probably more on THX etc in the Star Wars Preservation forum on here? I hadn’t heard of there being specific requirements for TPM, but could have been (other than the “block booking” aspect for TPM by Lucasfilm mentioned in your linked article). I got nothing else.

If you find anything please post it up in here, it’d be interesting to read up on.

I don’t think it was specifically THX. I think it was a minimum quality of projection and audio. For instance my hometown theater had to upgrade their speaker system and installed a number of new speakers for better surround sound. Before TPM it was screening The Matrix which I had seen there a few times. And on the opening night of TPM I went to the final screening of The Matrix with the upgraded system and it was definitely a noticeable uptick in quality. And according to the quote I posted above it sounds like this was something that was universally required for any theater wanting to screen TPM. I’m just struggling to find much info about it other than the article above (partly because of the recent re-release of TPM spamming the internet with articles about the 2024 release)