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Topic: Would you invest in 35mm today?

Alan Gouger
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 501
From: Bradenton, FL, USA
Registered: Jul 2000

posted 10-05-2005 12:50 PM

What I find strange about the digital transition is we are the driving force behind the technology yet over seas governments have committed to financing their change over and are going all digital yet US theaters have no financial backing or government funding.

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Joseph L. Kleiman
Master Film Handler

Posts: 380
From: Sacramento, CA
Registered: Apr 2005

posted 10-05-2005 01:11 PM

There just aren't any more digital projectors left to buy. Dolby bought every available Christie (51) and then every available Barco (34) available in North America and they still ended up short of the 100 screens originally scheduled for Chicken Little.

I say spend the $1.5 million and get an IMAX system.

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Louis Bornwasser
Film God

Posts: 4441
From: prospect ky usa
Registered: Mar 2005

posted 10-05-2005 01:11 PM

Based on the way our Government usually works, it is probably not desireable to involve them. I regard this as sane people avoiding unnecessary red tape. Louis

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Scott Norwood
Film God

Posts: 8146
From: Boston, MA. USA (1774.21 miles northeast of Dallas)
Registered: Jun 99

posted 10-05-2005 01:55 PM

Why would a government subsidize theatres? Or, worse, subisdize the conversion to equipment which is of dubious economic advantage and which produces demonstrably inferior image quality to the current technology?

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David Stambaugh
Film God

Posts: 4021
From: Eugene, Oregon
Registered: Jan 2002

posted 10-05-2005 02:08 PM

HA! Good one! If the US government starts financing new projectors for movie theaters, the shit will hit the fan. Besides, then the new projectors would cost $10M each, not a mere $100K. [Razz]

So, are you guys saying that Barco and Christie built a small inventory of projectors on speculation, and now they've sold them all at once, but they don't have ongoing production of said projectors to replenish their stock? WTF?!

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Joseph L. Kleiman
Master Film Handler

Posts: 380
From: Sacramento, CA
Registered: Apr 2005

posted 10-05-2005 02:30 PM

Christie had not anticipated having to get 100 systems ready in only four months. Up until now, they've been turning out two to four systems per month, so suddenly to have hundreds (they've also delivered the first 100 to Access IT) in such a short period, they discovered problems in ramping up production. They were only able to deliver 51 systems to Dolby, which is why Dolby bought up Barco's existing North American stock to supplement what Christie couldn't produce. What I don't understand is why Dolby isn't using Strong for the remaining 15, since Strong distributes the third DLP Cinema licensee, NEC.

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Richard Fowler
Film God

Posts: 2392
From: Ft. Lauderdale, FL, USA
Registered: Jun 2001

posted 10-05-2005 03:19 PM

NEC is the only one of the three that have their own servers as part of their package....so they may not have stock available or would rather sell more than just the projector.

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Joseph L. Kleiman
Master Film Handler

Posts: 380
From: Sacramento, CA
Registered: Apr 2005

posted 10-05-2005 03:30 PM

What makes things interesting is that the three DLP Cinema licensees have started sub-licensing their licenses to other companies. For instance, Kinoton will be releasing a Kinoton-branded DLP Cinema projector using the Barco license. And when IMAX sold off DPI, DPI sold their DLP Cinema license to NEC, with whom they developed the NEC DLP Cinema projectors. NEC then in turn shared the license with DPI who is now set to install 500 DPI DLP Cinema projectors in India.

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Richard Fowler
Film God

Posts: 2392
From: Ft. Lauderdale, FL, USA
Registered: Jun 2001

posted 10-06-2005 08:15 AM

Cinemeccanica also has a Barco relationship.

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John Pytlak
Film God

Posts: 9987
From: Rochester, NY 14650-1922
Registered: Jan 2000

posted 10-06-2005 12:26 PM

quote: Richard Fowler
Cinemeccanica also has a Barco relationship.

As does Kodak, announced at Cine-Expo last June:

Kodak and Barco Alliance

quote:
Two Leading Digital Cinema Companies – Kodak and Barco – Forge Strategic Alliance to Serve the Worldwide Digital Cinema Market

Kodak’s Expertise in Color Science and Imaging and Barco’s Leadership in Digital Cinema Projection Systems Come Together to Create Integrated Solutions for the Digital Cinema Market

Eastman Kodak Company and Barco announced today they have formed a strategic alliance to more effectively serve the worldwide digital cinema market with a full menu of products, systems, and services, including installation and support.

Kodak has a legacy of innovation in entertainment imaging and is the world’s leading independent supplier of digital cinema systems for pre-show use; Barco is a worldwide leader in high-quality, high-resolution digital cinema projection systems and is one of only three licensees of Texas Instruments DLP Cinema™ Technology.

The new alliance has two purposes: It enables each company to sell – and to provide support for – complete integrated digital cinema solutions. The solutions will combine systems and services from each company, optimized for image quality and reliability. The alliance also will allow Kodak and Barco to collaborate on innovative and differentiated solutions for the future.

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Brian Guckian
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 594
From: Dublin, Ireland
Registered: Apr 2003

posted 10-06-2005 08:22 PM

Investing in 35mm and being digital-ready must be the smart move for any cinema owner today.

It means they get the best of all worlds - and importantly can run everything. In a typical multiplex, it makes sense now to have perhaps 2 screens Digital / 35mm and the rest 35mm, but being able to add more digital screens as time goes on.

BTW I think they've gone down a cul-de-sac in trying to replace 35mm, setting up what I think is an entirely false film versus digital opposition.

If they could really start thinking about it, digital has some pretty amazing possibilities alongside 35mm. Concerts and sports are only the tip of the iceberg - for example you could reinvent the classic Saturday-morning serial for the modern era, or screen the opening episode of a major new TV drama (many of which are already shot in a cinematic style).

You can have this type of "convergence" programming projected alongside finely-crafted feature films in 35mm which continue to be made...ultimately digital is seen as another medium or format, just as today the filmmaker can shoot in several different formats and aspect ratios.

I certainly find this approach far more inspiring than the "saving costs" argument [Smile]

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