|
|
This topic comprises 4 pages: 1 2 3 4
|
|
Author
|
Topic: Wisconsin drive-in goes digital
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Scott Jentsch
Phenomenal Film Handler
Posts: 1061
From: New Berlin, WI, USA
Registered: Apr 2003
|
posted 05-09-2011 03:20 PM
quote: Martin McCaffery
Please tell me he doesn't think people are going to flock to his DI because it has digital.
Based on his blog posting about the conversion to digital, it sounds as though he made his decision after much personal deliberation and awareness of what it meant, including an answer to your question:
quote:
Will I get more business with digital? Doubtful, but my business shouldn’t decline over time as it would if I stuck with 35MM. Will I save on expenses? No, in fact maintenance costs will be higher than with 35M. Is this a good business decision? Only time will tell. Bottom line: I’ve already invested too much time, energy, and money in this theatre to just let it die. My attitude is: ‘in for dime, in for a dollar’.
Sounds like a guy interested in running the best business he possibly can, and putting his money on the line to do it.
quote: Martin McCaffery
And fer chrissakes, it's Wisconsin. How many weeks is he even going to be open to pay off that $80k?
Typical drive-in season here in Wisconsin is Memorial Day through Labor Day, but I've seen some northern-climate drive-in's open as early as late April and stay open until late September.
The Highway 18 is open now and showing movies, but the Big Sky Drive-in near the Wisconsin Dells (about an hour north) is not yet open for the summer. There aren't many DI's left in Wisconsin, so the Highway 18 is one of only very few.
| IP: Logged
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Bobby Henderson
"Ask me about Trajan."
Posts: 10973
From: Lawton, OK, USA
Registered: Apr 2001
|
posted 05-10-2011 12:54 PM
quote: Tom Petrov
It better be 3D ready or $80,000 can buy a lot of film prints
Digital 3D from a single projector doesn't work so well on large screens, like those of outdoor drive in theaters. RealD and Dolby3D both have serious issues even with indoor screens that reach large sizes. Drive-in screens are typically even bigger than that. A double stack projection setup (IMAX-branded or not) might help things some. Still, you have all the outdoor light contamination from car headlights, street lights, signs, houses, etc. Low image contrast and lack of brightness are going to make for one really shitty yet high priced viewing experience!
I think the drive-in operator ought to stick with 2D. Even if he could get 3D to work (I'm not convinced drive-ins could do 3D well) the 3D thing is kind of "jumping the shark." The quality of movies, too many shitty post-process 2D-3D conversions and the high cost are growing threats to 3D.
| IP: Logged
|
|
|
|
Barry Floyd
Phenomenal Film Handler
Posts: 1079
From: Lebanon, Tennessee, USA
Registered: Mar 2000
|
posted 05-20-2011 10:05 AM
quote: Monte L Fullmer
Couple of years ago, the Spud Dr-In in Driggs, Idaho put a BARCO 32 unit to do digital at this drive-in.
Newspaper Article
Idaho’s iconic Spud Drive-in goes out of business
By Angus M. Thuermer Jr., Jackson Hole, Wyoming
After 58 years as a landmark on the west slope of the Tetons, the Spud Drive-in and its mammoth truck-mounted potato replica are out of business.
The drive-in theater between Driggs and Victor, Idaho, will not open this summer, manager Keith Zednik said Wednesday.
The theater and its property are owned by Wydaho Group LLC, made up of Lenny Zaban and other partners, Zednik said.
The company had hoped to transform the theater when it bought the property in 2009. It appeared headed in the right direction when owners booked Widespread Panic for a concert in 2010, drawing a crowd of more than 4,000.
“Since the event was such a success, we intended to make it an annual occurrence,” the business’ management said in a letter to the editor submitted to the Jackson Hole News&Guide on Wednesday. “Unfortunately, we were surprised and quite disappointed to find that there was competition in the area for the same event on the same weekend in 2011.”
The letter did not specify what that competition was, but Grand Targhee Resort has booked the popular band to play shows July 1-3 this summer.
The letter said Spud management came into the area at some expense and risk, seeking to blend into the community by selecting quiet weekends during which to spread its wings while it respected other businesses in the area, the letter said.
Owners were disillusioned , however.
“We personally feel that our work and efforts in 2010, for whatever reason, did not receive the same respect in return,” the letter stated.
The drive-in cannot operate under the old movies-only model, the letter said. Management is “quite disappointed and heartbroken,” according to the letter.
Zednik said the landmark will not immediately disappear. “The truck and potato will stay,” he said.
Known as “Old Murphy,” the Chevy cab-over truck is a 1946 model. The spud itself weighs 2 tons.
Ace Wood built the drive-in in the spring of 1953. Owners will entertain offers for the property, Zednik said. Interested parties can contact him at keith@spuddrivein.com.
| IP: Logged
|
|
|
|
Frank Angel
Film God
Posts: 5305
From: Brooklyn NY USA
Registered: Dec 1999
|
posted 05-20-2011 09:31 PM
So wait, the guy put in a Barco and the next year went out of business? Bet he was a little more than just "disappointed"! More like diappointed and broke!!
So Mark, the DI was doing fine when they were running film, but went belly up when new owners put in digital? And you attribute this not to the fact that they may have bitten off too much to chew in debt, but to the fact that they are from Chicago and didn't know how people do business in Idaho? What wildly different ways do they do business in Idaho that someone from Chicago -- as unbusiness savvy as those Chicagoians are -- just can't run a successful theatre in Idaho?
As far as the Highway 18 goes, Lee might have been better off putting in a second screen rather than digital, thus getting the benefit of actually drawing more customers and socking the extra $$ away toward a digital install down the line.
As almost any DI operator will tell you, a second or third screen almost always guarantees higher grosses. Putting in digtal first will get very little in the way of a bigger draw, unless, that is, his film presentation was so far below par that it was keeping people away, which Barry said it wasn't.
Thing is, yes, IN THE LONG film may go away. But in the short term, there is no imperative from a business standpoint to invest in a technology which. even if it becomes the standard, isn't going to get MORE expensive in five years, if anything, the longer you wait, the more improvements may be made and prices may even come down even more than they already have. What's more, LASER technology may be on the horizon with will be MUCH cheaper to operate than Xenon based digital not to mention the whole thrust of LASER technology is to make it much less expensive than Xenon light engines according to Kodak's White Paper. So unless someone has heard studios ACTUALLY saying they have a date-definate when they will start making prints scare or not at all (i.e., digital only releases), I believe a theatre that is running profitably and with good presentation, has no urgency to invest that huge chunk of money into digital earlier rather than later. When the time comes does come, then do it; seems to me that time will present itself with unmistakable certainty rather than what we have now which is just speculation upon speculation, with the-sky-is-falling folks who seem to delight in being the bearers of dire news. Like the-world-is-going-to-end-tomorrow people.
If I were in that position, I would wait until the last minute when a studio was telling me, "this is it...no more prints." I mean, how long will it take to install a digital projector...a week or two? Someone explain to me what the rush is all about?
| IP: Logged
|
|
|
|
All times are Central (GMT -6:00)
|
This topic comprises 4 pages: 1 2 3 4
|
Powered by Infopop Corporation
UBB.classicTM
6.3.1.2
The Film-Tech Forums are designed for various members related to the cinema industry to express their opinions, viewpoints and testimonials on various products, services and events based upon speculation, personal knowledge and factual information through use, therefore all views represented here allow no liability upon the publishers of this web site and the owners of said views assume no liability for any ill will resulting from these postings. The posts made here are for educational as well as entertainment purposes and as such anyone viewing this portion of the website must accept these views as statements of the author of that opinion
and agrees to release the authors from any and all liability.
|
Home
![[evil]](graemlins/evil.gif)
Printer-friendly view of this topic