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Author Topic: Movie Theaters Secure Financing for Digital Upgrad Mike Blakesley Film God Posts: 12767 From: Forsyth, Montana Registered: Jun 99 posted 03-03-2010 05:38 PM                        quote: Julio Roberto The sound quality advantage is also lost, with uncompressed multi channel sound easily obtainable at home Sorry, but that's baloney. The SIZE of the room is what makes the difference. You can put a gargantuan stereo system into a living room, but you're still in a living room. Also keep in mind that full-blown home theaters are in a small minority of homes....most people have a "tee vee set" at one ond of the room with a couple of speakers hung on the wall next to it, and the other two on the bookcase and end table.  |  IP: Logged Cameron Glendinning Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 845 From: West Ryde, Sydney, NSW Australia Registered: Dec 2005 posted 03-03-2010 06:54 PM                     Yes Mike but what will it be like in 5 years time? I recently re read an artical I wrote 10 years ago for an Australian filmmaker magazine called IF, the artical was titled "The future of cinema" it discussed new better cinema complexes, emerging digital technology, IMAX in the multiplex, and a focus on better seats and experience to compete with the emerging home plasma screens. Ten years ago I did not imagine that full 1080p projectors would now start from less than us$1000. As this home technology constantly drops in price and 3d etc is introduced I find it hard to imagine what the effect will be on our industry. It is strange to see that new emerging trends at home include backyard theater where people enjoy both big screens and also get out the house without actually leaving their homes! I tend to feel that nostalga will emerge to be one of our strongest selling points but can not help but feel that the next ten years will be a far more dramatic shift than the last ten. Twenty years ago an old school projectionist explained to me that a cinema release was slowly becoming like hard cover books, There is a need and a market for a premium release in a world that reads mostly cheaper paperbacks. I can't help but think that this shift will continue to evolve.  |  IP: Logged Scott Norwood Film God Posts: 8146 From: Boston, MA. USA (1774.21 miles northeast of Dallas) Registered: Jun 99 posted 03-03-2010 07:16 PM                        I fail to see why improvements in home technology would kill cinemas. Not everyone wants a giant TV set or a sound system that can blast the neighborhood. Never mind that one can buy hundreds of $10 movie tickets for the cost of such a setup.  |  IP: Logged Mark J. Marshall Film God Posts: 3188 From: New Castle, DE, USA Registered: Aug 2002 posted 03-03-2010 07:55 PM                    It will kill theaters because as the people who care about quality presentations realize more and more that they can get better quality more consistently in their homes without the annoyance of inconsiderate bafoons on the phones sitting next to them, more and more people will stop going. Theaters will add more advertising, thus making the presentation that much more annoying... as their equipment becomes that much more obsolete... etc. Think about how many theaters will buy new projectors vs. how many people will buy new TVs. If you were a manufacturer, where would you spend your R&D dollars? And thus which product line will progress more/better/faster? Julio hit the nail on the head in his last post. For the reasons he mentioned, plus mine, plus a myriad of others, the future of the theater industry as we know it is at best on very shaky ground.  |  IP: Logged Matt Fields Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 545 From: Ohio, United States Registered: Jun 2005 posted 03-03-2010 08:09 PM                     Movie theaters will continue to be around (and thrive!) as long as they are the first run.  |  IP: Logged Jonathan Althaus Master Film Handler Posts: 435 From: Bedford, TX Registered: Dec 2008 posted 03-04-2010 08:56 AM                     quote: Todd McCracken there is something endearing about seeing a movie for the first time with a couple hundred strangers. This is the one thing I don't forsee home theatres being able to duplicate in the near future. I enjoy going and working these shows. There's just something about standing in line for a couple hours for the latest blockbuster and the crowd experience at a midnight show is different than anything else.  |  IP: Logged Mark Gulbrandsen Resident Trollmaster Posts: 16657 From: Music City Registered: Jun 99 posted 03-04-2010 09:55 AM                     This is actually not new news... The JP Morgan agreement happened about three years ago... The only new part of this news is the studios paying the 850 per booking. Mark  |  IP: Logged Mike Blakesley Film God Posts: 12767 From: Forsyth, Montana Registered: Jun 99 posted 03-04-2010 11:26 AM                        I think it's kind of funny how people keep saying the theatre industry is doomed yet ticket sales keep holding steady or increasing, even while other entertainment options multiply. Also, no matter what kind of doodads people put in their homes, I will wager that my li'l movie theatre auditorium is still at least 10x the size of their living room.  |  IP: Logged Scott Jentsch Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1061 From: New Berlin, WI, USA Registered: Apr 2003 posted 03-04-2010 11:40 AM                        The theater industry is doomed only if theaters concentrate on selling the movie instead of the experience. People still go to restaurants even when they have kitchens in their homes. People still attend concerts even when they have iPods and home stereos that can play the same music. They desire the experience, and I believe that's what theaters have to do. Theaters that don't will lose business to other ways that people have to see the same movie. In your home, you have control over the annoyances that can mar the movie-going experience. But it means that you have to do the work yourself and make the investment in the equipment to get a good result. It's nice to go to a good restaurant and have a well-cooked meal that is prepared by someone else, and the dishes are cleaned up by someone else as well. There are times when going out to eat is a disappointing experience, and we would have been better off staying home and cooking the meal ourselves. Same goes for going to the movies. If your customers can have a better experience at home than you can provide to them in your theater, you are doomed. The size of the screen, the picture quality, and the sound quality should be a given, even if many theaters seem to have problems with that as well. There's no excuse for bad service at a theater, and that's the number one reason that I see that people have a problem with. Issues with the presentation come a close second, followed by the facility (seats, temperature, bathroom conditions, etc.). Theaters that do a great job with those things will be able to compete. If going to Digital Cinema serves that goal, so be it. Theaters that can't do a great job will be like a restaurant that gets a bad reputation for poor service/food and closes its doors.  |  IP: Logged Brian Guckian Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 594 From: Dublin, Ireland Registered: Apr 2003 posted 03-05-2010 09:52 AM                     quote: Mark Gulbrandsen The only new part of this news is the studios paying the 850 per booking. ...and one wonders how sustainable that will be!  |  IP: Logged Mike Blakesley Film God Posts: 12767 From: Forsyth, Montana Registered: Jun 99 posted 03-05-2010 01:25 PM                        [/quote]Theaters that do a great job with those things will be able to compete. [/quote] There's really only a couple of areas where the home experience is definitely better, IMHO: 1. The chair. I've never seen a theatre chair as comfortable as my recliner at home. 2. Being able to watch a movie naked under a blanket.  |  IP: Logged Bobby Henderson "Ask me about Trajan." Posts: 10973 From: Lawton, OK, USA Registered: Apr 2001 posted 03-05-2010 03:53 PM                     Movie theaters stand a good chance of survival as long as they're able to play the movie exclusively a few months ahead of home video release. If the release window is shortened to perhaps only a month or completely eliminated then commercial movie theaters will be in big trouble. "Day and date" simultaneous release in theaters and on home video in a widespread basis would ruin commercial theaters. Even with the theatrical release window kept intact commercial movie theaters are under pressure. People often talk about the thrill of seeing a movie with an audience for the participatory experience. For the past few years I have seen this aspect turn into the biggest drawback to movie-going. I've had it with all the disruptive behavior from so many other audience members. The only time you'll find me in a crowded movie theater on opening weekend is when I'm on a date or agree to see a show with some other friends. When I choose to see a movie I usually pick some off peak time perhaps a week or two after the movie opened. I'll often see movies at night during the week. The fewer people in the auditorium the better. If I'm the only one in the room then that's perfect! Unfortunately most commercial movie theaters are powerless to do anything about audience disruptions. There may be less than a handful of small independent movie theater companies who have a tough policy against disruptive behavior, such as ejecting people who play with their phones during the show. More than a few people have had enough of the distractions and have settled for only watching movies at home. Home theater and HDTV equipment does make watching movies at home much better. The hardware has to be causing at least some customer loss to movie theaters. Some people may not like huge HDTV sets. Nevertheless the trend is for those TV sets to get larger and also more affordable. 10 years ago I would have never guessed you would be able to buy a good quality 55" HDTV set for under $3000. Back in the 1990s it was common place for a good quality standard definition big screen TV to cost over $5000. And that's 1990s dollars. I think more than a small minority of people have home theater surround sound systems. I know quite a few people locally who have at least one 5.1 surround setup in the home. Lawton isn't a big city with a high income demographic either. quote: Mike Blakesley The SIZE of the room is what makes the difference. You can put a gargantuan stereo system into a living room, but you're still in a living room. A giant sized (and well decorated) auditorium is a great start, but it takes more than that to deliver good movie theater sound. It goes without saying the proper sound equipment has to be installed for that particular size of room and set up properly. Just as important, the equipment must be properly maintained. Only a minority of commercial movie theaters are doing all of that. A living room surround sound system is often modest, but its user can equip it to his wants/needs, replace broken items when he chooses to do so and adjust the volume to his liking.  |  IP: Logged Edward Havens Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 614 From: Los Angeles, CA Registered: Mar 2008 posted 03-07-2010 12:35 PM                     Cinema, in whatever form it takes down the road, will still exist for a very long time, just as live theatre continues to exist after many centuries. The human desire to be entertained outside of the home, away from whatever junk is happening in our lives at the moment, is too strong to just disappear. We have gone from black and white television screens with small cathode ray tubes to massive color high definition monitors... yet people still go to the movies. We've had dozens of way to keep ourselves entertained at home, from Atari to PlayStation 3, from cable with one "premium" channel to a cultural cacophony with hundreds of channels for every possible lifestyle choice... yet people still go to the movies. There's been Beta and VHS and the RCA VideoDisc system and laserdiscs and DVD and HD-DVD and Blu-Ray, allowing us to watch our favorite movies and television shows when we want to watch them... yet people still go to the movies. We've had PPV and VOD that have given us the chance to see certain movies day and date with their theatrical screenings, and sometimes even before they open in theatres... yet people still go to the movies. Twenty years down the road, when we have interactive holographic entertainment in our homes, we will still be going to the movies. The movies are here for the long haul, not unlike legitimate theatre, which has existed in some form for thousands of years. The only way cinema is going to die is if the technology available to people at home is better than what they can get in our theatres. That's not going to happen anytime soon, except for the extremely wealthy, who already have their own screening rooms in their houses. And guess what? Even with their in-home screening rooms, with their wide comfy chairs and in-room concession stands, they too still like to go out from time to time and see their movies in a real movie theatre, with other people, as billions of others have done for more than 100 years.  |  IP: Logged

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