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Topic: Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull: May 22, 2008
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Brian Guckian
Jedi Master Film Handler
Posts: 594
From: Dublin, Ireland
Registered: Apr 2003
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posted 03-04-2008 06:07 PM
Ironically, the logic of shooting on larger formats such as 65mm is actually becoming more and more compelling with advances in digital video. Formats such as 4K are a call for higher quality origination, and for archivability and film texture, 65mm makes complete sense.
In fact it is a terrific origination platform for all current release formats - IMAX, 35mm, 2K, 4K, HDTV and Blu-ray, and facilitates limited 70mm "roadshow" prints too. Think about it ![[Cool]](cool.gif)
And for very little cost - back in 1992, it cost just 2.4% extra (approx.) to shoot Far and Away on 65mm (data sourced from Variety and IMDB).
Time and again, those in the know report that shooting on 65mm adds low single-figure percentage points to big budgets. Cost is simply not an issue; and FX rendering costs are also falling year on year.
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Michael Coate
Phenomenal Film Handler
Posts: 1904
From: Los Angeles, California
Registered: Feb 2001
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posted 03-04-2008 06:41 PM
quote: Mike Schindler
Didn't Spielberg have a big hand in killing 70mm by not releasing JURASSIC PARK in the format?
I don't think Spielberg ought to be the one blamed for the demise of 70mm. Dan Slusser, for instance, has gone on record as the one who made the decision to release "Jurassic Park" and Universal's subsequent digital sound films only in 35mm.
(The increased usage of the SR format in the late '80s & early '90s caused a decrease in the number of 70mm releases, and, as well, Dolby's original objective with their digital format was to replace 70mm. The success of digital sound and the proliferation of new theater builds with an emphasis on 35mm-only projection, all-digital sound and stadium-seating sealed 70mm's fate.)
Mr. Slusser was an executive at Universal during the 1992-93 timeframe when "Jurassic Park" was being produced and the DTS format was being developed. What follows are some key quotes from a 2003 interview.
quote: Dan Slusser; "DTS: A Ten-Year History"; Widescreen Review; February 2003
The only real risk I took at the time was deciding to omit any 70mm print releases.
quote: Dan Slusser; "DTS: A Ten-Year History"; Widescreen Review; February 2003
Let me start with November 1992, which was the first time I had been exposed to DTS at all. I was the Senior Vice President and General Manager of Universal Studios and I received a call from Steven Spielberg who had seen a demonstration with Terry Beard, the founder of DTS, and Robert "Buzz" Knudsen, an Academy Award-winning sound mixer who had worked with Steven. Terry and Buzz had performed the demonstration for Steven using some of the segments of Jurassic Park, and Steven was quite impressed. He felt that Jurassic Park as a movie was going to be a very predominant sound experience, as well as a visual experience. When he called he said, "I have just heard this new technology, and I know you see a lot of them every day, but take a look at this and see if it works. If it works I would really love to use it for the Jurassic Park release."
Bear in mind this was in November of 1992. Jurassic Park was scheduled for release on June 22. It ultimately got moved up to the 11th, but at this time, this was the target date. At the time when Buzz and Terry had approached Steven and did the demo, they had advised him that they could have this out on 1,500 screens between then and the release date of Jurassic Park. I thought that it might be a stretch, but would investigate further. If you remember, there were very few digital 5.1 playback systems in theatres at the time. Dolby Laboratories had started implementing it, but it was primarily geared at replacing 70mm houses. In fact, I believe had DTS not come on the scene at that point in time, digital playback may have been limited to replacing 70mm. I do not think it would have penetrated beyond that because of cost and other prohibitive factors. What was impressive and encouraging to me about DTS was that if this was a success it could be a general release format. It could be in every theatre across America and the world, not just replacing 70mm houses.
quote: Dan Slusser; "DTS: A Ten-Year History"; Widescreen Review; February 2003
We rented the Syufy Theater in Las Vegas during the ShoWest that year [1993], and ran demos for exhibitors. The release was pushed up to June 11th and 876 units were sold and installed. This was a major feat. There were only approximately 100 Dolby Digital units in existence before that. We never really looked back after that.
quote: Dan Slusser; "DTS: A Ten-Year History"; Widescreen Review; February 2003
Universal committed to releasing all future releases in the DTS format. This committment assured exhibitors that they were not just investing in the release of Jurassic Park but for future product as well.
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Martin Brooks
Jedi Master Film Handler
Posts: 900
From: Forest Hills, NY, USA
Registered: May 2002
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posted 03-22-2008 10:58 AM
quote: Michael Coate
Martin... Your numbers are TOO LOW! Maybe your commitment and responsibilities for your real job is preventing you from being thorough in your research or perhaps you're the victim of an unreliable source(s)? There were more than seven digital releases just in February alone.
Maybe..since I can't seem to find a good source of info anymore, since some of the release sites that used to include release formats have folded and one of the digital organization sites doesn't list releases anymore, but if there are substantially more digital releases than I've tracked, either they're not getting played in New York City or theaters in NYC are not advertising that they're playing films in digital. I see many major films (certainly not all) in which not a single NYC-area theatre is advertising digital projection.
Having said that, if you look at the total release schedule from the majors, my numbers don't seem all that off. Including the majors AND boutique studios, Boxoffice currently lists 67 releases for March through May. 26 of those come from the majors: Sony, WB, Disney, Fox, New Line, Paramount, MGM and Universal. Prorate out those 26 and thats about 100 releases a year and that's if every major releases every film on digital.
But my original point still stands: regardless of the number of digital releases, until it exceeds 80% of all releases, I don't see how a theatre can be completely digital-only unless they're willing to give up showing many films.
Based on what people have posted on these Forums, there are still many theaters that haven't installed digital sound and that's been around for 18 years. So what's the rush to install digital projection exclusively? It's not like the theater can sell the film projectors for a ton of money. It seems to me that it's a much better business decision to keep both - not necessarily on every screen, but certainly on some.
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And as for 70mm, like it or not, it was primarily used for the 6-track magnetic soundtrack. Being able to get more light behind the frame was considered a far lesser advantage. And cinematographers didn't like the bulk of the camera nor the lens selection. So especially once digital sound came in, it was over for 70mm. Yes, it was the best presentation and sought out as many 70mm presentations as I could in that era, especially if they were playing in better theaters, but it's over and it's never coming back.
Also, by my calculations (and I'm sure Michael will correct me), over 40 years, from 1955 to 1994, there were only 64 films shot in 65mm and another 279 blowups from 35mm, for a total of 343 films (and a lot of those films really sucked!) I suppose one can argue that the relatively low release counts is what made them stand out and be special - event pictures, but the truth is that this was a very small percentage of overall industry output.
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