Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Non-DTS Movies

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Posted by Paul G. Thompson (Member # 655) on 09-19-2002, 09:18 PM:

I am not sure where to put this, but here goes...

We are now running three movies that are non-DTS. This is the first time I can recall having this many non-DTS movies in years! What's going on? Can we expect to see more of this on the upswing?

Posted by John Pytlak (Member # 331) on 09-19-2002, 09:32 PM:

It really depends on the mix of distributors you are playing, doesn't it? Probably not a trend, just a seasonal variation with the particular product playing.

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Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 09-20-2002, 01:27 AM:

It was easy to figure "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" as a non-DTS film. Then you have other Dolby Digital only movies like that Martin Lawrence stand up thing. I think "Swimfan" is also Dolby Digital only.

A lot of this stuff just depends on the distributors and their expectations for the film. If they think it will tank, or has a very mediocre sound mix, or both, then it may go out in Dolby Digital only or just plain SR optical. I'm pretty sure if Miramax knew how popular "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" would be they would have at least gotten together a 5.1 surround sound track or do Quad Format.

Posted by Charles Everett (Member # 889) on 09-20-2002, 07:33 AM:

All titles from Fox Searchlight are SRD/SR only. That includes The Banger Sisters (opens today in wide release), One Hour Photo (went wide last week) and The Good Girl.

Bobby: Miramax was never approached on Greek Wedding AFAIK. IFC Films picked up US theatrical rights when Lions Gate dropped it.

Posted by Scott Norwood (Member # 30) on 09-20-2002, 08:27 AM:

Paul -- I take it that you're not working at an art house.

I often work Thursday nights in a 6-plex art house and none of the seven prints playing there this week is in DTS, though most are in SRD. This place doesn't have DTS anyway, though, so it's not an issue.

DTS is great for first-run houses that play mainstream product, but SRD is the way to go for houses that run specialized programming, as the title availability is so much greater.

Posted by Dave Williams (Member # 299) on 09-20-2002, 10:54 AM:

Nice move on Lions Gate part. Someone there deserves an award for that bit of ball handling.

Dave

Posted by Jesse Skeen (Member # 586) on 09-20-2002, 01:44 PM:

Dolby=VHS, DTS=Beta!

Posted by Martin Brooks (Member # 1269) on 09-20-2002, 06:19 PM:

quote:
All titles from Fox Searchlight are SRD/SR only. That includes The Banger Sisters (opens today in wide release), One Hour Photo (went wide last week) and The Good Girl.

Not a single theatre in Manhattan played One Hour Photo in digital sound. Are you sure it's SRD and not just SR? And if memory serves me, the same was true for The Good Girl. Analog only.

Posted by Bill Gabel (Member # 1105) on 09-20-2002, 06:46 PM:

Not one theatre in Manhattan played those films in Digital.

I ran prints of all those pictures ("Banger Sisters" , "One Hour Photo" and "The Good Girl"), they are all SRD / SR prints.
You should check with maybe the projectionist of the theatre listed
in Manhattan. Because Fox / Fox Seachlight only uses the plain
wrap Dolby Logo. Maybe someone at Fox does not want to take the
time to use the Right Dolby Logo for the paper lists. But the
theatres that are playing those picture all have SRD screens.

Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 09-22-2002, 10:34 PM:

Oops. I just assumed Miramax handled the US release of "My Big Fat Greek Wedding." That's because it seems like they handle ALL the art house stuff that gets released in this country.

Although I cannot think of a title just from memory, I'm pretty sure Fox Searchlight has released at least a couple quad format prints. But I would agree much of their product does go out in Dolby Digital only. Sometimes that release strategy doesn't make any sense at all, with "The Banger Sisters" being a good example of a film doing DD-only when it should have did quad-format. This is a film which has received lots and lots of press hype and a wide release. It is playing at two different theaters here in Lawton alone (both of which have DTS capability).