In order to boost attendance and usher in the latest technology enhancing the movie experience, the film industry will be upgrading 14,000 theatres with a $1 billion digital upgrade.
Digital Journal — Hollywood wants to save billions of dollars in print and delivery costs by going digital, and the film industry is close to sealing a $1.1 billion deal to bring digital technology into 14,000 screens.
Recently, several theatre chains and studios announced they are looking to upgrade their film delivery systems at a cost of $75,000 per screen. It would take out three years to retrofit 14,000 screens with digital technology, enabling studios to use film hard drives and high-resolution projectors. A multi-screen cinema house needs only one copy of the digital film and the projectors can be linked together as a network, so a movie on a single hard drive can be shown on multiple screens.
The major studios involved include General Electric’s Universal Pictures, Warner Bros, Paramount, Twentieth Century Fox and Sony.
In a conference call, chief executive officer of DreamWorks Animation Jeffrey Katzenberg said if the deal “can get done in the next 30 to 45 days, which I think is more than realistic, the ability to roll out 3,000 plus screens before 2009 is practical and doable.”
Although Hollywood wants to start by upgrading 14,000 screens, its ultimate goal is digitizing 125,000 screen worldwide. Digital projection is expected to not only drive down costs in the long run but to also boost attendance. Digital projectors display films at a higher quality than its print cousin, which may come with scratches or misplaced reels.
Also, digital cinema opens the possibility to 3-D capabilities. Cineplex Entertainment in Canada recently inked a deal with digital film leader Christie to convert 25 theatres across the country to the next-gen technology. Ellis Jacob, president and CEO, Cineplex Entertainment, said in a statement:
Digital technology opens up an exciting new revenue stream for us. With the current surge in the popularity of 3D, Cineplex has taken a commanding lead in the presentation of the most popular 3D movies.
Several upcoming films employ 3-D technology, such as Disney-Pixar’s Toy Story 3 and James Cameron’s Avatar.
