News By Matthew Humphries Jan. 20, 2014 2:08 pm
Go to the majority of movie theaters today, and chances are they will have movies to watch that are being played from film. In fact, I have yet to see a digital movie because none of my local theaters have spent the money to upgrade. However, an announcement by movie studio Paramount makes that upgrade all the more important and could see some smaller theaters lose out.
Paramount has decided that going forward it will only be shipping digital movies to theaters across America. The Wolf of Wall Street is the first such movie to be digital-only.
So any theater setup for film will no longer be able to show Paramount’s new releases. That may sound like a minor problem as Paramount is only one production and distribution studio, but this decision is expected to trigger other studios to make the switch relatively quickly.
With that being the case, smaller theaters that do not have the funds to upgrade their equipment will start to be limited in the new releases they can show. For reference, the required digital projectors cost around $70,000 each.
We’re not talking about an overnight change here, but over the next year or two digital could become the only option for many new movies from the larger producers and distributors.
While the switch to digital will, or already has cost theaters a lot of money, studios are embracing it due to the huge cost savings. Where as a film print costs around $2,000, a digital copy is $100 on disc. Digital also allows for movies to be sent to theaters over the Internet, saving even more money, and paves the way for 4K showings eventually.
For now, this digital-only move is limited to the US and Paramount movies. It is expected that the first studios to follow will be Disney, 20th Century Fox, and Lions Gate due to comments they have made previously about going all digital. In terms of theaters impacted by digital-only movies, and according to the National Association of Theater Owners, of the 40,045 screens that exist in the US around 3,200 (8%) don’t have digital movie capabilities. The bigger chains will of course, where as these few thousand are made up of independents and those catering to small communities.
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Paramount has decided that going forward it will only be shipping digital movies to theaters across America. The Wolf of Wall Street is the first such movie to be digital-only.
So any theater setup for film will no longer be able to show Paramount’s new releases. That may sound like a minor problem as Paramount is only one production and distribution studio, but this decision is expected to trigger other studios to make the switch relatively quickly.
With that being the case, smaller theaters that do not have the funds to upgrade their equipment will start to be limited in the new releases they can show. For reference, the required digital projectors cost around $70,000 each.
We’re not talking about an overnight change here, but over the next year or two digital could become the only option for many new movies from the larger producers and distributors.
While the switch to digital will, or already has cost theaters a lot of money, studios are embracing it due to the huge cost savings. Where as a film print costs around $2,000, a digital copy is $100 on disc. Digital also allows for movies to be sent to theaters over the Internet, saving even more money, and paves the way for 4K showings eventually.
For now, this digital-only move is limited to the US and Paramount movies. It is expected that the first studios to follow will be Disney, 20th Century Fox, and Lions Gate due to comments they have made previously about going all digital. In terms of theaters impacted by digital-only movies, and according to the National Association of Theater Owners, of the 40,045 screens that exist in the US around 3,200 (8%) don’t have digital movie capabilities. The bigger chains will of course, where as these few thousand are made up of independents and those catering to small communities.
More...
