Monsters vs. Aliens is part of the 3D wave hitting in 2009. Is there a 3D theater near you?
The Cinema Expo International 2008 is going on this week and The Hollywood Reporter has some articles that reveal some pretty interesting numbers in relation to digital screens and 3D screens in the US and Europe.
The idea of digital projection (in short, showing a film in a theater off a hard drive than as a traditional print run through a projector) has come to seem a fait accompli in the US. Since about 2005, the process of converting theaters to digital cinema has moved pretty quickly, largely thanks to financial help from studios to get the process going. As a result, according to THR, there are now about 5000 digital screens in the US. In the Pacific-Asia region, there are more then 6500. But in Europe there are about 1300. What’s up, Europe?
THR attributes this to several factors. One is that indie films form a higher percentage of releases in Europe and digital releases are less important to them. The beauty of digital releases is that they cost less than manufacturing thousands of prints–if you’re trying to release a movie to 3000 theaters in one weekend, then it will cost millions of dollars to make all those prints. If you’re releasing an indie film in a slow rollout, you can skate by on a relatively low number of prints for a while. Piracy is also a big deal for big studio releases and digital cuts down on that, but again, that’s not a big concern for smaller movies. There’s less incentive for theaters to undergo the hugely expensive process of converting a theater so it’s digital projection ready.
The US theaters got a boost from the studios a few years ago, they’ve become more reluctant to hand out money in the last few years. Moreover, the worldwide credit crunch has lessened the availability of money for anyone to get involved in new ventures. Some groups such as Arts Alliance Media, a London-based organization, are trying to get things moving by putting together deals with studios, equipment manufacturers, and theater chains, but as of right now, Arts Alliance described the d-cinema situation in Europe as comparable to the US in 2005.
Interestingly, the one thing that might provide an incentive is 3D. It’s considered one of the bright spots in theater exhibition, the one thing that’s the difference between people coming out to a theater and sitting at home and watching a DVD on their hi-def plasma giant screen TV. THR reports that surveys showed that the theaters that showed Beowulf in 3D last fall had a 65% increase in box office over comparable theaters that showed it in 2D. Evidence has shown that people are willing to pay even more for 3D films, because it’s considered a better experience.
There are about 1000 3D equipped theaters in the US and less than 150 3D screens in Europe. About 10-12 3D movies are expected to be released during 2009 (many of them animated). You can’t have a 3D theater unless a theater is digitally equipped, so the potential profits from the coming onslaught of 3D movies (led by true believer Jeffrey Katzenberg of Dreamworks) might provide the push that will get more theaters to jump on the 3D bandwagon.
