I've made the pilgrimage to see movies projected digitally before, but hadn't seen digital projection making many inroads at the local multiplex. In fact, when a new movie theater opened in Monroe, NY last week, I asked if they would be digital... and was treated to a long list of the usual arguments: Studios will benefit, but won't pay. Theater operators have to shell out big time for new technology while a used projector is so cheap right now. New technology is unstable: you're investment could be obsoleted by better or cheaper technology in a couple of years.
So I took the kids to see Ironman this weekend at a fairly new multiplex in Toms River NJ. The picture was beautiful, bright, and about 35 feet across horizontally. Now TR is not really what you call a media center, but Marquee Cinemas made a decision about a year ago to install Christie 2K DLP projectors in it's theaters, and those theaters are in places like Glasgow KY, and Beckley, WV. These new projectors can provide the same resolution, the same brightness, and a much cleaner and more stable picture as opposed to 35mm film. Instead of a expensive and fragile 35mm print, ferried to theatres around the country, titles are distributed on a hard drive and can be played repeatedly without a scratch. There is also a satellite receiver on the roof of the theater that can grab a just released title off the bird and program it on multiple screens in a couple of hours.
For me, this movie going experience was clearly better in digital than the multiplex down the road. My kids sensed the same thing, "a bigger brighter screen" they said. This won't be lost on the ticket buying public, but for content producers it could be an opportunity.
Once digital projection becomes ubiquitous, as seems to be happening, the theaters, less constrained by the physical distribution models, will be more in control of the material they provide. They could shop around for content outside the studio's distribution networks.
So now someone with an independent film or 90 minute documentary might be able to get programmed in for a midnight show or a run within a specific geographical target by dealing with the chain. My guess is the theaters, if they thought it would draw an audience, would jump at not giving up the customary high percentage of the ticket price to the studio. Anyone with a (marketable) film on a hard drive could lobby the local theater for a spot on the schedule. This will also impact the traditional film marketplaces as well. Marquee's theaters are fed by AccessIT, a digital distribution company. I'm sure they are aware of the possibilities of supplying content they've acquired vs. distributing digital prints for the studios for a fee.
The DLP projector, installed across the country, will be a disruptive technology beyond 3D or anything else the studios are doing. I know I"m not the first to expound on these ideas, but sitting in the dark, in the pinelands of New Jersey, not in a Sony Theater on 42nd street, it seems there are big changes coming in the how we watch, and maybe what we watch.
