Theater operators explore digital, 3D strategies

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/film/news/e3id9ffa2b8a3ae072d3334b6e4522ef938

 

Cinema Expo attendees raise funding, operating questions

By Carl DiOrio

June 24, 2010, 05:49 PM ET

 

AMSTERDAM -- The havoc and debris strewn about the giant RAI convention center from a local rail project serves as a ripe metaphor for those who attended the 19th edition of Cinema Expo.

Theater operators spent much of the week digging into schemes for digital and 3D theater systems amid a din of conflicting proposals from an array of tech vendors. While pedestrians near the RAI dodged forklifts and backhoes as well as the usual droves of bicyclists, exhibitors must navigate an array of funding and operating issues if they are to hop aboard the digital-cinema bandwagon.

"Business continues to be good, but exhibitors ask, 'How good will 3D continue to be?' " said National Association of Theatre Owners chief John Fithian, whose members include a notable European component. "As for the debate about systems, we're still in the early stages of testing the technology. So that's always a good discussion to have at an event like this."

The thicket of competitors vying for a piece of the 3D market got thicker with the recent unveiling of a system from Panavision. Like a competing system from Technicolor, Panavision's 3D lens adapters and moviegoer glasses can be used to outfit conventional film-based projection systems with 3D capabilities.

But in a potential marketing advantage, Panavision said its system also can be used with digital projectors. That means exhibitors can buy the system as a stopgap means of adding 3D and convert to digital later.

Panavision pitches its system as a flexible approach for cash-strapped exhibitors to get into 3D, but d-cinema proponents fear it will impede a rapid industrywide conversion to digital. Some also claim there simply are too many 3D vendors, with RealD, MasterImage and Dolby pushing rival digital systems.

"The problem is, everybody's going after the same customer," one industryite said.

Studio executives used the four-day confab to meet with theater owners about virtual-print-fee agreements that distributors are offering to help pay for the digital rollout. They also used the week's meet-and-greets to assure anxious exhibitors that any tinkering with the theatrical release window will be modest and done in collaboration with circuits.

"There's been a lot of discussion of windows this week," Fithian said. "A lot of the European exhibitors are watching the studios' positions on video-on-demand very closely."

Studios have tended to hold back movies from VOD and other home entertainment platforms for four months but are mulling a more rapid release of select titles.