Barco releases DCI compliant Series 2 projectors with integrated CineCanvas(TM)subtitling

http://www.barco.com/digitalcinema/pressrelease/2575/

 

Kortrijk, Belgium, 22 July 2010 - Digital cinema specialist Barco announced today that its DP2K family of digital cinema projectors is now available with integrated CineCanvas™ subtitling support. The new functionality can be installed via a simple firmware upgrade. Barco is the first digital projector manufacturer to offer this feature. Furthermore, Barco revealed that it has obtained full DCI compliance for its complete line of DP2K 'C' projectors.

 

Developed by Texas Instruments, CineCanvas™ technology eliminates the need for distributors to make a special print for each language version, which significantly lowers the cost of distribution for digital releases. Another plus is that it gives exhibitors access to a broader range of content and that it presents them with a much wider choice of server options. 

“Up to now, Series 2 digital projectors depended on the cinema server to render movie subtitles. In practice, this meant that subtitles sometimes had to be “burned” into each release and for each individual language version. It goes without saying that this process is not only very costly, but also forms a potential source of readability and uniformity issues,” explains Barco's Digital Cinema Product Manager Theodore Marescaux. 

By integrating CineCanvas™ subtitling support into its latest digital cinema projectors, Barco managed to eliminate these shortcomings. “Subtitling overlay can now be done inside the projector itself, thereby eliminating interoperability issues and providing a uniform look across all theater screens,” says Theodore Marescaux. 

Barco's latest firmware upgrade with CineCanvas™ support is immediately available. It can be downloaded from Barco's online customer portal at https://my.barco.com. 

Fully DCI certified 
Following an earlier announcement made at the latest ShoWest Convention in March, Barco also revealed today that its full series of DP2K 'C' digital projectors has been listed on the DCI website, formally confirming their compliance in accordance with the DCI Specification. All three models (DP2K-12C, DP2K-15C and DP2K-20C) have successfully completed the DCI testing procedures carried out by testing agency CineCert. The compliance procedure for Barco's large chip DP2K 'B' projectors is ongoing. An official communication announcing the certification of Barco's entire digital projector portfolio – the most complete offering of digital cinema projectors available today - is expected very soon. 

More information about DCI compliance is available athttp://www.dcimovies.com/compliance/. 

About Barco

Barco, a global technology company, designs and develops visualization products for a variety of selected professional markets. Barco has its own facilities for Sales & Marketing, Customer Support, R&D and Manufacturing in Europe, North America and Asia Pacific. Barco (NYSE Euronext Brussels: BAR) is active in more than 90 countries with about 3,300 employees worldwide. Barco posted sales of 638 million euro in 2009.

 

XDC/FTT and Cineplex Agree on Deployment of 451 Digital Screens in Germany

http://www.digitalcinemainfo.com/xdc_07_21_10.php

July 21, 2010

Source: XDC

Cineplex, one of the large German cinema circuits, and the Belgian VPF service provider XDC agreed on the conditions of a digital roll-out of the 451 Cineplex screens.

The German integrator FTT played an important role in the pre-negotiations and will also carry out a large part of the installations.

The agreement between Cineplex and XDC includes the roll out of DCI-compliant projection systems cofinanced by the Virtual Print Fee (VPF) model and using the financing solution proposed by XDC via the credit facility structured by BNP Paribas Fortis.

Kim Ludolf Koch, Managing Director of Cineplex Deutschland said: “After careful consideration and negotiations the 35 shareholders of Cineplex group, we decided to complete the digital deployment on a large scale and with the most experienced partner in VPF services in Germany. As an association of numerous familyrun businesses we are placing particularly high demands on our partner as far as flexibility is concerned. With XDC we were able to depict our various individual requirements and demands as precisely as possible“.

Serge Plasch, XDC’s CEO, said:"We are delighted that, with Cineplex group, we were also able to win the third major German cinema circuit and, consequently, could make an important step towards the digital roll-out in Germany. The fact that we could catch on with our business proposal against other VPF providers in this highly competitive preliminary decision once again underlines the quality of our model.“

Thomas Rüttgers, FTT’s Chairman of the Board of Management, added:“It was vital for our co-operation with XDC and Cineplex that we could do our bit acting as an intermediary in this issue. We think that this is a clear signal to the market that VPF models will become further established in Germany.”

Under the terms of the agreement with XDC, Cineplex will exclusively install Series 2 DCI-compliant digital projection systems. Cineplex will also implement a fully integrated and networked solution within the cinema circuit, thanks to XDC’s advanced Theatre Management System and Central Library, the XDC’s CineStore® Plaza. 

A content delivery network will also be implemented by XDC in order to allow distributors to deliver films directly by satellite and/or broadband connection to the cinemas, as well as to give the opportunity to Cineplex to perform live 2D and 3D transmissions.

All the systems will be connected to the XDC’s NOC (Network Operations Centre) which will perform the hotline support and the preventative remote maintenance.

Thanks to the sophisticated XDC’s CineStore Data webbased application, the frontline support (with the possibility to have a full remote monitoring of the digital systems) will be directly managed by FTT, which will also take care of most of the installations and maintenance.

 

Barco dazzles theaters around the globe with DP2K digital cinema projectors

http://www.barco.com/relink.asp?id=2180&cid=102567&ctype=C&type=P

 

Kortrijk, Belgium, 29 July 2010. Barco, a global leader in digital cinema projection technology, announces that the first half of 2010 has brought impressive results for its digital cinema business thanks to the worldwide deployment of the DP2K series. This year has taken off with a significant increase in sales, orders and production capacity.

Powered by the global demand for digital and 3D projection, Barco's new DP2K family of digital projectors is on its way to break all records. Launched at ShoWest in March 2010, this family of DLP Cinema Enhanced® 4K digital projectors was the first ever to pass a DCI compliance testing milestone and the first to offer integrated CineCanvas™ subtitling. Furthermore, Barco has revealed that it has obtained full DCI compliance for its complete line of DP2K 'C' series Their extreme brightness, reliability and image quality in combination with Barco's extended service offering featuring enhanced remote services, diagnostics and monitoring, have made the DP2K family the preferred projectors for leading exhibitors worldwide. 

“The DP2K series has been extremely well received,” says Wim Buyens, Vice President of Barco's digital cinema business. “The market is really taking up the proven Barco design concepts, such as our truly modular design and commonality of spares, which have been taken to the next level in the DP2K series. The many key customers selecting Barco for their digital cinema rollouts are a great realization of this continued technology leadership.” 

Major exhibitors that are already projecting the magic with the new DP2K Digital Cinema projectors include Cinemark, Malco, Cinedigm customers Rave, Starplex and Movie Tavern, Empire Theatres Limited in Canada, Kinepolis, Europalace, Cinéville, MD2, FinnKino, DCK, Cinépolis, UGC, Vue Entertainment, Empire Cinemas UK, DFL, Real Cinemas, Palace Cinemas, Multikino, Cineplex, Yelmo, ZON Lusomundo Cinemas, Space, Euroscoop, Nordisk Cinemas, Dadi Media Group, Jinji Zhujiang Cinema, Zhejiang Shidai, Guizhou Xingkong, Shenzhen Taikoo, Xinhua, CGV China, Jiangsu Xingfu Lanhai and many others. 

The new DP2K series has received high praise from the market. “Barco will continue to deliver the proven performance, reliability and user-friendliness of their renowned DP projectors, and they will prepare us for the future with DLP Cinema® Enhanced 4K,” comments Alan Stock, CEO of Cinemark Holdings, Inc. 

We have worked with Barco since 2006 and successfully installed over 300 Barco projection systems so far,” comments Liu Kaijun, General Manager of Dadi Cinema Development Ltd. “The reason why we selected Barco for this project again, is because its excellent product stability has laid a solid foundation for the good operation of our cinemas. We are also impressed by the company's superior after-sales services. As Dadi Digital Cinema is growing fast, we look forward to an even deeper cooperation with industry-leading digital cinema system suppliers – like Barco.” 

Patrick Muller, General Director of Cinemeccanica states: “Both the Barco people and our team are passionate about what they do and are real experts in their respective fields. The results are first class projectors which are unmatched in today's market. No other projector offers the same quality, ease-of-use and reliability like Barco does.” 

Wim Buyens concludes: “Especially with the success of 3D, demand is currently peaking. Digital cinema is a core business for Barco. So before the launch of the new projector family we had already made the necessary investments in our production capacity, such as the expansion of our production to China for our Asian customers, to keep track with the pace of the digital cinema rollout.” 


Supporting 2D and 3D projection, Barco's six new DP2K projectors represent the most complete projector family available today with models for every screen size and budget. In addition to advances in software, diagnostics and patented cooling technology, all DP2K projectors include enhanced security features as mandated by the Digital Cinema Initiative (DCI). All of Barco's digital cinema projectors are based on the pioneering DLP Cinema® technology from Texas Instruments, guaranteeing perfect re-production of movies, time and time again, and ensuring that theatre-goers enjoy the highest quality movie experience with consistent picture brightness, contrast and vibrant colors. 

About Barco 
Barco, a global technology company, designs and develops visualization products for a variety of selected professional markets. Barco has its own facilities for Sales & Marketing, Customer Support, R&D and Manufacturing in Europe, North America and Asia Pacific. Barco (NYSE Euronext Brussels: BAR) is active in more than 90 countries with about 3,300 employees worldwide. Barco posted sales of 638 million euro in 2009. 

© Copyright 2010 by Barco 

NEC Reaches DCI Compliance for Full Range of Projectors

http://www.digitalcinemainfo.com/necdigitalcinema_07_22_10.php

July 22, 2010

Source: NEC

NC1200C, NC2000C, NC3200S Digital Cinema Projectors Meet CTP Requirements

NEC Display Solutions of America, a leading provider of commercial LCD display and projector solutions, announced today that its entire line (NC1200C, NC2000C and NC3200S) of digital cinema projectors have reached full Digital Cinema Initiatives (DCI) Compliance. 

The new projectors include the NC1200C at 9,000 lumens of brightness for screen sizes of up to 46-feet wide, the NC2000C at 17,000 lumens for screens up to 65-feet wide and the ultra-bright NC3200S at 31,000 lumens for screens up to 105-feet wide.

The tests were completed by the Research Institute for Digital Media and Content at Keio University (hereafter, DMC) in Japan, which is one of three entities licensed by Digital Cinema Initiatives, LLC to perform the CTP tests. 

NEC’s digital cinema projectors were certified in:

. (*1) Digital Cinema System Specification (DCSS) Version 1.2 as of March 7, 2008

. (*2) DCSS CTP Version 1.1 as of May 8, 2009

“We are beyond proud to be the first digital cinema manufacturer to have achieved this significant accomplishment,” said Pierre Richer, President and C.O.O. of NEC Display Solutions. “To have a full product line that meets the needs of today’s exhibitors is not only essential, but expected. NEC continually proves its place in the industry by capitalizing on stringent standards and providing innovative programs to enhance our products.”

“We are very pleased to confirm that all the NEC digital cinema projectors (NC1200C, NC2000C and NC3200S), featuring Texas Instruments’ Series 2 DLP Cinema® technology have passed all the requirements of the CTP,” said Kunitake Kaneko, assistant professor of DMC.

NEC’s DCI Compliance allows exhibitors to capitalize on current and future growth opportunities.

 

UK Film Council to be abolished

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-10761225?print=true

 

26 July 2010 Last updated at 14:51 GMT

 

The UK Film Council is to be axed as part of a cost-cutting drive by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), it has been announced.

The organisation, founded in 2000, had an annual budget of £15m to invest in British films and employed 75 people.

 

Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt said he wanted to establish a "direct and less bureaucratic relationship with the British Film Institute".

UK Film Council chairman Tim Bevan called it "a bad decision".

 

He said the announcement was "imposed without any consultation or evaluation".

 

"People will rightly look back on today's announcement and say it was a big mistake, driven by short-term thinking and political expediency," he said.

The DCMS said film funding would continue but would be distributed through other bodies.

 

Current lottery funding for film is £26 million per year. This is expected to increase to £32 million after 2012.

 

Direct government funding, currently about £25m a year, is being considered as part of the ongoing spending review.

 

In a statement, the DCMS said it was "clear that culture and creative industries will not be singled out as a soft target, and that the government will champion the value they bring".

 

Digital screens

The Film Council was set up by the Labour government to develop and promote the British film industry.

 

Funded by the National Lottery, it channelled about £160m into more than 900 films over the last 10 years, including Bend It Like Beckham, The Last King of Scotland and Streetdance 3D.

 

Other initiatives included the Digital Screen Network, which invested in 240 digital cinema screens across the UK - meaning the UK now has more digital cinemas than any other European country.

 

In a letter to the British film industry, John Woodward, Chief Executive of the Film Council, said he had been informed that "the target is to have the organisation totally closed down with its assets and its remaining operations transferred out by April 2012".

 

"That does, at least, give us time to honour our current commitments," he added.

 

Mr Hunt said 16 public bodies, including the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council (MLA) would lose their funding as the government committed to "increasing the transparency and accountability of its public bodies, while at the same time reducing their number and cost".

 

"Many of these bodies were set up a considerable length of time ago, and times and demands have changed," he added.

 

"The changes I have proposed today would help us deliver fantastic culture, media and sport, while ensuring value for money for the public and transparency about where taxpayers' money is spent."

 

Shadow Culture Secretary Ben Bradshaw has accused the government cuts of being "hasty, ill thought-though and incoherent."

 

He added: "The UK fllm industry has just had its best year ever, earning millions for our country, but the Government is axing the UK Film Council without saying what or who will do its important work."

 

The MLA is also to be wound up by 2012, in order to "focus efforts on front-line, essential services and ensure greater value for money".

 

Responding to the announcement, chairman Sir Andrew Motion and chief executive Roy Clare have pledged to "continue to deliver a vibrant and effective expert service for the public who rightly expect excellent, sustainable museums, libraries and record offices in their local neighbourhoods.

 

"Stormy seas call for cool heads and steady hands," they added.

 

Custom financing: Digital cinema manufacturers provide flexible funding

http://www.filmjournal.com/filmjournal/content_display/news-and-features/features/cinemas/e3i4e5fe86c8a88e96b06162baddea7f0c5

July 16, 2010

-By Bill Mead, Digital Cinema Editor

'Avatar' increased demand for digital equipment

December 18, 2009, the U.S. release date for Avatar, will be remembered as a monumental turning point in the global digital rollout. In addition to fundamentally changing movie production, Avatar had a significant impact on the number of digital-cinema deployments, with a sharp increase in interest from exhibitors in deploying more 3D screens.

The hugely popular Avatar release, coupled with the improved economic outlook in the spring of 2010, suddenly increased the demand for digital equipment worldwide. All indications from this June's Cinema Expo International in Amsterdam are that 3D continues to grow in popularity with no slowdown in sight.

Adding more 3D digital screens requires more investment in projection equipment and the ongoing issue of raising the funds. Fortunately in the U.S., there are a number of financing options open to exhibitors, ranging from the large VPF-type (Virtual Print Fee) nationwide plans from digital-cinema providers Cinedigm and Digital Cinema Implementation Partners (DCIP) to custom-designed leasing programs supported by equipment manufacturers.

Six months before the Avatar release, it was a "buyer's market." Sales were nearly stalled, and equipment manufactures had plenty of inventory on hand, and most were offering various financial incentives to get things moving. Fortunately, Avatar didn't flop and by ShoWest 2010, there was a reversal where many manufacturers suddenly had more orders than inventory. Critical hardware is now on back order, with exhibitors waiting 90-plus days for delivery.

Today, manufactures have found they are better off using available capital to expand their production capacity than financing the sale of inventory that is in short supply.

The majority of financing arrangements available to U.S. exhibitors have had VPF participation from the studios. The VPF deals are all different, and since their introduction in 2004, they now describe various studio incentives for not using a 35mm print. The original VPF deals worked like a business adaptor, to couple the new digital economics to business structures that had for the past 100 years developed around 35mm film. VPF deals provided a way to jump-start the deployment and keep existing relationships and business arrangements intact. As conceived, VPF plans are temporary and limited to a fixed number of screens, but the term is being used increasingly to describe a wide range of studio-supported incentives.

Initially, VPF plans were crafted to relieve the perceived inequality between the exhibitor's increased costs for equipment and the distributor's savings on prints. While it was easy to see the distributor's cost-saving by eliminating 35mm, it was harder to estimate the cost of building the digital pipeline. Exhibitors could easily see the high equipment costs, but not the savings of running a digital operation. Now, exhibitors and distributors have six years of practical experience in operating a digital network and screens and there is a much better handle on true costs and savings. The industry is maturing and experience is leading to better negotiations and more custom VPF plans from distributors.

Although the existing VPF plans reduced costs for many organizations, they don't fit everyone's needs, particularly those of smaller and independent exhibitors that are technically astute and don't need (or want) the services from the nationwide providers.

In the U.S., NEC has several financial programs that have been tailored to assist the smaller exhibitors, particularly those who may not fall under the DCIP, Cinedigm or CBG (Cinema Buying Group) umbrellas. NEC's financial solutions were designed from the onset to be "bridge" solutions, where exhibitors could get 3D going now and make their decision on a broader deployment later. The program can easily be rolled up later into one of the larger nationwide deployment programs.

NEC Display, the USA group responsible for digital-cinema sales, was able to work with NEC Financial Services, NEC's in-house leasing division, to craft several special programs suited to exhibitors. NEC Financial Services has been helping its corporate customers purchase capital-intensive products such as supercomputers.

The first of NEC's programs is a five-year stepped leasing program for projectors and servers. The lease payments are structured so the monthly payment is 1% the total amount leased for the first 18 months, increasing to 2% for months 19 to 36, 3% for months 37 to 48, and finally 4% for the remaining 12 months. The stepped structure was set up with the expectation that exhibitors would receive an increasing supply of 3D titles and therefore the low initial payments would aid in the generation of positive cash flow within the first 18 months.

"With the increased number of 3D movies scheduled to be released over the next few months, now's the time for theatre owners to improve their technology and benefit from the increased box-office revenue associated with 3D movies," said Jim Reisteter, general manager, Digital Cinema Division, NEC Display Solutions. "We're excited to offer special financing programs to help theatre owners obtain advanced digital projector technology for 3D that has the potential to pay for itself within 12 to 18 months."

The second NEC program involves working with a separate company, Digital Link II LLC, a partnership between 3D provider RealD and system integrator Ballantyne/Strong. The Digital Link program is responsible for financing approximately 380 NEC systems with exhibitors such as Marcus, National Amusements, Southern Theatres, Clearview Cinemas and Regal Entertainment over the past few years.

RealD was able to secure agreements with several studios' major 3D releases for VPF participation. NEC Financial supplied the funds and provided the projectors. The combination of VPF participation and NEC's attractive leasing rates meant that exhibitors could move forward with critical 3D installations for the fall of 2009 and spring 2010, when there was no other immediate way to secure VPF payments.

Projector manufacturer Christie has been helping its customers secure digital equipment and was responsible for getting the initial 2005 deployments rolling with the phase-one Christie/AIX program leading to over 3,700 screens.

Barco also offers tailored financing options to provide the right financing solution for every customer. In October 2009, Barco created the "Deliver Digital" program to assist their regional and independent exhibition customers in acquiring turnkey digital-cinema systems (including projectors, servers, automation, etc.), coupled with a tailored financing program, and supported by a full complement of installation and ongoing support services.

This unique program was created in partnership with Cinedigm to facilitate Virtual Print Fees and reduce out-of-pocket expenditures. With Deliver Digital, exhibitors hold title to and own the equipment from day one, and are able to compete with national circuits as they have access to the same benefits, such as preferred financing terms (including $0 down payment for qualified exhibitors) and VPFs. Customers also receive Barco's full complement of services, including installation, warranty and 24/7 Network Operations Center (NOC) remote monitoring.

For exhibitors that may not be seeking VPF support to convert their circuit, Barco helps facilitate low-cost financing through trusted relationships with companies experienced in funding digital-cinema conversions. Barco has been leveraging these relationships successfully over the past two years, supporting many customers, including Moving Image Technologies and Theatre Equipment Construction & Service, among others. Since every exhibitor and dealer has different requirements, the team at Barco and its financial partners are committed to developing the right financing solutions to meet the specific needs of customers. With hundreds of screens successfully financed in 2009 and hundreds more already in 2010, Barco's customer-focused financing solutions have been the clear choice for many.

Sony Electronics is taking a full-service approach to the digital-cinema market, providing exhibitors with a complete range of products—including its 4K projection technology—installation and integration services, digital signage and alternative content, as well as the ability to offer flexible and convenient lease financing and purchasing options.

Exhibitors can choose a turnkey solution from Sony, with several financial options. The most advantageous is Sony's Virtual Print Fee administration program, which includes financial support from studios. The second option is a direct purchase with lease programs through Sony's third-party leasing companies to provide exhibitors with flexible terms. Finally, exhibitors can also customize their own finance programs by choosing a combination of Sony's direct and VPF administration services.

According to Gary Johns, senior VP of Sony's Digital Cinema Solutions Group, "As a total entertainment company, Sony is uniquely positioned to provide a full-service approach and offer everything that an exhibitor needs to maximize their investment in digital cinema."

It's Over for 2D Cinema, Says 'Father of 3D'

http://www.thewrap.com/movies/column-post/its-over-2d-cinema-says-father-3d-18372

By Steve Pond

Published: June 15, 2010

The guy who wrote "Puff the Magic Dragon" says that 2D cinema is dead.

Ordinarily, the opinion of a one-hit songwriter might not matter much in the world of entertainment technology – but in this case, the songwriter who penned the lyrics to Peter, Paul and Mary's classic at the age of 19 also happens to be the so-called father of 3D cinema, and the closest thing to a rock star that the field has to offer.

Lenny Lipton, the songwriter and 3D guru in question, gave the closing keynote address at Monday's 3DNext Summit in Culver City, where his status as a 30-year stereoscopic-cinema veteran responsible for a variety of innovations made him the biggest celebrity on the program.

And in contrast to many of those who'd preceded him preaching caution, Lipton was adamant that the future is 3D, and the future is now.

The reason: money.

"People won't admit it, but it's all over for 2D cinema," said Lipton, who holds more than 40 patents in the field of stereoscopic cinema and wrote the book "Foundations of Stereoscopic Cinema" in 1982. "And it's not for creative reasons.  It's for business reasons."

Bussinessmen in the entertainment industry, Lipton said, have always embraced "new modalities" that allow them to increase prices. "There are remarkable parallels between the introduction of the sound cinema and the stereoscopic cinema," he said, displaying a chart that also included the innovations of motion, sound, color, widescreen and stereoscopic

"In every case, exhibitors are able to charge more money. And that's why 3D cinema isn't going away.

"You can't turn off color, you can't turn off sound, you can't turn off 3D, and you can turn off the up-charge."

After stints at the StereoGraphics Corporation, which he founded in 1980, and later at RealD, Lipton has now founded a new company, Oculus3D, which has created a 3D theatrical format that can use 35 mm projectors rather than requiring the more expensive digital projection equipment.

His stats: outfitting 100 screens with digital 3D costs $1.5 million, while 100 screens using the Oculus 3D 35 mm technology runs $230,000.

"If I'm right, and stereoscopic cinema becomes ubiquitous, does that mean all the smaller theaters go out of business?" he asked. "They need a solution, and they can't afford digital."

Among the other topics Lipton touched on in his half-hour talk:

Cinema, along with photography and other visual arts, has always been three-dimensional. In the past, he pointed out, we got our cues about depth from the placement of objects, from vanishing points and perspective, from relative sizes. "The addition of the stereoscopic depth cue is an evolution rather than an innovation."

Stereoscopic 3D is not new. Lipton showed a drawing of a 1923 movie theater using the "Teleview" system (left) to create a stereo image when viewed through special lenses – "the exact same idea," he said, that was applied by Lipton and his colleagues in the early 1980s, and is currently used by systems like RealD

 

The Dark Flaw in 3D's Bright Future

http://www.thewrap.com/movies/column-post/3d-progress-lost-dark-19392

By Steve Pond
Published: July 21, 2010

3D may be the bright shining future of the movie business, but at the moment it just isn't bright enough.

That's not a metaphor. It's the plain truth.

3D movies -- whether they're made using the process or converted in post-production -- are simply screened at significantly lower light levels than 2D films.


More and more often, it's enough to hamper audience enjoyment, make filmmakers wary, and perhaps even slow down the acceptance of a format that is one of the movie industry's great hopes for the future.

When Roger Ebert blasted 3D in an article in Newsweek, for instance, one of the reasons he listed for disliking the format was "its image is noticeably darker than standard 2D."

Even a movie like "Avatar," which was shot in 3D using techniques that boosted the amount of light and compensated for the darkening process to come, was screened at light levels about half of a run-of-the-mill 2D film.

And the problems are exacerbated when a movie -- like the disastrous "Clash of the Titans" -- is made with no thought of 3D and hastily converted after-the-fact. "Titans"appeared so muddy that it prompted walkouts and no doubt scared some theatergoers away from the 3D experience entirely. 

(Fewer and fewer moviegoers are making the 3D choice when they plunk down their money at the box office; see sidebar: "The Rise and Fall of 3D.")

At the Hero Complex Film Festival in downtown Los Angeles in June, "Inception" director Christopher Nolan joined the 3D naysayers, saying that he refused to make his new film in the format largely because of the darkness problem.

"On a technical level, it's fascinating," Nolan said of 3D, "but on an experiential level, I find the dimness of the image extremely alienating."

The 3D process, Nolan said, makes "a massive difference" in the brightness of the image. "You're not aware of it because once you're in that world, your eye compensates - but having struggled for years to get theaters get up to the proper brightness, we're not sticking polarized filters in everything."

Nolan also got into the numbers, using "foot-lamberts" - the unit of luminance by which screen brightness is measured - to explain the difference between regular and 3D projection. But when he said that traditional 2D cinema is projected at 16 foot-lamberts, but 3D automatically loses three foot-lamberts, he was grievously underestimating the 3D effect.

In fact, a typical 3D system can lose as much as 80 percent or more of the light from a 2D system on the same screen, and result in an image projected at only two or three foot-lamberts. 

"I think it's a major problem for the audience appreciation of 3D," says Lenny Lipton, a pioneer in the field since the early 1980s. "The principal complaint that audience members and industry people make is that it's too dark." 

Frenzy in the Third Dimension

http://campaign.constantcontact.com/render?v=0015rqrTrc4AjshKkA9hADCi_8hum3_jJ2BZCIZiWsx3dbOVDOm8MLae7omTgOLPvukjHq4zzM8rhW8gU_Wv0Xy3laWoduhOITeByppyuzc61GZj0JVB_Tyr4mRSgTwoiPF

By Marty Shindler
  
History repeats itself.
 
The lessons learned from history should never be forgotten.
 
It happened when sound was a new technology for feature films.  It happened again when color was a new technology for feature films. 
 
It happened yet again in the mid 90s when CGI came on the scene in a big way, spurred by the likes of Terminator 2 and Jurassic Park, major motion pictures that told Hollywood studios and many independents that computer graphics could be used for major visual effects extravaganzas and, as far as those two movies were concerned, could attract large audiences on a global basis, all paying top dollar to see the latest and greatest. 
 
The two aforementioned movies were done brilliantly, from their writing to their execution, with the likes of James Cameron and Steven Spielberg helming the work, but the aftermath created was a frenzy by almost any definition as a new language to tell stories was being created.
 
The underlying 3D CGI technology for those two movies (and a few others) came at a time when more horsepower became available in computing and new tools were being created to enable even a local "garage shop" to create convincing images on screen.  If you could think it, it could be created in the computer was a common philosophy.  The only constraints were time and, of course, money.
 
In the 90s, companies sprang up on a global basis to create the production level work for visual effects.  Other companies sprang up to build software and hardware tools for image creation. 
 
The burgeoning 3D CGI industry also prompted companies and schools to provide training to the waiting masses, including retraining the existing workforce, many of whom knew what images were required, but were now becoming adept at using a new tool to create.  For example, a great model maker accustomed to wood, foam, steel and other "real" materials now was beginning to learn how to build models with a tablet, mouse and software.  The base knowledge was there, but new tools were being used for execution.
 
Organizations of all kinds set up series of panel discussions, seminars, newsletters and publications, all devoted to the new digital technology. 
 
There was a frenzy to hit the marketplace at all points on the entertainment industry value chain, driven in part by the studios that thought that major visual effects extravaganzas were all that was needed to drive box office and in turn, profits.
 
Audiences showed up, too, expecting to see the next T2 or Jurassic Park. 
 
The problem was that in the frenzy, one important factor was left out of the mix - good stories based on believable characters.  While no one ever sets out to make a bad movie, the reality is that most movies do not earn a profit for their investors.
 
The increased budgets for the extravaganzas and the lack of attention to story and characters resulted in significant write downs of movies - and TV shows, too, that started to incorporate CGI, albeit on a somewhat lower scale than movies.  In some cases, it was reported that the rate of losses exceeded the "norm," but a loss is still a loss.
 
Paying audiences stayed away as the novelty for the big effects movies for the sake of exploitation wore off.  The audience always knows. 
 
It took a while for the effects heavy product in the pipeline to run its course and during that time, unfortunately, many companies came and went, all chasing a piece of the new digital CGI pie. 
 
In time, a more practical approach emerged, without the frenzy, but still incorporating the technology that made those movies and others so compelling, but with the all important elements of story and character.  In fact, the whole CG/animation business today is bigger than ever.
 
The same frenzy is evident today with S3D, stereoscopic 3D.  History is repeating itself.  And in time, the industry will be enormous, if not ubiquitous, but it will take time to get there and there will be fallout.
 
The influx of S3D movies has created a wow factor.  Avatar, Alice in Wonderland and other movies have created a 3D wow factor both visually and at the box office. 
 
Studios, majors and independents, are all developing projects for 3D release.  Organizations are developing training programs, seminars, etc.  Software and hardware tools of all kinds are being developed to support the production, post production and exhibition needs of the S3D industry.  It appears to be going at a faster rate than was the case for 3D CGI a decade plus ago, although it is certainly hard to quantify.
 
Already the industry is seeing a softening of the box office numbers from 3D, especially during the all important opening weekend as the percentage from 3D has declined for several of the most recent releases.  It is too soon to know if this is isolated or the beginning of a trend.  Speculation in some circles is that while audiences crave the look of 3D movies, they are beginning to be more discriminating, especially as the up charge adds significantly to the cost of taking a family to the local multiplex.
 
With the significant increase in 3D production, whether 3D is created during production or in post through 2D to 3D conversion, there will be losses to those investors as the product comes to market.  We just do not know as yet which movies will succeed and which will not.
 
In the 90s with CGI driven films, distributors aimed to get as wide a release as possible, going day and date around the world wherever viable.  The goal was to collect as much in box office as possible before word of mouth set in.  And for those movies that had the story, visual elements and the total budget in balance, the word of mouth drove substantial returns.
 
The same is happening today.  And in today's connected with social networking world, word leaks out very fast when a bad movie appears at the multiplex. 
 
3D capacity at the global theater market must increase and it must increase soon to enable the product coming to market to have at least a fair chance for success.  It must also be done at a fair price as the upward spiral in product and costs is not being recouped by box office and home entertainment.
 
The trend is continuing into TV as sports in 3D is compelling as well.  We have seen 3D baseball, basketball, football, hockey, golf and recently the FIFA World Cup.  The networks, broadcast and cable (does anyone really differentiate anymore?) are all devoting considerable resources to testing and experimenting with S3D. 
 
Movies and sports drove the growth of TV in the 50s at its birth and again when color TV was introduced.  (Are there any black and white TV shows?).  The same was true for the introduction of HD TVs and it will be true for 3D TV.  History repeats itself. 
 
To drive the sales of the 3D enabled TVs, a large inventory of available product is required in order to get past the early adopters.  So, the number of movies and TV events in 3D will continue as the major TV manufacturers bring their sets to market.  It will only be a matter of a few years before all new HD flat panel TVs have 3D capabilities and most likely at a nominal surcharge.
 
Don't get me wrong, I am not complaining as I have heavy involvement in this arena, too.  The 3D bug first bit me as far back as 2004 when we were retained to develop a business plan for a company with an idea for 3D tools and services. That evolved into many other consulting projects for us, as well as our involvement with Oculus3D.  The first 3D panel I moderated was in September 2005, even before the release of Chicken Little, the modern era's first 3D movie.  There have been many, many more since.
 
What I am suggesting is that we all take a sharp look at what matters - quality and the bottom line - or chance being a victim of the inevitable fallout following the frenzy. 
 
The future, history tells us, depends upon it.

Is 3D Already Dying? Is Color TV Dying? Probably not.

http://www.today3d.com/2010/07/is-3d-already-dying-is-color-tv-dying.html

 

If you look at the graph above you will see that the percentage of revenue from 3D movies has drastically declined. Why are movie goers shunning 3D?

Recently many 'experts' have used the above data in order to inform us all that this is the end of the medium. These 'experts' forgot to tell us that unlike Avatar, many 3D movies are competing for the same 3D screens. We simply do not have enough 3D screens and the competition for the viewers is rising.

Please read the article below dated Oct. 22, 1956...the same Experts also killed color TV in the past :)

What's wrong with color TV? General Electric's President Ralph J. Cordiner last week gave the answer: "If you have a color set, you've almost got to have an engineer living in the house."

As Cordiner and virtually every other U.S. electronics manufacturer are well aware, color TV has turned out to be the most resounding industrial flop of 1956. The year started with the rusty prediction of RCA's Chairman David Sarnoff that up to 1,500,000 color sets would be in operation by mid-1956. As of last week, not more than 75,000 color receivers were in use (there are about 40 million black-and-white sets). Compared to black-and-white sales of 7,200.000 this year, color sales are scarcely a speck on the nation's TV screen. At best, the industry does not expect to sell more than 250,000 color sets by year's end. In fact, one big manufacturer estimates the total at closer to 30,000.

Where the seers went wrong was in reasoning that the customer would clamor for color as soon as prices came down (1955 minimum for color sets: $700) and weekly color programming went up (from less than two hours a week last fall). Now both barriers have fallen. RCA. Admiral, Sears, Roebuck and Montgomery Ward have been advertising color sets for $500 or less since early last summer. G.E. will bring out its first under-$500 color set this month. NBC is scheduling at least one color show a night, plans to telecast 120 hours of color during the last three months of 1956; rival CBS is telecasting another five hours of color weekly. Yet even in Chicago, where 38.3 hours of color a week sparkle out from the first U.S. "all-color" station (WNBQ), not more than 5,000 sets are in operation. The prevailing U.S. apathy to tinted TV was echoed last week by an idle viewer at Rich's department store in Atlanta. "I know the grass is green at Ebbets Field," he said. "It isn't worth $400 more to find out how green."

"Premature Tub Thumping." While the public still has to be sold on color TV, few retailers across the country are yet in a selling mood. As a San Francisco dealer said last week: "The less I sell, the better. There's a shortage of proper technicians to repair them, and I don't think the buyer is always happy with what he gets." Dealers complain that prices, including the standard $100 one-year service policy (v. $40 for black-and-white), are still too high, and retail markups are too low to justify aggressive advertising.

Some dealers, on the other hand, have made hard promotion pay off. By renting color sets at a loss ($1 a day including service) and buying multihued local TV commercials to hymn the "adventure into a rainbow," Chicago's huge Polk Bros, center has sold 1,600 color sets this year -more than any other one-city U.S. retailer. By contrast, another chain has been quietly showing color TV for six months in six Chicago stores, by last week had sold only two sets.

Zenith Radio Corp.'s President E. F. McDonald Jr. (whose company has cautiously avoided color TV) charged last week that RCA had deliberately oversold the industry on color since 1953. In 1954 industry-wide licensing agreements, by which RCA collects royalties from other manufacturers using any of thousands of its radio, black-and-white and color TV patents, were due to expire. With affiliated NBC, charged McDonald. RCA engaged in "premature tub thumping for color television to induce manufacturers to sign up for a new license term of five years, and to continue collecting millions of dollars a year from the rest of the industry." Many TV men, on the other hand, point out that RCA is doing more than the rest of the industry combined to get color out of the red. But few differ with McDonald's conclusion: "Color TV has been slow to take hold for the simple reason that our industry has not yet produced a good enough color picture to make people want to pay the extra price."

The Hue Is Blue. The trouble goes deeper than the quality of color. The black-and-white programs that make up the vast bulk of TV fare (80% on color-conscious NBC) often seem wan and whiskery on color sets. Color reception takes such keen tuning that many a would-be customer loses heart while the salesman fumbles. Moreover, color reception must be live to be good. In the West, where night network shows are often Kinescoped to meet the time differential, viewers complain that all the hues come out blue.

Virtually all manufacturers are trying to hasten TV's rainbow age with simpler set design and cheaper tubes that may pare as much as $100 from the cost of a color receiver. Bigger cuts will not be forthcoming until the industry can sell at least 1,000,000 sets a year, the point at which it expects to make a profit. For the record, the industry now expects to top that mark in 1958.

Cineplex to go all digital

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/news/e3ic1df212a5f55796f3463000b7e013318

Company fears shorter release windows may endanger rollout

By Scott Roxborough

July 12, 2010, 11:50 AM ET

COLOGNE, Germany -- Cineplex Deutschland has announced it will go entirely digital, converting all its 450 screens in Germany to digital projection. Cineplex has signed a letter of intent with the XDC group to finance the digital switch over.

Cineplex is the second major multiplex operator in Germany to commit to an all-digital future, following smaller exhibitor Kinopolis, which says all 123 of its German screens will be digital by the end of next year.

Cineplex boss Kim Ludolf Koch, however, said the digital rollout was in danger if distributors continue to push for shorter release windows. Shorter windows, Koch argues, erode the basis of the theatrical business. He wants distributors to commit to current release structures and has called for a mandatory six-month theatrical window for all films financed using state subsidies -- a category that includes virtually all German-language productions.

Cinema Expo Thoughts: C.J. Flynn of DCinemaTools.com

Posted by J. Sperling Reich | July 10, 2010 12:53 pm

We continue our series of posts featuring the comments of leading industry members about last month's Cinema Expo with a robust entry from C.J. Flynn of DCinemaTools.com.

Theatre owners thinking about converting to digital cinema (or even those who already have) should swing by Flynn's website for detailed information about long-term operation and maintenance of d-cinema equipment.

In the meantime, here's what Flynn had to say about Cinema Expo:

As usual, the most interesting parts for me at this year's Cinema Expo were the the sporadic 15 minutes of hanging out with people of similar ilk, trying to stretch nuance and rumors thin enough to see a bit of truth through them. Reviewing them in my head, they seem to mostly to have centered on big-company finance and politics.

From a helicopter view, projectors and servers continue their momentum into being commodity items. This leaves some breathing room for other portions of the infrastructure. Audio systems have made inroads into the "Enhanced Experience" cinemas, which is a good sign, and hopefully one that will continue.

Unfortunately, it isn't a "Build It and They Will Come" issue for the new Audio Processor offerings of QSC, Datasat and DMS Cinema. But it is good to see that they are incorporating fresh ideas like the Trinnov (DMS), Dirac (Datasat) and the systemic approach of QSC (plus Meyer, though their system is post AP.) I guess the common theme is getting feedback from the speakers to the processor… good feedback, that is, bringing quality assurance to those who care.

Dolby, to their credit, was casually elegant about the whole matter; they presented their 12.1 system with a work-in-process/got-any-ideas-for-us motif, letting the 7.1 take on the luster of a future standard-in-the-making that only costs $300 if you upgrade now (and politely reminding about the $700 amplifier that might need to be added to the system).

Personally, I didn't get any emphasis from the pitch that their new 7.1 will play with all APs, or really that it gives special advantage to the larger rooms which don't get the fill from the 5.1 array. But it did sound very good in the small room.

Doremi showed the Qalif, a traveling case filled with a complete package of tools — a great step forward for set-up personnel who have to do all the projector setup steps after laying the projector on the pedestal. But Doremi must market this smartly or else they will get killed before getting out of the box. The standards are very clear that a qualified system is set up using a spectroradiometer. If one looks at their offering, it appears to be an anodized box barely larger than the prominent Canon lens. One immediately (and mistakenly) thinks that they have stripped the consumer stuff from an EOS and put in measurement specific, hot-rod firmware like the Magic Lantern group does.

In fact, it is a completely different set of kit, an astrological-science based chip, a great lens, and firmware that has nothing to do with moving pictures, or pictures of any kind, really. Very clever. They have had some other feedback from the show that they say will be translated into other time-saving steps for a projector set-up. If they are really, really clever, they will figure out how to use multiple positions to divine a method for calibrating auditoriums with silver screens, and especially for 3D setups.

The price was a little surprising at 15K, but I suppose they realize that most of their sales will be to distributors who will be getting the discount anyway.

The Panavision demo, at least from where I sat, was horrid. They set up in the big auditorium, at 3:30PM on Thursday. They blocked off the under-the balcony seats with white cloth strips that, if anything, did a poor job of blocking any exit door lights from the rear, and reflected any light from the front. I was sitting 5 rows from the rear, and the reflection in the glasses was painful, especially because the interior of the glass lens is highly reflective, and not only ambient light reflecting to a viewer's eyes, but that extraneous light then bounces back from skin surfaces into the lens. A complete mess that makes all sorts of odd spots looking through the glasses. By holding a magazine behind my head, I was able to block some of this problem light out.

I wasted a lot of time before the show smoothing out the mold line of the glasses plastic that cut into the ear. If I had kept them on my ear I would have appreciated my work, but I found that lifting the earpieces gave me a much better picture, even better than the magazine technique. But not good enough to actually use 'good' in the same sentence. It was miserable. Four bits of black, whites that were a greenish-yellow, and everything was dark. Even the bright cartoon characters were muted.

Both film and digital suffered. During the film and digital changeover, John Galt gave a presentation that was markedly like a poorly done version of the professionally done Dolby presentation that Dave Schnuelle gave a few years ago at NAB/SMPTE Digital Days. How they can continue to give such a bad presentation and say that the system is unique I don't know. Maybe it was better from the center seats, but the reaction after was very muted.

Did I mention that RealD had little presence at the show. As usual, they didn't have a booth, but they only had one mention of being used at the first day's screening. After that, it was all MasterImage and Dolby. It doesn't look like they sponsored anything. This might be because they have to be careful during the quiet period before their pending IPO.

All in all, it was great talking to actual design engineers, who were there in force. I even enjoyed learning how the LED sign makers channel the light so smoothly. So, from a geek perspective it was great.

3D Avatar's back

http://www.today3d.com/2010/07/3d-avatars-back.html

IF you are one of the handful of people worldwide who haven't seen Avatar in 3D, you have a second chance.

The blue inhabitants of Pandora are returning to a cinema near you, with extra scenes and even more creatures. The Academy Award-winning epic - the industry's highest-grossing film - will be re-released next month for a limited run in 3D cinemas.

And if it wasn't long enough already (162 bladder-testing minutes), director James Cameron has added eight minutes of footage, taking it to just 10 minutes shy of three hours.

"Audiences repeatedly told me they wanted more of Pandora ... so we're making that possible," he said

 

ANALYSIS - How to surf the 3D IPO wave?

http://www.today3d.com/2010/07/analysis-how-to-surf-3d-ipo-wave.html

 

Investors looking to cash in on the 3D craze take note: rather than betting on a volatile box office, your best bet might be with companies that make watching and screening movies in three dimensions possible.

 

With 3D all the rage at the local cineplex -- thanks largely to James Cameron's "Avatar" -- RealD, the top supplier of U.S. 3D theater projection gear, is set to debut on July 16 with strong expectations for its initial public offering.

 

Analysts advise buying into infrastructure companies like RealD for now, rather than bet on box office fortunes or the theater chains sinking billions in upgrading to carry 3D.

 

"The 3D market is an embryonic growth market right now. If you get in early with a company that dominates the segment, you could do well," said Francis Gaskins, president of IPOdesktop.com.

 

Analysts spy hidden gems among smaller hardware and services vendors such as RealD. They favored companies that focus on hardware to aid the upgrade or film-conversion to 3D, or provide technology to screen it.

 

Media Valuation Partners principal Larry Gerbrandt likened the boom to high-definition TV, when the likes of Technicolor SA's Grass Valley -- which made broadcast switches needed for the transition -- became early beneficiaries.

 

"It's more of an infrastructure play. You can't point to any one company and say they're going to be 'the' 3D play," he said. "It's one of these things where, over time, the whole infrastructure gets upgraded to 3D."

 

The 3D film business has mushroomed since "Avatar" became the highest-grossing movie of all time. Hollywood is cramming its release schedule with high-profile films like "Toy Story 3." And theaters are scrambling to upgrade screens for 3D -- an estimated $3 billion exercise in North America alone.

 

The question is where to invest.

 

Marla Backer, analyst with Hudson Square Research, likes Ballantyne Strong Inc -- which prepares theaters for digital projection. That's despite the Omaha, Nebraska, company's stock price more than tripling to $7.50 from $2.20 in the past year -- to a pricey 29 times estimated 2010 earnings.

 

Carmike Cinemas Inc, a small theater chain, has a greater proportion of 3D screens than larger competitors -- about 500 out of 2,200 -- and would thus be a disproportionate beneficiary of the 3D craze.

 

And she likes IMAX Corp, with its seven-storey screens, as a popular showcase for such movies.

 

CHINKS IN THE ARMOR

 

Less certain is whether big-name theater chains and studios actually make money, longer-term, off this emerging technology.

 

Exhibitors like Regal Entertainment have charged up to $5 on top of a standard ticket for 3D films. But some analysts suggest 3D is already showing signs of weakness.

 

BTIG Research analyst Richard Greenfield said box office revenue from 3D screenings is already declining. Walt Disney Co's "Toy Story 3" made 60 percent of its opening weekend gross from 3D, compared with 70 percent for "Alice In Wonderland" in March.

 

"With the economy still recovering, we worry that movie exhibitors' view of consumer demand for 3D is disconnected from reality," he wrote.

 

Infrastructure may be a safer bet. Of some 130,000 screens globally, only 10,000 are 3D enabled. More than 5,000 theaters carry RealD 3D equipment and it said it has deals to convert another 5,000.

 

If RealD's IPO take-up is strong, that might encourage others. Some are already plugging rivals such as X6D Limited, which sells under the Xpand brand, and Burbank, California-based MasterImage 3D.

 

"RealD is the biggest by far in the U.S., but I'd say MasterImage and Xpand will give RealD a run on the global business and will make inroads in the market domestically," said Scott Hettrick, editor of 3DHollywood.net.

 

RealD competes with audio equipment maker Dolby Laboratories Inc, which also sells 3D projection systems for theaters. Eric Cohen, corporate development vice president for Dolby, told a tech conference in New York that the company's 3D systems are installed in about 3,300 theaters worldwide.

 

Burbank-based 3ality Digital is a maker of 3D cameras that industry sources also peg as an IPO candidate.

 

"Business is growing at an extraordinary rate and we expect to be profitable in 2010," 3ality CEO Sandy Climan said.

 

CONVERSION -- A BIG PLAY

 

Outfits that convert regular film and television shows into 3D may be another choice investment, analysts said. One expert pegged the market at $35 billion in the next five years.

 

Filming live-action 3D is costly and untested, apart from "Avatar." Conversion is more of a known quantity and can fill a home entertainment market for 3D content. IMS Research expects over 200 million 3D-equipped TV sets to be shipped by 2015, and Hollywood cannot turn out new movies fast enough.

 

Conversion costs range from $50,000 to $150,000 a minute per film, depending on the visual challenges involved.

 

Prime Focus, a company started in India that has grown to 1,200 employees and become one of the largest players in 3D conversion, was stung by bad reviews for its job on this year's "Clash of the Titans." Its London share price fell 4.5 percent after the movie's release, but has since bounced back.

 

Other major players in the arena are In-Three Inc, Legend 3D and Sony Corp's Imageworks. All worked on "Alice."

 

"The conversion companies will do a big business over this next period," said Michael Peyser, a movie producer who teaches in the University of Southern California school of cinema.

 

Rob Hummel, Prime Focus' post-production chief, said his phone is already ringing off the hook.

 

"I want to get us so we never have to say no," Hummel said. "We tell them, 'You better book us soon because if you don't book us, someone else will.'"

 

(Reporting by Alex Dobuzinskis and Sue Zeidler; Additional reporting by Clare Baldwin; Editing by Edwin Chan and Richard Chang)

Screen Digest’s David Hancock Discusses Europe’s D-Cinema Funding Shortfall

http://celluloidjunkie.com/2010/07/07/david-hancock-discusses-europes-d-cinema-funding-shortfall/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed:+celluloidjunkie+(celluloidjunkie.com)

 

Posted by J. Sperling Reich | July 7, 2010 12:35 pm

 

Europe's Digital Shortfall (Courtesy Screen Digest)

On June 21st, just in time for Cinema Expo, Screen Digest published a report titled "Digital Cinema Moves Into The Mainstream". Twelve pages in length and with 10 tables and charts, the report uncovered a significant "digital shortfall" in the amount of financing required to convert all of Europe's screens to digital. David Hancock, a senior analyst at Screen Digest, authored the report and we asked him to shed some light on its key findings. (The interview appears after the jump).

 

Details From The Report

Not counting Russia there are roughly 32,600 screens throughout Europe for which a digital rollout will cost EUR €2.1 billion (or USD $2.65 billion). Of those screens 23,800 are covered for digital conversion through virtual print fees offered by Hollywood studios. Upwards of 5,000 screens will be handled directly by theatre owners themselves. Theoretically that means there is funding of EUR €1.65 billion (or USD $2.1 billion) for d-cinema conversions, leaving a gap of EUR €450 million (or USD $568.4 million) to cover all Europe's screens.

 

And who is being left out of the funding equation? Well, it's mostly art houses, seasonal theatres, repertory venues and mobile cinemas.

 

The United Kingdom and The Netherlands have set up special funding groups to help solve this problem. Support funds have also been established in such countries as the Czech Republic, Finalnd, France, Germany, and Sweden. On region in Poland plans to pull money out of a tourism fund and Italy is giving tax credits to any theatre which converts. The European Union is offering assistance through its MEDIA Programme.

 

Driven mostly by 3D content, the number of European screens equipped for d-cinema at the end of the first quarter in 2010 had risen 16% over 2009 to 5,333, or a full 15% of the region's screens. Presently 75% of all digital screens in Europe are 3D capabe. Thanks to competition among France's largest exhibitors, the country leads the 3D screen count with more than 700. The U.K. and Germany are second and third hovering around the 500 screen mark.

 

A Conversation With David Hancock

 

Celluloid Junkie: How did you come up with the EUR €450 million? Was it simply adding the number of each integrator's VPFs (by screen) and the amount of those VPFs? Are you guessing at the amount of the VPFs as it is often hard to find the exact dollar or euro amount of a VPF?

 

David Hancock: I did not have to come up with a VPF figure, as I did this the other way round. I took the number of screens that are targeted by a VPF programme, added the screens that will DIY (like Odeon), and subtracted the cumulative figure from 32,600 screens (EUR total). This leaves the number of screens that do not fit into an announced model, and then I applied a EUR figure for conversion (EUR €75,000) to those remaining screens. That is the shortfall.

 

CJ: Do you think the shortfall might have something to do with the VPF recoupment amount being different with each integrator?

 

DH: No, that is already factored in. I am not saying that these screens are buggered. The point is that for this shortfall, people are needing to be creative to find solutions. And they already are. Look at the UK Digital Funding Partnership (DFP), the funding group in the Netherlands, the French support scheme. All these initiatives are filling this shortfall.

 

CJ: There are five main integrators in Europe right now (AAM, Digital Finance Limited, Sony, XDC, Ymagis). Do you see any additional integrators springing up to help with the digital rollout?

 

DH: No, I don't see any more of this type springing up, but I do see more targeted outfits appearing, with a specific group of screens in mind, such as maybe for local municipality screens in Poland. We already have the UK and Dutch groups, that are effectively acting as third-parties to organise a group of screens together.

 

CJ: At the Cannes Film Festival the Société des réalisateurs de films, the French Director's Guild, warned that d-cinema is going to dilute French culture and will force a higher turnover of films. Is this a broad fear generating a lot of discussion? There was some talk that the E.U. might get involved or investigate. How likely is that?

 

DH: Has been for years, and still is a concern. The European Commission has been looking at this for two years or so and is developing a support fund to help some screens. European Cinemas also has a grant system in place for digital cinema. So, the EU is involved at that level, it is also investigating various aspects of digital cinema, such as the support funds being proposed by individual countries (e.g. Italian tax credit).

 

 

European D-Cinema Growth - Q1 2010 (Courtesy Screen Digest)

CJ: The growth in digital cinema seems to be mostly in Western Europe. What about Eastern Europe? Is there any movement there or signs of an

increased rate of conversion?

 

DH: Yes, things are moving amongst the multiplex screens, specifically for 3D. Over 90 per cent of digital screens are 3D in Central and Eastern Europe. However, there are still many municipal (local authority) owned single screens in many Central and Eastern European countries, and these will prove more difficult to digitize.

 

CJ: What kind of impact is alternative content having in the E.U.? Is significant revenue being earned?

 

DH: In revenue terms it not yet significant. However, many exhibitors are doing it, the number is growing as the digital base (and satellite base) grows, and I believe it will keep growing in coming years. We are currently looking at a contribution of less than 1% of box office and this will probably grow to around 2% to 2.5% by 2014.