Alternative to What?

http://www.digitalcinemareport.com/node/2008

 

Submitted by Nick Dager on Sat, 10/09/2010 - 08:53.

 

Lately, whenever I hear the term "alternative content" I'm reminded of a line delivered by the actress Ellen Page in Drew Barrymore's roller derby movie Whip It. Page plays the edgy type of character she does so well and as the movie begins she's working as a waitress. When she takes the order of some rather un-edgy teenage girls one of them says derisively to her, "So, you're like supposed to be alternative, right?" To which Page replies in a beautifully deadpan way, "Alternative to what?"

The term alternative content, which no one seems to like but which we seem to be stuck with, at least for the foreseeable future, was coined by Hollywood to dismiss the idea that exhibitors would ever even consider showing something in their theatres that hadn't been created or, at least, approved by Hollywood.

The other term that was floated was Other Digital Shit, which, fortunately, went the way of mullets and other regrettable ideas. At the time ODS was first coined the original Jackass movie was in theatres and the question was raised whether that constituted alternative content. Fast forward to the present and Jackass 3D is coming soon to a theatre near you.

I thought of all of this recently when Disney released the Beauty and the Beast Blu-ray DVD.

Based on the French fairy tale La Belle et la Bete it continued the longstanding Disney tradition of adapting classic stories for modern audiences. It was the thirtieth film in the Walt Disney Animated Classics series and the third animated feature released during a period known as the Disney Renaissance, which began in 1989 with The Little Mermaid and ended in 1999 with Tarzan.

Released in 1991, Beauty and the Beast is widely considered one of Disney's greatest animated films, and is the first of only two animated films to be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture; the other was last year's Disney Pixar film Up.

To help promote DVD sales and to give a new generation of children the opportunity to enjoy a great movie on the big screen, Disney presented it across much of National CineMedia's Fathom network at special screenings over the last weekend in September.

Prior to the feature presentation, American Idol winner Jordin Sparks took audiences through an exclusive behind-the-scenes look at the newly restored high definition animated classic and the making of her all-new Beauty and the Beast music video.


Audiences were also invited to sing along to such songs as Be Our Guest, Beauty and the Beast, Belle and Gaston.

As the publicity blurbs put it: "Only at the cinema event can you see Belle – one of Disney's most beloved princesses – in all of her big-screen glory plus commentary from producer Don Hahn, interviews with the cast and an inside look at how the animation was created."

As Hollywood is realizing, the classic films in the libraries of all the studios offer a wealth of opportunities that weren't so readily available before the advent of digital cinema. So far they haven't called their presentations alternative content and that's okay.

What matters is that, thanks to digital cinema technology, exhibitors and their patrons are going to be able to enjoy a wealth of all kinds of new and old motion pictures. The possibilities are diverse and growing and everybody wins.