ShowEast Day Two: Digital deadline

By Kevin Lally

"Unless you've only been watching the Disney Channel, it's clear the world is coming to an end," AccessIT chairman and CEO Bud Mayo wryly joked during the panel discussion on "Key Challenges for Digital Deployment" this morning at ShowEast.

The still-turbulent financial markets are on everyone's mind as the movie industry convenes here in Orlando, Florida, at a time when the business is facing a momentous and expensive transition to digital projection systems. "We're at the one-yard line," Mayo declared, admitting that not much is about to get accomplished while credit remains tight. Still, the head of the nation's foremost integrator of new digital systems urged theatre owners who haven't yet committed to "sign on now, get in the queue."

The recent announcement of a deal between Digital Cinema Implementation Partners, the alliance of giant circuits Regal, AMC and Cinemark, and five movie studios to finance d-cinema installations was hailed by the panelists as a major breakthrough, with Fox digital exhibition executive VP Julian Levin calling it "a tipping point" and Mayo deeming it "a catalyst...that will touch every [U.S.] market."

DCIP chief executive Travis Reid reminded the crowd that their main backer, JPMorgan, is "one of the strongest banks" out there, and expressed confidence that money "should loosen up very soon."

Tom Stephenson, whose circuit Rave Motion Pictures is 100% digital, warned the audience that 2D is not a growth business, deeming the coming wave of digital 3D films "the motherlode." Paramount Pictures executive VP Mark Christiansen seconded that notion, praising the depth and visual brilliance of the new 3D attractions. He predicted that North America would have 2,000 digital 3D screens by the time his animated Monsters vs. Aliens opens next March, but lamented that the rest of the world lags with only some 200 screens.

"Within five years this will be more a digital business than film," Christiansen opined, while noting that "figuring out a model for small exhibitors is a huge challenge."

Fox's Levin warned exhibitors, "I would not wait for deals to come to you," but also encouraged manufacturers to reduce costs. "The systems still cost too much," he said outright.

As the industry moves closer to full digital deployment, the pain for latecomers will be more acute. Christiansen noted that as fewer 35mm prints are needed, those fewer prints will become more expensive to produce. "When do the studios turn off the [35mm] tap?" he wondered aloud.

Despite today's economic crunch, the writing on the wall is as clear as a digital picture.