End of film (the physical celluloid, not the end of cinema)

Qhue

Qhue

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End of film: Paramount first studio to stop distributing film prints - latimes.com

I can see why they were stealthy about abandoning film for all the various nostalgia reasons etc. but honestly its time had come. Digital projection has come a long way in just a few years and the cost of a good digital projector for even theaters 6-18 in your local 18-plex is less than the cost of maintaining a 35mm projector at this point. Plus you don't have to worry about shipping the film, storing it, keeping it nice (high quality projectionists died off a while ago) and the cost of printing the damn stuff in the first place.

I know a lot of people will be distressed by this, especially the film festival crowd who always cheer when they hear that a 20+ year old film is being presented on 35mm and boo when they encounter digital projection of same, but as digital projection can now achieve the clarity previously only afforded by 70mm mega-prints I think everyone except die hard nostalgia fans will turn around.

The funny thing is that while 3DTV seems to be deader than disco and people are becoming very passe about 3D movies in general it was the push of 3D and the associated premium ticket prices that really allowed this process to move as rapidly as it did.
 
Goatface

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Qhue_sl said:
the cost of a good digital projector for even theaters 6-18 in your local 18-plex is less than the cost of maintaining a 35mm projector at this point.
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my area still had 3 drive-ins going last year (1 close, 2 within hour drive) which had all been open over 50 years. fairly certain one upgraded, the other 2 may be closing.
we went a couple times last year, was one of the best deals. $6 1st run movie plus 2 others from the last week or 2.

several "2nd run" theaters i know of have been in the news about struggling to afford the upgrades, but think most of them have converted some of their screens.

most of it is nostalgia as drive-ins have horrible screens and cheap theaters are mostly crappy, but the were a big part of my life growing up. before cable and vhs, the drive-in was the best thing ever.
50 cent and one dollar movies was the thing to do in my teens and early 20s. but still they are certainly a thing, both my trips this year to the drive-in were packed and seem to be a hit with people with cars loads of kids.
 
Chanur

Chanur

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Only thing I worry about is losing films over time. There are many older movies that are only around do collectors holding and taking care of the last copy. The studios did not always take care of their physical media it makes me worry about their digital works.
 
wamphyr

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I have two questions regarding this subject.
First, how easy it is to pirate a movie made for digital projectors ? Do they recieve the movies in DVD or Blueray format, or how ?

Next one, what is the situation in television ? For broadcasting do they still use betamax tapes or something like that ? Or everything is digital in television also ?
 
Juvarisx

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They come on whats called a digital cinema package which looks like a hard drive and goes directly into the projector. I wouldn't count on an increase of pirating due to this.
 
Gamma Rays

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Yeah I can remember reading once about the quite shocking cost of film (35mm in cannisters) can be over $2,000.00 per print. Then when a big movie opens it is shown on 4,000 - 4,500 screens so that's a print on each.

$8-9 Million on just the film prints.

Which if it's a long cinema run can get damaged and pick up dust/hair etc and sometimes need to be replaced.

Roll on digital
 
Quineloe

Quineloe

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Juvarisx_sl said:
They come on whats called a digital cinema package which looks like a hard drive and goes directly into the projector. I wouldn't count on an increase of pirating due to this.
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Plus they need to unlock with a special digital key. I know this because the midnight preview of the Hobbit got canceled here because the distributor forgot to include the key and couldn't be reached at 1am
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