New Forms of Exhibition
by Jarrett Tan
As movie attendances and DVD sales decline, iPod, and PSP sales rise, the entertainment industry is compelled to think and act quickly in developing more ways to get more people to see more movies, either in the cinemas, or on any other platform they choose – on the small screen or on a portable hand held device that the consumer can use on the go.
Here are some examples of new modes of exhibition that will or could become prominent in the near future.
James Cameron: Digital 3-D will save Hollywood
Hollywood is in a fight for survival, and digital 3-D cinema is the way to save it, according to James Cameron.
"D-cinema can do it, for a number of reasons, but because d-cinema is an enabling technology for 3-D. Digital 3-D is a revolutionary form of showmanship that is within our grasp. It can get people off their butts and away from their portable devices and get people back in the theaters where they belong."
Cameron believes that studios and filmmakers are united in their desire to create new cinematic experiences for moviegoers, and that more new titles would be released with this new technology, and more old movies rereleased in 3D.
(Digital cinema is) one of the strongest reasons I've been pushing 3-D for the past few years because it offers a powerful experience which you can only have in the movie theater."
The filmmaker said his interest in digital 3-D goes back to his love of movies and his love of making them for the big screen. "I'm not going to make movies for people to watch on their cell phones. To me, I'd rather go back to doing some more deep-ocean expeditions," Cameron said, referring to the handful of maritime documentaries he has made since "Titanic." "I don't want that grand, visionary, transporting movie experience made for the big screen to become a thing of the past."
Some films currently in the pipeworks to be released (or re-released) in 3-D include King Kong, the original Star Wars (to coincide with the film’s 30th Anniversary of it’s release), and Cameron’s own film “Titanic”.
Read the rest of the story here.
iPods and movies
Another new mode of exhibition that will is already emerging is the portable device. The PSP and iPod are two of the most popular hand held devices that have video playing capability, but so far, for example, iTunes has only stocked one full length feature film, and other short films by Pixar.
According to this report, that could all be set to change soon.
"When Apple signed on to support Sony's controversial Blu-Ray videodisc initiative, it gave the embattled format a boost in the marketplace. But now Steve Jobs' quid pro quo is becoming clear. Rumor has it that he's asking Sony and other studios to include iPod-ready versions of their movies on Blu-Ray releases. Disney, which has worked closely with Apple on video content in the past, is also in the Blu-Ray camp. Persuading Sony and Disney to add iPod support would greatly expand Apple's movie library from the one title it sells today, Disney's "High School Musical."
Since Blu-Ray discs are much more capacious than DVDs, it shouldn't be a technical problem to store a much smaller iPod version of a movie alongside the full, high-definition version.
The Slashfilm movie blog points out that Apple would be giving up revenues it could realize by selling those movies through the iTunes Music Store - but that having more iPod-ready movies available would help Apple sell more of the devices."
This would also add iTunes to the list of sources for legalized movie downloads.
The full article can be found here