film distrubtion

Our man in Havana

With all the big worldwide releases on the same day, such as Casino Royale etc are films still distributed on 35mm film or is it some sort of digital media like a HD DVD? I suspect there would be a huge number of prints around for the major films. Are these destroyed at the end of their runs?

Mossy Monk

don't some cinemas download them through satellite?

ixoy

I was under the impression that they're still distributed by film in general, one of the reasons for the delays in distribution here and one of the reasons we sometimes get "dirty" films that were released months ago elsewhere.

I know there's a push on for digital projectors here capable of handling satellite downloads, etc. but I think it's only slowly being phased in. Don't think Cineworld have any such setup yet for example, so we'd be stuck on film for now - yay for the horse market...

Diogenes

Only a handful of cinema's are set up for digital screening. I don't think anyone releases films for cinema on HD DVD, films that have been screened digitally, are screened off a harddrive.

The cost of a HD DVD and a projector who's quality would match 35mm*
means' were along way off HD DVD's been screening in the cinema.

Not so long ago films were released in the US several months before the rest of the world, this is because there was a limited number of prints available, because the cost of striking prints, was so great only a few thousand would be made. Also the success of a film in the US would affect the marketing or indeed the scale of European/rest of the world release. However nowdays budgets for event movies like Casino Royale, are so much, a global release makes more sense. It's also an anti piracy tactic. Get the film out across the globe, before floods of cheap knocks destroy your market.

Naturally smaller films are usually released in the old way. WHich is why as Ioxy says, we occasionally get "dirty" prints films that have been screened in several cinemas around the globe before reaching our shores. This is esp true with small arthouse films, and re releases, take a look at the BFI program at the moment, you're looking at films that will turn up in the IFI in a few months.

So yes there are literally thousands of prints out there. Old prints were often sold to films again to be used in old fashioned film cutting rooms, who used the old material as filler on sound reels. Often old prints ended up in landfill or indeed recycled into new films.

However in about 9-12months time you'll find movie studios have found a new way to cash in on the back of blocbusters. If you go to a movie memoribala stories, you'll see for sale in decorative cases
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Film-Cell-Star-Episode-Limited/dp/B000GOQS0Q

This are just a half dozen frames from one of the prints of Episode 3 selling for 49 dollars. Seeing as there are thousands of prints of EP3 floating around and theres about 1.9 million frames in each print, this is a nice money spinner.

The technology to download films off a sattelite is on it's way here, Ireland will be the first country in the world to convert all it's cinemas to digitial formats over the coming years. We're spending £40 million on changing 105 cinemas to being able to recieve digital prints from a sattelite over the next few years.

http://www.electricnews.net/news.html?code=9595159

Whether thats a good thing is another question...






*Yes I'm sure the HD DVD projector in your mate's gaff gives a cinema like picture quality, however your mate's gaff's wall isn't 40x70 feet in size, most projectors cannot cope with the size of an actual cinema screen.

Mitch Connor

Dundrum has a few digital projectors i think, as does the new cinema in swords. The digital projectors were suppopsed to be rolled out by now - not sure what the delay has been, haven't been interested to ask. Star Wars Ep 3 was supposed to be the first digital film to be shown, so that shows you how long ago it was supposed to happen.

Peteee

HD-DVD or Blu-Ray dosent have the resolution to project that large anyway.

You'd want at least double (i.e. 4k) resolution

Mossy Monk

Dungarvan has 2 screens fitted for digital projection

www.sgcdungarvan.net

Mitch Connor

Peteee wrote:

HD-DVD or Blu-Ray dosent have the resolution to project that large anyway.

You'd want at least double (i.e. 4k) resolution

as far as i know - digital film will have nothing to do with HD discs, it will be played off hard drive. At least, that is what i heard a while back.