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Author Topic: Any Hard Digital Screen Numbers? Frank Angel Film God Posts: 5305 From: Brooklyn NY USA Registered: Dec 1999 posted 03-13-2011 03:28 PM                        When the conversion to cyan tracks was being put into place, I recall they kept pushing the date-certain for cyan-only prints up further and further before they would actually go fully to all-cyan inventories. They also prolonged the full switch by using the high-magenta interim tracks to ease the transition. The reason I heard why they keep holding back full cyan conversion was because the studios needed something like at least 90%-95% penetration of red readers before they could go exclusively cyan. Loosing any more than 10% would hurt their bottom line. Does anyone have any stats on the actual number of digital conversions that are in place vs. total US screen count? Where are we in terms of penetration for the whole country? And of course the second question, if we are not near that magic 90% conversion, won't that determine how long studios will keep supplying 35mm prints? Wouldn't the same motivation still apply -- simply that they can't afford to eliminate any more than 10% of the screens on which to play their product?  |  IP: Logged Mike Blakesley Film God Posts: 12767 From: Forsyth, Montana Registered: Jun 99 posted 03-13-2011 08:36 PM                        It's surprisingly hard to get updated numbers. Even the Boxoffice and NATO websites don't have the info (or at least, not easily found). On Wikipedia I found this: quote: As of June, 2010, there are close to 16,000 digital cinema screens, with over 5000 of them being stereoscopic setups. ...but it has no reference, so who knows where that came from. If true though, that would mean the U.S. is about 50% converted by now. For what it's worth, our film booker predicted to me last summer that film would be around for five years, maybe less. We were already having trouble getting film prints from some companies even then.  |  IP: Logged Louis Bornwasser Film God Posts: 4441 From: prospect ky usa Registered: Mar 2005 posted 03-13-2011 09:07 PM                        Texas Instruments would know how many chipsets they shipped to the 3 vendors. Deduct 10% for failures and not installed units. Louis  |  IP: Logged Jussi Siponen Film Handler Posts: 75 From: Mikkeli, Itä-Suomi, FINLAND Registered: Jan 2010 posted 03-14-2011 01:12 AM                     Media Salles publishes the European Cinema Yearbook - section Digital Cinemas Worldwide has numbers on digital sites (cinemas) and screens.  |  IP: Logged Michael Coate Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1904 From: Los Angeles, California Registered: Feb 2001 posted 03-14-2011 02:17 AM                     I stopped keeping track after they topped 1,000. I will say that the majority of installs have been made in the last couple of years. It took about a decade just to get to the 1,000 mark. It was pathetically slow going those first few years.  |  IP: Logged Steve Guttag We forgot the crackers Gromit!!! Posts: 12814 From: Annapolis, MD Registered: Dec 1999 posted 03-14-2011 06:01 AM                     So, we are at or about 21% in North America. I actually think the installs for all but the majors is going to slow down in 2012...the VPF deals are going away and that is really going to put the breaks on. Starting in October of this year, the VPF deals, I'm hearing are going to be small enough that it will no longer cover the cost of the typical installation. 3D fueled most of my installations and 3D's bubble has burst...most are now reporting that 3D does not increase sales enough to justify the added expense...especially if you add in the cost of digifying on top of 3D. -Steve  |  IP: Logged Bobby Henderson "Ask me about Trajan." Posts: 10973 From: Lawton, OK, USA Registered: Apr 2001 posted 03-14-2011 11:11 AM                     The site dcinematoday.com had databases on movie theaters equipped with digital projection, but I think they may have removed access to it. I can't find the links to it; anyone wishing to view the material had to register. Maybe I'm overlooking something. I kept up with tracking digital projection installs when Carmike was doing their conversion. And even there dcinematoday was lagging behind what Carmike would make available on their own web site listings. It's still kind of funny to see Carmike's theaters listing DTS or Dolby Digital logos on d cinema shows (sometimes both logos together) when neither process is really being used.  |  IP: Logged Scott Norwood Film God Posts: 8146 From: Boston, MA. USA (1774.21 miles northeast of Dallas) Registered: Jun 99 posted 03-14-2011 12:21 PM                        It will be in interesting to see what happens in the next year or so. I suspect that most of the installations that have already been made have been in newer theatres, which presumably have modern sound systems, larger booths, and ample electrical and exhaust facilities. Many of the remaining theatres are likely older and will be more difficult (and, therefore, more time- and labor- intensive) than the first batch of installations. They will also likely require additional upgrades before can be installed.  |  IP: Logged Ron Funderburg Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 814 From: Chickasha, Oklahoma, USA Registered: Nov 2007 posted 03-17-2011 12:26 PM                        The film company had no cost savings with the conversion to cyan soundtracks. They have an extreme cost savings with the conversion to digital cinema. So the cyan comparison probable isn't a very good one. You would have to go all the way back to incorporating the sound track in to the film rather than on a synchronized record to have a fair comparison. The film companies everyone meet that deadline. I don't know if the theaters did or not.  |  IP: Logged Carsten Kurz Film God Posts: 4340 From: Cologne, NRW, Germany Registered: Aug 2009 posted 03-17-2011 06:42 PM                     http://www.dcinematoday.com/dc/pr.aspx?newsID=2127 'Worldwide, DLP Cinema screen counts showing Hollywood content rose by 67 percent for 2D and 97 percent for 3D, to grand totals of 28,036 and 18,637 screens respectively.' That leaves out Sony installs, which shouldn't be too complicated to find on the net, as they have a large number of chain installs and fewer single screen installations. Note that '97 percent for 3D' doesn't mean that TI DLP has 97% of the 3D DCI market. That passage means 'increases in 2010', that is, 3D DLP installs nearly doubled in 2010. I'm not sure though how TI get's the 3D numbers from their sales alone or how they deal with mixed 2D/3D screens. - Carsten  |  IP: Logged Ron Funderburg Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 814 From: Chickasha, Oklahoma, USA Registered: Nov 2007 posted 03-23-2011 01:06 PM                        the 18,000 + figure exceeds the 50% of the screens the USA market is that here or North America?  |  IP: Logged Louis Bornwasser Film God Posts: 4441 From: prospect ky usa Registered: Mar 2005 posted 03-23-2011 09:53 PM                        Flawed data. btw: the combination of cyan track & mylar reduced the cost of 35mm significantly. Printing now at 3000 fpm. Louis  |  IP: Logged Mike Blakesley Film God Posts: 12767 From: Forsyth, Montana Registered: Jun 99 posted 03-24-2011 02:07 PM                        Ron that figure is worldwide (and out of date now). As Steve noted above, it's somewhere in the 20%-range for the US. I'm sure some more accurate figures will come out at CinemanCon next week.  |  IP: Logged Ron Funderburg Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 814 From: Chickasha, Oklahoma, USA Registered: Nov 2007 posted 03-25-2011 11:39 AM                        The figure I posted was for North America not world wide according to what the article said.  |  IP: Logged Ron Funderburg Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 814 From: Chickasha, Oklahoma, USA Registered: Nov 2007 posted 03-25-2011 10:24 PM                        Steve I'm quite curious about the word "digifying" maybe the word is a typo or just a word I am totally unfamiliar with but "digifying" isn't in any dictionary that I can find. I suppose you might have meant dignifying but knowing you have a much deeper vocabulary than me I was just curious about the word. I am not trying to be smart ass I am just curious!  |  IP: Logged

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