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Author Topic: "New" releases on blu-ray for theatres? Frank Cox Film God Posts: 2234 From: Melville Saskatchewan Canada Registered: Apr 2011 posted 08-01-2012 02:40 PM                        Since my theatre was the first in the area to convert to digital, I have become the go-to resource for folks who have small theatres to call and ask questions of when they are considering their options for conversion. I just had an unusual conversation with a guy who said that he is planning to show blu-rays instead of going with an actual dcp-capable setup. I told him that he will be playing movies quite a while after their initial release. He then said that's not a problem because he's currently playing film about 4 or 5 weeks after release. As far as I know he won't be able to get a blu-ray until the same blu-ray is available for sale to the public at Walmart, however-many months after that. This seemed to be news to him; he said "But I'll be getting the blu-ray directly from the film companies!" He apparently believes that he'll be able to get a blu-ray to play in his theatre at some point between the initial release of the movie to theatres as a dcp, and the release of the video to the general public. I can see where this would be an attractive option for small theatres but it's something that I've never heard about before. I suspect that he has misunderstood something somewhere along the line. Have any of you heard about anything like this?  |  IP: Logged Paul H. Rayton Expert Film Handler Posts: 210 From: Los Angeles, CA , USA Registered: Aug 2003 posted 08-01-2012 03:59 PM                    Some distributors have already considered this situation, and Blu-ray (BD) seems to be available on **certain** titles, except probably not for major studio titles. In fact, about a year ago, we even got a show in both BD and DCP modes. The BD of the show "Carlos" arrived in a typical Technicolor-orange Pelican box (from Technicolor). Smaller than a typical DCP hard drive case, it was of a size and shape specifically for transporting a BD (or DVD) disc, so somebody has clearly been thinking about such distribution. The movie "Carlos", existed in two versions, long and short. We ran the DCP mode once or twice in our large (and DCP-capable) screen, and then the BD version(s) when it ran in our little (77-seat) screening room area. I'd think that such BD distribution would arrive somewhat sooner for alternative and arthouse content, not so much for theatrical features, if only because of the fears of rampant piracy.  |  IP: Logged Frank Cox Film God Posts: 2234 From: Melville Saskatchewan Canada Registered: Apr 2011 posted 08-01-2012 04:13 PM                        A small theatre in a rural town of 1000 or 2000 people wouldn't survive playing arthouse materials. To keep the audience that they have now with film they would have to play mainstream movies at some point prior to the release of the movie on video.  |  IP: Logged Gordon McLeod Film God Posts: 9532 From: Toronto Ontario Canada Registered: Jun 99 posted 08-01-2012 04:17 PM                     I was told that at least in canada that the major distributors will not permit blue ray of any product that is available on DCP Also there is a licensing issue in that the rights to the BD are often in canada held by a different company than who has the theatrical rights  |  IP: Logged Frank Cox Film God Posts: 2234 From: Melville Saskatchewan Canada Registered: Apr 2011 posted 08-01-2012 04:22 PM                        I'm not too sure about that one. I played Soul Surfer this past June for a school trip and I got a dcp of that. (Good thing, because that's the only thing that I'm set up to play in my theatre.) I'm sure it must have been available on home video before this past June since it was over a year old at that point.  |  IP: Logged Michael Putlack Expert Film Handler Posts: 187 From: Fort Collins, Colorado Registered: Sep 2011 posted 08-01-2012 04:36 PM                        We sometimes get Blurays of Magnolia and Magnet releases and also with smaller titles from other distributors, like the recent re-release of Giorgio Moroder's Metropolis and Shut Up and Play the Hits.  |  IP: Logged Victor Liorentas Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 800 From: london ontario canada Registered: May 2009 posted 08-01-2012 04:49 PM                     I have also received several Blurays and DVDS of arthouse titles and documentaries...of which 35mm prints and DCP existed.  |  IP: Logged Richard May Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1057 From: Floral Park, NY USA Registered: Aug 2004 posted 08-02-2012 12:21 PM                     We are an arthouse and run Blurays all the time. We sometimes run an occasional mainstream movie. We also run DCP. When we get the DCP in, we often get a backup in Bluray. We did have one or two mainstream movies in Bluray, but it was a few weeks after the opening.  |  IP: Logged Edward Havens Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 614 From: Los Angeles, CA Registered: Mar 2008 posted 08-02-2012 01:26 PM                     I'd be curious to know which "mainstream" movies were shown on Blu-Ray, and how far in to their full national runs they were. The only times I've ever played a show from a Blu-Ray was when it was an indie release and/or a one-night-only, one-show-only engagement.  |  IP: Logged Claude S. Ayakawa Film God Posts: 2738 From: Waipahu, Hawaii, USA Registered: Aug 2002 posted 08-02-2012 02:03 PM                         |  IP: Logged Claude S. Ayakawa Film God Posts: 2738 From: Waipahu, Hawaii, USA Registered: Aug 2002 posted 08-02-2012 02:09 PM                        I never saw a movie in a theatre projected from a Blu-Ray disc. When projecting a BD, how is the image quality compared to film or DCP? I suppose it could look pretty good on a very small screen but how does it look on a screen about twenty five feet or wider? -Claude -  |  IP: Logged Scott Norwood Film God Posts: 8146 From: Boston, MA. USA (1774.21 miles northeast of Dallas) Registered: Jun 99 posted 08-02-2012 02:12 PM                        Depends on the quality of the Blu-Ray and the quality of the projector, scaler, lens, screen, and related equipment. With the right equipment and a good disk, it can look very good when it works. Unfortunately, it often doesn't. Worse, the pixel dimensions for various formats are not standardized for BR, which means that each disk requires manually tweaking the image size and masking. If the theatre involved is at the very edge of the zoom range of the lens being used, it may not be possible to make the image fit the existing screen and masking. As an example, I am presently involved with a theatre that is installing a (non-D-cinema) video projector and where the existing screen size (common-height) and throw distance put it right between lens sizes. With their setup, a 1.78:1 HD picture will fill the height of the screen properly, but a scope image will not. Short of buying two lenses, there is no good way to get around this without seriously compromising the picture quality of one or more formats. And I cannot reasonably ask them to buy a second $5k lens that might be used once or twice, ever (this is a performing-arts house; when they show classic movies, they will show 35mm...the video projector will be mostly for rentals and such).  |  IP: Logged Richard May Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1057 From: Floral Park, NY USA Registered: Aug 2004 posted 08-02-2012 02:30 PM                     Our screens are small here (around 16 feet wide). It does depend on the quality of the projector. We have an OPPO deck with a 7000 lumen LCD projector. No scaler. Running 1080I for Bluray, it looks great (unfortunately). We don't have an issue with the picture fitting the screen. We can run full frame 4:3 or scope with no problem. It depends on the lens. Some lenses have longer zoom ranges than others. If you are in between sizes like scott said, I could see there being a problem.  |  IP: Logged Bobby Henderson "Ask me about Trajan." Posts: 10973 From: Lawton, OK, USA Registered: Apr 2001 posted 08-02-2012 03:28 PM                     quote: Frank Cox He apparently believes that he'll be able to get a blu-ray to play in his theatre at some point between the initial release of the movie to theatres as a dcp, and the release of the video to the general public. The guy has made some huge assumptions to believe he could rent mainstream Hollywood studio fare in this manner. The only way a movie studio can have Blu-ray discs ready at the time of theatrical release is if they do a day and date scheme or even release the movie earlier on PPV/VOD. Magnolia Pictures routinely does something similar to this. Last night they had 360 playing on HD Net Movies as a premium cable sneak peak. The movie has already been available via VOD. It's supposed to start playing at certain Landmark movie theater locations on Friday. The retail Blu-ray won't be available until October 6. Major studio movies typically don't have their Blu-ray disc authoring work finished until perhaps 2 to 4 weeks before the disc is scheduled to arrive on store shelves. That amounts to at least 2 to 3 months after theatrical release. None of the major studios gets the disc finished before the movie hits theaters. If the movie is a big hit, wins a bunch of awards or both the studio will want to consider including that hype in the disc's content and marketing materials. Even if a movie studio could burn custom BD-R discs for movie theaters, it would be counterproductive to do so. The blank discs are not cheap. Each disc takes a long time to burn. It's easier/faster to copy DCP data to an external hard disc that can be re-used. Catalog/revival titles are the only thing I see worthwhile in using Blu-ray as a theatrical playback medium. Even still there are numerous drawbacks. AVC/VC1 encoded video quality isn't as a good as the JPEG2000 material on a DCP. The theater would need the right kind of Blu-ray player and d-cinema setup for compatibility.  |  IP: Logged Jonathan Goeldner Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1360 From: Washington, District of Columbia Registered: Jun 2008 posted 08-02-2012 06:41 PM                     I've seen 'The Best and The Brightest' at the Avalon at a one-off screening (which was projected bluray) and the image was surprising.  |  IP: Logged

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