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This topic comprises 2 pages: 1 2
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Topic: Does IMAX’s New Laser Projection Deal With Kodak Threaten RealD?
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Frank Angel
Film God
Posts: 5305
From: Brooklyn NY USA
Registered: Dec 1999
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posted 10-17-2011 12:57 PM
This report sez the Kodak/Imax license is EXCLUSIVE. This could mean big trouble for RealD and the rest. I originally read that Kodak was looking to license its laser technology to all projector manufacturers. One would think that would have been more profitable for Kodak in the long run. But if this is indeed an exclusive license deal with IMAX, then that is a huge disadvantage to the rest of the exhibition industry, especially for 3D projection. This from Financial Times
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/d1d5b46c-f811-11e0-a419-00144feab49a.html#ixzz1b3xAy2Ui
Imax snaps up Kodak patents deal
By Andrew Edgecliffe-Johnson in New York
Imax, the Canadian cinema technology group, has struck an exclusive licensing deal for more than 10,000 projection patents from Eastman Kodak which will allow it to improve the quality of 2D and 3D screenings and convert its largest screens from film to digital content for the first time.
Neither Imax nor Kodak would disclose financial details, but their agreement could provide much-needed cash to the US group. The deal is understood to be worth tens of millions of dollars, according to one person familiar with the agreement.
Kodak invented the digital camera but has suffered in the age of camera-enabled smartphones, and concerns about its finances pushed its shares below $1 last month, prompting a statement that it had no plans to file for bankruptcy.
Rich Gelfond, chief executive of Imax, said the deal could generate about $200m in new revenues for his company if it retrofits all of its 80ft-100ft screens, which can currently only take traditional film. A typical film print costs $30,000 compared with $150 for a digital film, so the initial increase in Imax’s capital expenditure and royalties to Kodak will be offset by later cost savings.
The deal comes as cinema owners try to revive enthusiasm for 3D cinema in the face of public resistance to the premium prices 3D films command, and as the industry is juggling rival 3D technologies from companies including RealD, Dolby and MasterImage.
Kodak’s laser projection technology, which can show 2D and 3D films, is expected to be introduced in late 2013. It boasts deeper blacks, brighter colours and higher contrast ratios than rival options, helping answer filmmakers’ concerns that 3D films, in particular, can look too dark through tinted 3D glasses.
Mr Gelfond said he hoped the investment would help differentiate Imax’s 3D offering further, but that it would also help Imax’s 2D cinema clients as they compete with home video. “It’s going to give the public another reason to get off the couch and go to the movies, 2D or 3D,” he said.
Cinema owners have been investing heavily in digital projection equipment for smaller screens, justifying the upfront expense by the fact that the lower distribution costs allow them to show a wider variety of entertainment. “When we introduced digital into multiplex screens, the number of films we could show went from six a year to 25,” Mr Gelfond said. “Our largest screens now show 10 films a year, and I’d expect a similar result.”
Imax’s deal gives it exclusive rights to Kodak’s patents in the cinema market only for about 10 years, amid speculation that Kodak could sell much of its patent portfolio. The xenon bulbs that it uses in its current cameras cannot produce as much light as lasers without overheating, so “consumers are going to get a brighter, clearer picture than they’ve ever seen”, Mr Gelfond added.
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Edward Havens
Jedi Master Film Handler
Posts: 614
From: Los Angeles, CA
Registered: Mar 2008
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posted 10-19-2011 07:12 PM
Mike, you forget one major point... that IMAX was in the process of going out of business sticking with its original mission. The nature documentaries and specialty short films (Wings of Courage, L5: First City in Space) were only getting them so far, even as they expanded IMAX in to more multiplexes. Had they not started the DMR program, they would have gone bankrupt years ago, and had they not switched over to digital and started phasing out 15/70, they would have been bankrupt by now.
Yes, the loss of 15/70 is lamentable, but it was also, like 70mm in general, eventually inevitable. Let's just hope that a couple brave operators keep their 15/70 units intact, and that some of the older IMAX 15/70 titles have archive prints, so that we can have the occasional IMAX 15/70 revival, much like the Cinerama Dome in Hollywood does with that now long-defunct process.
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