my profile | my password | search | faq & rules | forum home

» Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE   » Operations   » Digital Cinema Forum   » Repertory Titles In Digital (Page 1)

This topic comprises 2 pages: 1  2

Author Topic: Repertory Titles In Digital Chase Taylor Expert Film Handler Posts: 175 From: Troy, Alabama, USA Registered: Mar 2001 posted 11-10-2008 10:57 AM                        Does any know if you can book Repertory Titles in Digital. The one I'm looking for is "Polar Express". WB Classics is saying they can't book it in digital just 35MM. Chase  |  IP: Logged Frank Angel Film God Posts: 5305 From: Brooklyn NY USA Registered: Dec 1999 posted 11-10-2008 11:33 AM                        This seems very odd given that POLAR EXPRESS was released digitally. I can understand if you were asking for a title that never was transfered to digital, then sure they wouldn't accomodate. It costs the studios, depending on the length of the feature and assuming they have viable a viable internegative, between $2,000 and $5,000 for a 35mm print (that was a figure I heard a few years ago so it might even cost more today). But it cost's much more to make a digital print from existing elements. Any studio will weigh what it costs to make a "print" (either film or video) against the potential for return, i.e. profit, and that will determine if they will go through the expense of supplying an exhibitor with either format. Chances are, if they are not willing to spend the money to strike a 35mm print because there are not enough art houses that will book it, then it is almost certain that they will not go the even more expensive route of mastering a digital print. At least for now, the number of art theatres that are equipped with digital are few, which means that the digital print has even less of an earning potential than a 35mm release print, makine the chances of them accomodating a request for a digital print even less likely. An arthouse would probably have a better chance of getting the license for playing a Blu-Ray version than the studio shipping them a hard-drive of a classic title. But like I said, POLAR EXPRESS was a digital release so if WB won't let you play it in digital, then you'll have to chalk it up to just another one of those Alice in Wonderland decisions that are part of our delightful industry. What's the objection to playing it in 35mm?  |  IP: Logged Chase Taylor Expert Film Handler Posts: 175 From: Troy, Alabama, USA Registered: Mar 2001 posted 11-10-2008 12:36 PM                        The 35MM prints have probably been run 4,000 times by a 16 year old with no experience, I know a digital print will look great. I hope someone knows what to do, there has got to be a way? Chase  |  IP: Logged Brad Miller Administrator Posts: 17775 From: Plano, TX (36.2 miles NW of Rockwall) Registered: May 99 posted 11-10-2008 12:45 PM                     If the movie was released to theaters previously then the effort to make a digital "print" is fairly inexpensive, as the files only need to be transferred to a hard drive and a key created.  |  IP: Logged Steve Guttag We forgot the crackers Gromit!!! Posts: 12814 From: Annapolis, MD Registered: Dec 1999 posted 11-10-2008 12:47 PM                     The again, the question is...where does the studio store the digital files and how big a pain is it to transfer those files to a shipable disc? On the other hand, they have 35mm prints struck for worldwide distribution...it is a mere matter of pulling one and sending it out. It already exists. This is not the case for a digital version...they don't keep hard drives with pre-existing titles on them store away...perhaps they should. Steve  |  IP: Logged Bobby Henderson "Ask me about Trajan." Posts: 10973 From: Lawton, OK, USA Registered: Apr 2001 posted 11-10-2008 01:55 PM                     Portable hard discs for D-cinema purposes are used repeatedly to store different movies, so there's not going to be lots of hard discs just laying around with one movie on them tucked away in some facility somewhere. It would make sense for movie distributors to keep back up copies of movies in JPEG2000 d-cinema format so they don't have to go back to the original uncompressed digital intermediate masters to re-encode a new JPEG2000 dub. I have no idea if they're doing that already or not. Any recent movie is going to have a lot of archival digital data for various uses, including HD and SD home video uses.  |  IP: Logged Scott Norwood Film God Posts: 8146 From: Boston, MA. USA (1774.21 miles northeast of Dallas) Registered: Jun 99 posted 11-10-2008 02:30 PM                        Was Polar Express released for 2K DLP or 1.3K? If the latter, maybe there isn't enough demand to justify going back to the original scan and re-encoding it for 2K.  |  IP: Logged Chase Taylor Expert Film Handler Posts: 175 From: Troy, Alabama, USA Registered: Mar 2001 posted 11-10-2008 02:40 PM                        2004 2K  |  IP: Logged Martin McCaffery Film God Posts: 2481 From: Montgomery, AL Registered: Jun 99 posted 11-10-2008 04:17 PM                        Variety had an article a year or so ago reporting that digital masters were showing signs of degradation after less than 9 months. It may just be that the studios made no plans (we know they are so foresighted) for rep releases of digital. Or they are just lazy or lying;>  |  IP: Logged Joe Tommassello Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 547 From: Coatesville, PA, USA Registered: Jan 2008 posted 11-11-2008 02:35 PM                  Anyone run the digital "print" of "Adventures of Robin Hood"? I am wondering how it looked. They debuted it at Arclight Cinerama Dome in September of 2003. They really should digitize the old classic 3-D films of the 50s. I know there was a thread about it a while back but they REALLY ought to do that. "House of Wax" in 3-D would likely be a nice moneymaker considering how inexpensive it would be to distribute.  |  IP: Logged Darryl Spicer Film God Posts: 3250 From: Lexington, KY, USA Registered: Dec 2000 posted 11-11-2008 03:01 PM                    Actually it would cost more than it would be worth just to digitally render it over to 3-D.  |  IP: Logged Martin McCaffery Film God Posts: 2481 From: Montgomery, AL Registered: Jun 99 posted 11-11-2008 03:26 PM                        For what it is worth, I saw House of Wax in interlock 3D last week at the Michigan Theatre in Ann Arbor. Looked fantastic. Only a little dirt and flawlessly presented.  |  IP: Logged Joe Tommassello Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 547 From: Coatesville, PA, USA Registered: Jan 2008 posted 11-11-2008 03:46 PM                  quote: Darryl Spicer Actually it would cost more than it would be worth just to digitally render it over to 3-D. What needs to be rendered? It's already in 3-D.  |  IP: Logged Richard P. May Expert Film Handler Posts: 243 From: Los Angeles, CA Registered: Jan 2006 posted 11-12-2008 05:37 PM                     THE ADVENTURES OF ROBIN HOOD looks beautiful, either in digital or film printed from the digital file. The improved registration of the Technicolor negatives brings out a sharpness that could never before be seen due to printing limitations.  |  IP: Logged Fred Tucker Film Handler Posts: 90 From: Sugar Land, TX Registered: Sep 2007 posted 11-12-2008 06:53 PM                     Lets not forget that there was also a digital Polar Express 3D released in IMAX, last year.  |  IP: Logged

All times are Central (GMT -6:00)

This topic comprises 2 pages: 1  2

Printer-friendly view of this topic

Hop To: Select a Forum: Category: Operations -------------------- Digital Cinema Forum Film Handlers' Forum Large Format Forum Ground Level Feature Info, Trailer Attachments & REAL Credit Offsets Category: Community -------------------- Film-Yak Film Handlers' Movie Reviews The Afterlife Bob Maar's Joke-A-Thon Category: Classified -------------------- Equipment and Supplies Wanted/For Sale Help Wanted/Seeking Employment Category: System -------------------- Software Beta Testing Forum

The Film-Tech Forums are designed for various members related to the cinema industry to express their opinions, viewpoints and testimonials on various products, services and events based upon speculation, personal knowledge and factual information through use, therefore all views represented here allow no liability upon the publishers of this web site and the owners of said views assume no liability for any ill will resulting from these postings. The posts made here are for educational as well as entertainment purposes and as such anyone viewing this portion of the website must accept these views as statements of the author of that opinion and agrees to release the authors from any and all liability.