David Hancock; Gives scene setter by providing statistics on digital deployments. Quality Screen Digest data as always. US and Christie dominate deployment, for obvious reasons. No mention of Norway. NORDIC won't be counted until 2H 2006.
Zhu Zhu (China): Perspective on D-Cinema deployment in China. 100 film studios, 260 features in China in 2005. BO was Euro 2bn. Overseas BO income 1.6bn Euro. 55 multiplexes with 272 screens built. Over 3500 smaller screens in countryside 34/149 mux/screens in first half 2006. Good joke about not rushing into China. At least not until you understand SARFT, CFGC, BIRTV. Next trailer of Chinese films. Lots of martial arts historical films but also some car racing. Average ticket price just Euro 0.10 but in big cities two to five Euros. US box office is 70x Chinas. Warner plans to have 170 screens by the end of 2007.
Milestones for d-cinema in China. Too many to re-type here. "Chyna" first all-digital end-to-end film (5 min long). 2006 China will build 1,500 digital small theatres. Barco 47 2K projectors in China. Has a deal in place for total of 100 with CFGC. CCTV have ordered two Dolby systems. China is thus one of the fastest growing digital cinema countries in the world. China has produced 52 digital movies, though she does not explain if she means DI, MPEG DCPs or J2K DCPs. Digital Movie mobile Playing System using MPEG4 developed. Montage Digital Player (Jindian Group). "Shops will sell digital cinema products." (???)
Kiran Reddy (India) - Sathyam Cinemas experience. 13,000 cinemas 26,000 owners. Hollywood BO is just 5 per cent. 450 e-cinema installations in India. 1st and only commercial D-Cinema installation in India. Barco, Christie, Qube and GDC used. RDX. "10,000 MTBF? Unlikely!". Lots of technology problems. Replacement parts an issue. They have played 11 Hollywood films to date. Some local content related issues. Brand and charge it as a premium experience. (10-15% higher ticket price). $85K plus 36 per cent in taxes. Operational cost $5000.
Talks about VPF, advertising and ODS. 3D content - "We hate silver screens." No one will watch cricket on big screen for five days. F1 will cannot compete with sold out films on Sunday night. E- and D-cinema not competing but there is threat that E-cinema might muscle into premium screening venue.
Michael Karagosian (USA) - MKPE. X-Men 2 $85m 1st week, X-Men 3 $120m, latter 51 less screens than former. So how do you explain the 50% bump? Interlocking! Nice PPT slide of articles about D-Cinema on the rise. BUT peak was last Sept when Carmike committed. Shows Technology adoption Currve from Geoffrey Moore's Crossing the Chasm. Maps D-Cinema adoption onto this. (I am very impressed already, and not just because Michael dedicated the presentation to me. So far I'm still breathing). Micheal sites the section from the DCI spec that it's up to each studio to decide whether to stick to it and in what way (John Birchell Hughes is nodding in agreement). Smart exhibitors are holding off. Lists what exhibitors want to see, apart from just lower cost.
Mentions National CineMedia. One to watch. 14,500 screens. With Cineplex 15,750, that's 40% of US cinema screens and two-third of US BO. NCM will be the Early Majority. Europe may be the Late Majority. Says manufacturers have more work to do. Business issues to be solved. NCM say it will take off in 2008.
(I'm still breathing!)
Nico Simon (Luxembourg and beyond) - Utopolis' (utopian?) perspective. 30 out 100 screens sigital with XDC. Luxembourg 10 screens 100% digital. Digital projectors don't fit into all projection booths. List of films and ODS. Word-of-mouth of football in HD grew audience for World Cup on big screen in Holland (or did he say France?). Didn't work in countries that didn't qualify for the games. Some European films. Says 2K is better than 35mm. Calls it "learning investment". Tech problems, Content problems and Cost problems. Keys were a problem. Seems like keys were not issued for all screens in a particular cinema. Cost problem is THE problem to solve. Calls for European Business Model. Everyone should pay a fair share.
I put a (slightly provocative) question to Nico about when he will upgrade to JPEG2000 so that Deluxe Digital Cinema Europe can start supplying him content from our clients. He replies, "when XDC upgrade to their next-generation hybrid server", which it looks like it will not be until 2007. It's a pitty, but I'm guessing that SPE won't supply him with "Casino Royal" and 20th Century Fox won't give him "Eragon". JBH retorts that the European market is fragmented and we need to take account of that.
Monk asks the panel if any regrets getting involved in digital cinema. No one regrets it.
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