How hard is it to find success with alternative content? The answer is; very. So many variables have to fall perfectly in place to find success, much less profit. No matter whether it’s sports, concerts or cultural events, there are rights clearances to obtain, theaters to secure and screenings to promote. None of this is easy, though there are a number of companies that have managed to make a name for themselves in alt. content by routinely producing high profile events including, Arts Alliance Media (AAM), Cinedigm and Fathom Events.
So imagine my surprise when in late November I started to receive emails and phone calls informing me that AAM was getting out of the alt. content business. How could this possibly be? After all, I had just interviewed Elizabeth Draper, who heads up AAM’s alt. content efforts, for a story on marketing such events in Boxoffice Magazine.
Rather than contribute to the rumor mill by posting such news with third party confirmation, I figured it would be best to go straight to the source by getting in touch with Howard Kiedaisch, AAM’s CEO. His email response sums up rather nicely not only AAM’s approach to alt. content, but also the company as a whole:
“Over the last three years AAM have released over 60 alternative content titles. Some have been very successful for our content and exhibition partners but in many cases have left little net contribution for AAM. Meanwhile, AAM’s VPF rollout business continues to grow nicely while our software has become a tremendous success with our recent deals. In looking at what to do going forward on the AC side, we have been reviewing our business model including both the revenue opportunity and the overhead requirements. Through that review we found it necessary to reduce the permanent staffing of the AC department at this time.
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Popularity: 2% [?]
After first being announced at CineEurope in Amsterdam last June, more details are emerging about the Direct From Broadway, an alternative content series aiming to bring musicals from The Great White Way to movie theaters around the world.
New York based Broadway Worldwide, whose production of the Broadway musical “Memphis” found success when it screened in U.S. and Canadian cinemas this past spring, is teaming up with Supervision Media out of the United Kingdom to bring at least four hit musicals to theaters. Along with “Memphis”, the series will feature “Jekyll& Hyde: The Musical” starring David Hasselhoff, “Putting It Together” with Carol Burnett performing Stephen Sondheim tunes and “Smokey Joe’s Cafe: The Songs of Leiber and Stoller”.
From what I can tell from the press release, Broadway Worldwide is the production company behind each of the HD titles and SuperVision Media will be acting as the distributor. SuperVision Media is no stranger to theatrical alternative content. They recently screened Wimbledon in 3D and is in the process of rolling out Michael Flatley’s “Lord of the Dance 3D”.
NCM Fathom distributed “Memphis” in North America back in April and now SuperVision Media will bring the musical to cinemas throughout the rest of the world, starting with the U.K. and Ireland on November 24th. The title will move on to South Africa, Hong Kong and other European countries before the year is out, and then travel to Latin America, Australia and New Zealand in March of 2012.
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Popularity: 1% [?]
Over the past week Apollo Cinemas has decided that more is… well, more. The United Kingdom’s sixth largest exhibition chain is partnering with Sony Digital Cinema to bring more 3D alternative content to its customers and they have selected Vista Cinema Software to increase their overall operational effectiveness.
Apollo launched the More campaign to offer content from partners such as The Royal Opera House, Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre and the English National Opera. Performances will be offered in what is being described as “super high definition live 3D” using Sony’s 4K projectors. The circuit is also planning to show sporting events such as rugby, football and tennis, as well as concerts and music festivals.
Apollo has held their first live 3D event earlier this month when pop star Avril Lavigne debuted her new album at the chain’s cinema in London’s Piccadilly Circus. Lavigne was on-hand for a question and answer session after the video screening. In March, Apollo will be showing a 3D film version of the opera “Carmen”. The George Bizet opera was filmed during performances at the Royal Opera House.
The deal seems somewhat inevitable since Apollo signed up with Sony as their digital cinema deployment entity in 2009. The theatre chain’s press release didn’t specifically detail how Sony was enabling them to bring 3D alternative content into their theatres beyond providing the equipment that makes it all possible. In fact, Nicole Oakley, Marketing Manager at Apollo Cinemas said just that:
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Queen Elizabeth Watching Coronatin In 3D
When I first heard that Prince William and his longtime girlfriend Kate Middleton had become engaged to be married I certainly never thought I’d be writing anything here about their wedding. But when it was announced that the couple wanted their royal wedding to be a “people’s event” rumors soon began to circulate that the ceremony would be broadcast in 3D.
The BBC, Sky TV and Virgin are reportedly in discussions to capture the event live in 3D when it takes place in Westminster Abbey on April 29, 2011.
This wouldn’t be the first time the British Royals were filmed in 3D. In November of last year Channel 4 aired unseen color footage of Queen Elizabeth’s 1953 coronation which had recently been discovered in the archives of the British Film Institute.
But don’t get too excited. As Jana Bennett, director of BBC Vision clarified in the Daily Mail, despite all the interest in 3D, no plans have been solidified yet:
“We are already planning with the other broadcasters so I know about the 3D thing as well. That is obviously of some interest but our responsibility is to bring things everybody can see on air and 3D has a very limited footprint.”
It is highly likely that limited “footprint” will include cinemas capable of screening a broadcast in 3D, which makes the story appropriate for an entry on Celluloid Junkie. Besides, who could resist posting a photo of the Queen of England wearing those snazzy 3D glasses?
Popularity: 5% [?]
After turning the New York Metropolitan Opera into a poster child for alternative content over the past five years, NCM Fathom is hoping to have the same success with the Los Angeles Philharmonic. Starting in January of next year Fathom will broadcast three L.A. Phil performances to upwards of 450 theatres throughout North America.
Each concert will be broadcast on Sunday afternoons when attendance at many cinemas is presumably lower than it is on Friday and Saturday evenings. It should be noted however, that the 2:00 pm start time on the west coast may actually eat into primetime showings on the east coast where it is three hours earlier later.
The first concert is set for January 9, 2011 and will feature compositions by John Adams and Leonard Bernstein, as well as Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7. Selections from Tchaikovsky’s Shakespearean work will be presented on March 13, 2011 with the final concert on June 5, 2011 highlighting Brahms’ Symphony No. 4 and Double Concerto. Each program will be conducted by the L.A. Phil’s Music Director Gustavo Dudamel.
Dudamel is the 29-year-old Venezuelan conducting prodigy is often hailed as a rock star of sorts in the classical music world. His image has been plastered around Los Angeles ever since he took over as the L.A. Phil’s music director in September of 2009. No doubt it is Dudamel’s charismatic and energetic presence was a factor in the L.A. Phil’s decision to broadcast the concerts.
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Popularity: 2% [?]
MTV is partnering with Cinema Events and Arts Alliance Media (AAM) to bring their popular concert series “World Stage” to movie theatres throughout Europe. The first screening will feature the award winning rock band Green Day performing a show from their recent 21st Century Breakdown tour.
Fans of Green Day will be able to see the concert in 150 theatres across 14 European countries starting on November 15th in Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Denmark, Germany, Ireland, Luxembourg, Malta, Portugal, Serbia and the United Kingdom. France and Spain will screen the concert on November 25th and December 2nd respectively. Additional theatres and countries may be added as the screening date nears.
The 80-minute concert was filmed by MTV at the Olympia Halle in Munich, Germany in November 2009 and will be shown in cinemas with high-definition and surround sound. Tickets can be purchased at http://greenday.mtv.com.
Popularity: 2% [?]
This past Sunday Cinedigm, a leading North American digital cinema deployment entity, achieved another live event milestone and I was there to witness it first hand. As we reported back in June, Cinedigm partnered with Sensio Technologies to bring the FIFA World Cup Final live and in 3D to theatres throughout the United States and Canada.
Event Details
At the time there was some uncertainty as to how many theatres were to show the FIFA World Cup matches and where they would be located. In total 25 FIFA World Cup matches were shown live in 3D at 475 venues in 33 different countries accounting for 4,500 screenings.
Cinedigm was given permission directly from FIFA to show the matches at 15 locations and theatres in Arizona, California, Florida, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Ontario Texas and Virginia were selected. Another 15 locations were allocated to NCM Fathom.
Originally Cinedigm intended to show both the semi-final matches as well as the championship game, which pitted Spain against The Netherlands. Instead they chose to hold screenings only for Sunday’s final in order to have one marquee event. The feed for the event was supplied by ESPN, which was capturing the match in 3D for its new 3D network.
From what I was told ESPN wasn’t too pleased about the final being broadcast in cinemas.
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Popularity: 4% [?]
If you’re into heavy metal music then you’ll be happy to hear that some of the world’s biggest head banging bands will be playing live at a theatre near you. On Tuesday, June 22nd, Metallica, Slayer, Megadeth and Anthrax, otherwise known as the Big Four of heavy metal music, will be sharing the stage at the Sonisphere Festival in Sofia, Bulgaria and will broadcast their concert in high-definition to cinemas in 40 countries.
New York based By Experience is the company producing the event which as been dubbed The Big Four. In press announcements promoting the concerts Metallica’s outspoken drummer Lars Ulrich talked about what he felt was a historic moment in rock music:
“Who would have thought that more than 25 years after its inception, thrash metal’s big four would not only still be around and more popular than ever, but will now play together for the first time.”
The live cinema event will be four hours long, which on a Tuesday night shouldn’t pose a problem for most theatres showing the broadcast. In the United States, NCM Fathom is distributing the concert which will be shown in theatres not only on June 22nd, but also at an encore performance on June 24th in specific locations. Tickets are already on sale for USD $18 at a list of theatres eight pages long.
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Popularity: 12% [?]
Last week Cinedigm announced a partnership with Sensio that will allow them to bring the FIFA World Cup Soccer Tournament being held in South Africa this month to theatres all over the world. What’s more, the matches will be shown live and in 3D.
The press release sent around to promote the partnership was was pretty standard, but there was one sentence that raised a question for me:
“To kick things off, the companies will use Sensio’s technology and Cinedigm’s theatre technology design to bring select matches from this year’s FIFA World Cup Soccer Tournament in Live 3D to hundreds of theatres around the world.”
My curiosity wasn’t necessarily stirred over which of the matches would be shown, because the release goes on to mention they’ll start with the quarterfinals. Instead, I was left wondering what “Sensio’s technology” actually was and how Cinedigm, a leading North American digital cinema integrator, would utilize it to project a live broadcast of a World Cup Soccer game in 3D. The rest of the press release only served to make me even more inquisitive, especially upon reading:
“…Cinedigm’s extensive experience in bringing live 3D sporting events to U.S. theatres through Sensio 3D format and CineLive technology.”
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Popularity: 12% [?]
Emerging Pictures will be offering non-profit art houses an interesting way to make a few extra dollars this June. The company, which runs the largest digital alternative content theatre network in the United States, is making a special version of Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band’s concert film “London Calling: Live in Hyde Park” for special screenings.
Indie film theatres or community culture centers which have official 501-(c)(3) non-profit status will be able to screen the film for audiences up to three times between June 10th and June 21st in advance of the title’s DVD and Blu-Ray release on June 22nd, almost a year to the day that Springsteen performed the concert in London’s Hyde Park.
As a means of offering financial and promotional support for ongoing digital cinema programs, non-profit venues that show the 90 minute film will be allowed to keep 100% of the box office gross. Commercial cinemas are also invited to screen the Springsteen concert film after agreeing to donate box office receipts to The Danny Fund and the Melanoma Research Alliance. The fund was established in 2008 after E Street keyboardist Danny Federici passed away in 2008 due to skin melanoma.
Commenting on the benefit screenings Barry Rebo, co-founder of Emerging Pictures, said:
“With the warm weather just now coming on, it’s especially timely to warn folks about the dangers of the sun. For sheer joyousness, an outdoor Bruce Springstten & The E Street Band experience is perfection.” Read More »
Popularity: 12% [?]
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