Tag Archives: Metropolitan Opera

Opera Industry Voices Concern Over Movie Theatre Broadcasts

February 19, 2009

Many who know me are aware what a big opera buff I am. I’ve held a subscription to the Los Angeles Opera’s annual season for at least the past five years, and when I travel I make a point of trying to see an opera in each city I visit. But when CJ’s co-editor Patrick Von Sychovski forwarded me an article from last Friday’s New York Times about operas being screened in cinemas around the world I was a little ambivalent. Why did we need another article about how wonderful it is operas are reaching the masses through movie theatres? Especially the umpteenth article from the Times about the successful Metropolitan Opera program. We get it; opera is the new black, it’s the greatest thing to happen to movie theatres since the invention of the popcorn kernel. What more could we possibly learn about operas being shown in movie theatres?!

Apparently. . . quite a lot.

In fact, the article by Daniel J. Wakin’s article advanced the story of showing operas in cinemas quite a bit and went deeper than simply rehashing the successful program offered by the Met. Back in June of 2008, at Opera America’s annual conference of opera professionals, several managers and artists actually complained about the Met’s ongoing dalliance with streaming its performances into movie theatres. Wakin’s writes:

The dissenters say that the movement will lead to more conservative programming; that the voice will become subservient to appearance; that listeners will be trained to hear something electronic and lose an appreciation for a live experience.

Some worry that vocal training will change, de-emphasizing the ability to project, and that the Met’s effort is a deal with the Devil, because it will divert audiences from local opera houses to make the easier, cheaper trip to the mall.

Popularity: 33% [?]

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NYT Wakes Up To Alternative Content As Royal Opera House and Sony Reveal Plans

By Patrick von Sychowski

March 24, 2008

The New York times gets in on the non-film digital shows in cinemas (ODS? alternative content?) with the in-depth article: At Cineplexes, Sports, Opera, Maybe a Movie (with the tag line: ‘As ticket sales slow, theaters are turning to the Mets and the Met.’ - arf, arf!). Main message is, this is going mainstream for a range of events:

Simulcasts of the Metropolitan Opera over the last year helped turn the tide. National CineMedia, a competitor of Screenvision, said nearly 300,000 people attended screenings in 2007, which was the inaugural season; in 2008, simulcasts of Met performances in movie theaters are expected to draw upwards of a million people.The New York Mets could not have been happier with a simulcast last August at Ziegfeld Theater in New York, where a live organist and the team mascot led viewers in singalongs as though they were in the ballpark.“Tickets to watch the game in the theater sold out so quickly that we’re in talks to do a bunch more of them this summer,” said Dave Howard, executive vice president for business operations for the Mets.

Demonstrating amply that the winds are firmly in the alternative content sails, both Sony and London’s Royal Opera House announced that both are getting into the game. Sony smells an opportunity to become an alternative content distributor, according to the article Sony Enters Digital Contents Market in Japan:

First Sony will work with Human Design Co, distributing its musical “Metro ni Notte (Riding on the Metro)” in May. The musical was originally performed last year at Tokyo Metropolitan Art Space, and was a huge success. It was performed 13 times and all seats were taken on each live performance.Now in a digital format, the performance will be shown in 3 theaters in the Kanto area initially, and in more areas nationwide, targeting a larger audience than the total number at the live performances combined.

“We hope to appeal to the audience who could not see a live performance, and offer a real, vivid experience on a superior screen, and better access to the show,” says Tomihari.

The company will have to overcome the problem that digital cinema installations have been slow in Japan:

In Japan, 3 per cent, or 102, of 3,221 screens supported digital as of February. Tomihari said that this was the current target of the entertainment company.

However, Sony is also considering expanding its new business outside Japan. “The market for digital contents is larger abroad,” explains Tomihari. “As of last September, 4,869 of nearly 70,000 screens were equipped for digital contents. And this is the market we are aiming at.”

One such market, the United Kingdom, has just seen it’s most prestigious ‘content company’ (terrible term, but then this is the same industry where motion pictures are ‘properties’) announce itself in this space. Despite having been upstaged in the live digital cinema arena by New York’s Met, the Covent Garden Royal Opera house is fighting back by offering both live opera AND ballet this year. From The Telegraph’s Live opera and ballet to be shown at cinemas. For as little as £12 you will get a front row seat in any one of 60 UK cinemas:

The deal comes at the conclusion of almost five years of talks with performing unions to give singers and dancers extra payments for the recordings.

Covent Garden has signed contracts with two cinema chains in this country, Odeon, which has 106 cinemas, and Cityscreen Picturehouse, with 16.

A number of independent cinemas are also expected to sign up and separate deals have also been struck to show Covent Garden’s productions in Europe and America.

The opera house, which plans to film 14 productions a year, said the transmissions would be of the highest quality with High Definition digital technology and Surround Sound.

What is interesting here is that these will be shown both at Odeon and Picturehouse, who were previously exclusively affiliated with Glyndbourne and the Met. So the biggest change is not so much these events appearing in cinemas (that dates back to the thirties) but that the audience is now considered large enough to constitute that much needed critical mass. Roll on fat lady and the skinny ballerina!

Popularity: 42% [?]

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The Met Learns About Theatrical Windows

By J. Sperling Reich

February 26, 2008

There has been a lot of hoopla in the media of late about the success various opera companies have had beaming high definition simulcasts of their performances into cinemas. New York’s Metropolitan Opera can be credited with starting this trend in alternative content back in 2006 when they teamed up with National Cinemedia to launch the Met’s “Live in HD” series. When the 30 odd theaters broadcasting the operas live began to host sell out crowds, the exhibition industry sat up and took notice.

The concept proved so successful for the Met that opera houses around the world began to team up with alternative content companies to distribute their own performances to movie theatres throughout North America, Europe and parts of Asia. In December of 2007, the San Francisco Opera announced that they had reached an agreement with The Bigger Picture to distribute four productions from their current season to cinemas.

“Live in HD” was such a financial hit for the Met that they expanded the number of productions being simulcast from six to eight and the number of screens they appear in from 60 to 230. And if the Met’s general manager, Peter Gelb, had his way the simulcasts would reach an even wider audience on pay-per-view television. Last November Gelb announced the opera had reached a deal with In Demand Networks to offer the performances through on-deamand cable television 30 days after they are simulcast to theatres. For the Met, which under Gelb has been attempting to broaden its audience base through such opportunities, it seemed like a good idea at the time. Unfortunately, exhibitors didn’t agree.

Instead, theatre owners pitched such a fit that the Met had to cancel its plans to offer the performances on pay-per-view shortly before the broadcast of Gounod’s “Roméo et Juliette” on January 16th. In a small New York Times article published on January 24th, Gelb said:

“There was this real outcry from the movie theaters. We were not aware they were going to feel this way until we announced we were doing this.”

This seems a bit odd given the ongoing debate between the exhibition and distribution industries over the shrinking theatrical window; the time between the release of a motion picture in theatres and its subsequent release on DVD. Just last year at ShoWest, a theatre industry trade show , John Fithian, the head of the National Assn. of Theater Owners expressed some dismay over the fact that, according to Variety, the theatrical window had shrunk in 2006 to just over four months:

“We are concerned that there was a 10-day shortening overall - that’s more than we have seen in recent years. They [theatrical windows] are getting short enough it’s starting to get dangerous.”

It just goes to show that even with the success the Met had achieved with their simulcasts, it in no way made them experts in the exhibition space. It is probably safe to say that with this little misstep they have learned a valuable lesson about distributing content to movie theatres.

Popularity: 27% [?]

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Financials of Met Simulcasts Revealed

By J. Sperling Reich

February 1, 2008

It’s no secret that with the success of the Metropolitan Opera’s high definition simulcasts into movie theatres, first rate opera companies around the world have jumped on the alternative content bandwagon and struck deals to have their performances beamed to cinemas around the world. The San Francisco Opera recently announced a deal with Bigger Picture to broadcast certain performances to theatres and Emerging Pictures struck a deal to simulcast selected performances from La Scala to theatres in the United States.

Though the Met’s simulcasts had been seen by many in the exhibition industry as successful based on the sold out screenings, little was known about how much money was really being made, or lost, on the venture. That is until now.

In an Associated Press story which hit the wire on January 28th, the Met’s general manager, Peter Gelb, stated that each simulcast is costing around USD $1 million which includes the cost of satellite feeds, crew and equipment. Of course, on top of that the Met has to produce each opera production at upwards of USD $3 million. Gelb reports that by including revenues from anicllary sources such as DVD sales, the Met is hoping to “break even” on the HD simulcasts by the end of 2008.

What Gelb is not entirely clear about is whether the Met pays NCM Fathom a fee for each simulcast. A little known fact in the exhibition industry is that Fathom charges those broadcasting events into the theaters that are a part of their network. Some who have approached Fathom hoping to broadcast similar events report the company asks for a minimum of USD $100,000 up front. Fathom claims this is a promotional fee to help advertise the event in theaters during NCM’s preshow spots. Those broadcasting the event can collect a portion of the box office to help recoup their cost.

Whether the Met has to pay Fathom or not, their HD simulcasts are proving to be a huge hit at the box office. Their presentation of Charles Gounod’s “Romeo and Juliet” made USD $1.65 million during the weekend it was broadcast giving it an 11th place finish at the box office. And that’s just ticket sales, the Met is also garnering priceless marketing in countless news stories and the promotional spots running in movie theaters. As Gelb stated:

“We’re creating, basically, satellite opera houses. But the Met offers something you don’t get at a performance — cameras that show action behind the scenes and interviews in dressing rooms, the equivalent of going into the locker room of a sports team.”

Popularity: 24% [?]

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DDCinema Beams Opera To European Cinemas

By J. Sperling Reich

January 28, 2008

On Sunday January 27th, Distribution Digital Cinema (DDCinema), the joint venture between XDC, Qubo and Dynamic, jump started their operations by broadcasting a live performance of composer Arrigo Boito’s opera “Mefistofele” from the Teatro Massimo in Palermo, Italy to 19 screens located in Belgium, Germany, Italy, Spain, Switzerland, The Netherlands, and the United Kingdom.

There was no official word on attendance of “Mefistofele” at any of the European theatres or how much tickets cost, but the Teatro Massimo, one of the largest opera houses in the world at 3,500 seats, was sold out with patrons paying top dollar to attend the opening night of the of the season and the first performance of a new production of Boito’s only complete operatic work. The opera, originally based on Goethe’s Faust, was beamed to cinemas via satellite and presented in high-definition.

In an oddly worded press release Elena Rasori, Project Manager of DDCinema seemed quite pleased with the event:

“‘Mefistofele’ was really fine, the singers were excellent and the image quality was really nice and colourful. The lights were modified for the video shooting and the quality was top rate. There was also an introduction by Madleyn Monti of the main artists with short interviews, as well as the plot in English and Italian.”

DDCinema joins a growing number of digital cinema service companies and alternative content distributors delivering live opera and fine arts events to motion picture theatres. AccessIT recently announced they would be simulcasting performances of San Francisco Opera productions to theatres throughout the United States and National Cinemedia started the trend in 2006 by working with the Metropolitan Opera out of New York to do the same. DDCinema seems to be the first company focusing exclusively on broadcasting European events to European cinemas.

The DDCinema partnership was only announced in late December 2007 by the trio of companies as an alternative content distribution initiative. The company will specialize in distributing between 10 and 12 recorded fine arts events to movie theatres each year with a few live broadcasts in the mix. These days that seems to be either operas or ballets filmed in HD, though DDCinema hopes to expand their offerings to sporting events, stage products, concerts, documentaries and even television programs.

While it is nice to see opera making a resurgence amongst patrons, even if it’s at the local multiplex, for such programs to be sustainable on an ongoing basis DDCinema may have to broadcast to more than 19 screens. Presumably the number of screens on which such content will grow over time along with XDC’s install base and the adoption of digital cinema.

Popularity: 49% [?]

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Tutus and Popcorn Served Up In Australia

By J. Sperling Reich

December 12, 2007

Last Friday evening the Australian Film Commission, through their regional digital screen network (RDSN), beamed a performance of ‘The Nutcracker’ live via satellite from Sydney Opera House towns across the country including Port Augusta, South Australia; Yarram, Victoria; Devonport, Tasmania; Katherine, Northern Territory; Wagga Wagga, NSW; Singleton, WA; and Albany and Hervey Bay.

Free tickets for the event, which had been announced back in September, were completely sold out within hours of their being offered to the public. The Australian reported that some young girls attending the high definition broadcast actually dressed in their ballet tutus. I suppose that’s the same as young boys dressing up as wizards when they turn up at the theatre to catch the latest installment of the Harry Potter franchise.

Popularity: 14% [?]

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Ballet beamed by satellite in Oz

By Patrick von Sychowski

September 24, 2007

Cinema goers in remote part of Australia will soon be able to watch live ballet from the Sydney Opera house at their local multiplex. It is the latest in the snowballing alternative content market for cinemas that truly began with the Metropolitan Opera’s live transmissions worldwide. The article in the Sydney Morning Herald tell us about the event set for 7 December in the Tasmanian city of Devonport:

Devonport is one of eight regional centres - the others are Port Augusta, Yarram, Hervey Bay, Katherine, Wagga Wagga, Singleton and Albany - which will get the live feed using the Australian Film Commission’s [AFCs] Regional Digital Screen Network [RDSN]. The 7pm performance will also be broadcast live to an audience on the Opera House forecourt.

Announcing the broadcast yesterday, the Minister for Communications, Senator Helen Coonan, said: “This is the first time in Australia that digital cinema technology has been used to give regional audiences the opportunity to experience a live performance by one of Australia’s flagship arts companies on the big screen at the same time as an audience in a metropolitan area.”

Given that like many of these cultural event they are subsidized by tax payer money (though not the MET), it is only right that people from all over the country should have access to them. So if people can’t come to Sydney or one of the larger cities that the Australian Ballet tours to, the ballet comes to the large screen near them. In this case Wagga Wagga. A similar thing has happened in Sweden - another sparsely populated country - where the Royal Dramatic Theatre will send a transmission of its latest Strindberg production live to digitally equipped cinemas in smaller villages in the outback later this year.

Australia’s RDSN has come under criticism because unlike the UK Film Council’s DSN it is not set up to comply with Hollywood’s digital cinema requirements, so it is interesting to see it finding use for spreading culture even other than those of Australian and independent films in digital.

Popularity: 13% [?]

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