On Satruday evening Cinedigm continued its ongoing effort to bring popular sporting events in 3D to North American movie theatres by broadcasting the NBA All-Star Saturday Night to more than 80 venues in the U.S. and Canada. Since this type of alternative content is all the rage these days I decided it was high time to check out what all the buzz was about. I’m quite happy I did.
Previous Cinedigm live 3D events were allegedly riddled with technical problems. At the Fedex BCS National Championship Game in January the transmission often flipped the left eye and right eye causing theatre patrons to instinctively rip their 3D glasses off so as not to become nauseas. There were tons of walkouts at theatres that chose to show the event.
I would have assumed that Valentine’s Day would have provided stiff competition for Cinedigm in attracting patrons to the event, but at the Mann Chinese 6 in Hollywood, almost every one of the 290 seats were occupied. Tickets for the event were a steep $20, though that didn’t seem to deter diehard NBA fans. In fact, it wasn’t hard to spot fans milling about in the parking lot of the Hollywood+Highland complex on their way into the theatre; they were the ones wearing their favorite team’s jerseys.
Fan Expectations
Though I’m not all that knowledgable about the NBA All-Star game, I was lucky enough to find a seat smack dab in the center of the theatre next to Bradley Bandara, a 24-year-old Portland Trailblazers fan. Bandara learned about the 3D livecast on SportsIllustrated.com and decided to drive the 40 miles from his home to attend. (Others I spoke with drove between 5 miles and 30 miles to get to the theatre). Bandara is such a huge fan of pro-basketball that he used to hold viewing parties of the All-Star Saturday Night festivities when he was in high school.
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