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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Michael Lynton at ShoWest 2010
The 2010 edition of ShoWest, the annual gathering of theatre owners and distributors, kicked off in Las Vegas earlier today with a keynote address from Michael Lynton. The Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Sony Pictures Entertainment had both junk and theatrical release windows on his mind, and not necessarily in that order.
After opening his remarks with some cheerleading over 2009′s record breaking box office returns, Lynton detailed why he believed the industry was doing so well in the midst of a deep recession:
“People battered by the recession see in movies reasonably priced escapism. It is the most affordable way to take a break, get out of the house, take the kids or get away from them and be transported to another world.”
Lynton pointed to the industry’s willingness and ability to change as being one of the prime factors for increased theatrical revenue over the past year. Despite economic, social and technologic challenges, he praised both exhibition and distribution’s willingness to find new ways to overcome challenges and prosper.
But Lynton wasn’t all smiles. He highlighted the increasing economic difficulties faced by studios this past year. At the height of the DVD boom in 2005 and 2006 57% of Sony’s revenues came from DVD rentals and another 43% came from DVD sell-through, but today, thanks in large part to the recession, that split is nearing a 75% – 25% split. Read More »
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