Getting Starry-Eyed Over Digital By Michael Stroud
Story location:
http://www.wired.com/news/digiwood/0,1412,51743,00.html
02:00 AM Apr. 13, 2002 PT
LAS VEGAS -- Star Wars: Attack of the Clones might just as easily be named "Star Wars: Attack of the Digital Cinema Projector Manufacturers."
Barco NV and Christie Digital Systems -- the two companies that dominate the nascent market for filmless projectors displaying movies in digital clarity -- are scrambling before the movie launches May 16 to at least double the number of the $130,000-plus machines they have deployed around the world.
Their goal: to jump-start a market for digital projectors that Star Wars creator George Lucas has said he hopes to see soon in thousands of theaters.
Industry sources expect about 50 new theaters will install digital projectors over the next five weeks, bringing the total number to about 100. "There are more demands for projectors than we can logistically support," said Michael Mooney, Christie's director of digital cinema.
And Harry Mathias, Barco's director of digital cinema for the United States, says he is "booked solid" with projector orders between now and when Star Wars rolls out.
If Star Wars were to ignite demand, he's ready to ship thousands more. "The amount of money we're talking about is the amount of money dot-coms use up in second-round financing," Mathias said.
Both companies, which declined to reveal numbers of orders or customers, have been touting their products at the National Association of Broadcasters meeting underway in Las Vegas.
The first part may be easy. Julian Bond, executive vice president for digital exhibition and special projects at Star Wars distributor 20th Century Fox, says digital versions of the studio's current animated release, Ice Age, have been a big hit in theaters.
"In cases where screens (for Ice Age) were playing side by side, in just about every case, the digital (version) outperformed the other," he said.
That performance was boosted by newspaper ads touting the digital versions.
Consumers, Bond noted, have been primed for digital cinema by their experience with DVDs and CDs. "They associate digital with quality," he said.
Now the question is how many theaters will step up to the plate.
So far, only a minuscule number of theaters have done so. The 100 theaters with digital projectors expected to be in place by Star Wars' release compares with 30,000 in the United States alone equipped with conventional projectors.
What's needed is a big theater chain to invest in digital cinema.
Enthusiasts for the technology think they have the right person in billionaire Phillip Anschutz, who couldn't be reached for comment. He controls 5,800 screens at United Artists Theatres, Regal Cinemas and Edwards Theatres, making him the most powerful exhibitor in the country. He also happens to be the largest shareholder in Qwest Communications, whose fiber optic network spans more than 104,000 miles globally.
For the past year, speculation has been rife among digital cinema buffs that Anschutz wants to install digital projectors at some of his theaters and use Qwest's fiber to download digital product directly from studios to theaters.
Such a plan, one industry executive contends, would be "the perfect use for all that excess broadband capacity he has right now."