Mark Cuban buys Landmark Theater chain! (1 Viewer)

[Vickie_M]

This is wonderful news (I think).

http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/11.12/view.html?pg=3

Are you concerned about piracy in movie theaters?
Not one bit. If we can't compete with some guy sneaking a camera into the theater, or a blurry, encoded, postage stamp-sized file, then please - just shoot us.

 

[Michael St. Clair]

This was discussed at length at AVS a while back; I am a bit surprised nobody mentioned it here.

I really can't get too enthused over somebody who is anti-film though. HD filmmaking is wonderful for small budgets, but film done right is still the best quality medium out there.

 

[MattBu]

but film done right is still the best quality medium out there.

At this point. But Hi-Def digitally filmed movies are head and shoulder better than the movies filmed in the 80s and 70s. That might be a facet of the age of the prints but the saturation and depth in digitally filmed movies is incredible.

The predication of digitally filmed movies can only increase the quality of the movies which will be coming into existence. It's only a matter of time before everything is digital, why fight it?

 

[Kyle McKnight]

Ya, it was picked up on a month ago here, but not much discussion. http://www.hometheaterforum.com/htfo...k+AND+Theaters

 

[Jason Seaver]

I really can't get too enthused over somebody who is anti-film though.

I don't get the impression Cuban is "anti-film" as much as he sees real opportunities for digital. And I agree; as much as I like Landmark's theater at Kendall Square, I recognize that the physical cost of putting something on film or making prints can be a huge chunk of a movie's budget. Heck, there are something like 6 prints of Bubba Ho-Tep being shuttled from location to location because that's all the distributor could afford (and that's the only distributor who was willing to release it theatrically). Shooting digitally could give some films a much better chance to get made, and digital exhibition could give them a much better chance of being seen.

Digital's got a lot of problems at the high-end, mainstream multiplex places - I've stated my low opinion of DLP several times, and I can't see why exhibitors would want it unless the studios were paying for it - but it really can be a godsend at the other end of the budget spectrum.

 

[Michael St. Clair]

Jason,

I agree with you 100% about digital opening up some great opportunities for films with limited budget, especially in terms of distribution.

As long as Cuban doesn't rip out all the film projectors (or fire the only employees that know how to keep them looking their best), I say go for it.

Of course, at this point, since many big-studio films don't have digital distribution available, he can't rip out all the projectors.