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Who decides which theaters get prints and which theaters get DCPs?


cole t parzenn

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And what factors into that decision? Most major productions still have prints made, it seems, but how many are made and where do they go?

 

For the US one has...

 

From a January 2014 article:

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End of film: Paramount first studio to stop distributing film prints
January 17, 2014|By Richard Verrier

In a historic step for Hollywood, Paramount Pictures has become the first major studio to stop releasing movies on film in the United States.

Paramount recently notified theater owners that the Will Ferrell comedy “Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues,” which opened in December, would be the last movie that would it would release on 35-millimeter film.

The studio’s Oscar-nominated film “The Wolf of Wall Street” from director Martin Scorsese is the first major studio film that was released all digitally, according to theater industry executives who were briefed on the plans but not authorized to speak about them.

 

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I had thought that places like India would continue to distribute film. But actually India has had a faster conversion to digital than the US. One reason is that the companies suppling the 'digital' systems, are making deals with the theater owners to have advertizing play before the films run, and they amortize the cost of installing the digital equipment with the advertizing sales.

 

But as for 'who gets Film prints'... they would be made relative to how many theaters in a market still require film, which these days, is a shrinking number world wide. There are articles on how some theaters which can't afford the switch to digital are closing down.

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I haven't run into a single theater in Los Angeles that is showing 35mm prints of new studio pictures. I did run into a small art house / 2nd run cinema in Santa Fe, NM showing 35mm prints, with pretty poor picture and sound.

 

Now that the majority of first run cinemas have digital projectors, it's a lot easier for the distributors to not make 35mm prints without pissing off a large number of exhibitors, and that adds up to a lot of cost savings in terms of shipping and making prints.

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There is alot of misinformation regarding the current state of 35mm release prints from the major studios. Let's clear that up a bit. 35mm Film prints ARE still being made. Here are some of the new films and places you can watch them. Yes, PARAMOUNT is still making film prints.

 

 

MOVIES:

 

These 35mm prints began showing opening weekend :

 

TNMT - TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES (Paramount) - 8/8/2014

TRANSFORMERS (Paramount) - 6/27/2014

GODZILLA 2014 (Warner Brothers)

DAWN OF THE PLANET OF THE APES (FOX)

TAMMY

DELIVER US FROM EVIL

HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON 2

SIN CITY 2 - 8/22/2014 (Dimension)

GET ON UP (Universal Studios)

MILLION DOLLAR ARM

THE FAULT IN OUR STARS

LUCY - 07/25/2014 (EuropaCorp)

MAGIC IN THE MOONLIGHT - 8/15/2014

EARTH TO ECHO

EDGE OF TOMORROW

 

VENUES:

Chicago - Gene Siskel Theater,Brew & View at the Vic Theatre, The Logan Theatre

Los Angeles -The GLENDALE GALAXY, PACIIFIC SHERMAN OAKS 5,

Madison., WI - Market Square multiplex Madison., WI

San Francisco,CA - The 4 Star

Cupertino, CA - the BlueLight Cupertino, CA

Leicester, MA - The Leicester Triple Drive-In

Atlanta, GA - The PLAZA Theater, Town Center Cinema

 

If you have a theater in your town showing 35mm prints, please add your input to this conversation.

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Hercules and Interstellar are other Paramount films with 35mm prints. Re: the latter, Paramount has apparently been calling theaters to see if they can still show 35mm or are willing to reinstall their projectors.

 

Here are some more from other studios that also got prints, or will. I'm probably missing a lot:

 

22 Jump Street

As Above, So Below

Blended

Captain America: The First Avenger

Dolphin Tale 2

The Equalizer

Guardians of the Galaxy

Heaven is for Real

If I Stay

Into the Storm

Jersey Boys

Maleficent

The Maze Runner

A Most Wanted Man

No Good Deed

Neighbors

Planes: Fire & Rescue

The Purge: Anarchy

Sex Tape

A Walk Among the Tombstones

When the Game Stands Tall

X-Men: Days of Future Past

 

Not in my town, but the AMC Factoria 8 in Bellevue, WA is 35mm on all screens.

Edited by Shawn Martin
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From a 2013 Boston Globe article : "The major US multiplex chains (Regal, AMC, Cinemark, and Carmike are the “big four,” with about 17,000 of the country’s 39,500 screens) have for the most part already converted their theaters. Says John Fithian, head of the industry trade group the National Association of Theatre Owners (NATO), “32,000 of the total screens in the US are now digitized.”

 

According to Variety , 75% of the screens globally are digital. Studios are helping to finance conversion in large markets foreign and domestic.

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Hercules and Interstellar are other Paramount films with 35mm prints. Re: the latter, Paramount has apparently been calling theaters to see if they can still show 35mm or are willing to reinstall their projectors.

 

The AMC Factoria 8 in Bellevue, WA is 35mm on all screens.

 

 

Thanks for that info, Shawn.

 

 

@George - Are ' The Castro' and 'Roxie' theaters still showing 35mm prints?

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I don't know about the Castro, but last I checked the Roxie was showing digital as well as 35mm capability. I've been to the annual SF Film Fest a couple of times, and the last few times there appears to be raster on the screen for the films I saw. A few years back I saw "Coriolanus" at The VIZ, and I'm pretty sure it was a 35mm print. *EDIT* which was odd, since the DVD appeared to have some artifacts on it when I watched it on the computer.

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If you own a theater, and have a private film vault, with either your own work, or prints you have purchased over the years...

 

from the wiki article on the Los Angeles "New Beverly" theater.

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In September 2014, seven years after acquiring the theater, Quentin Tarantino took over the programming duties. The cinema will continue showing double features from Tarantino´s 35 mm private collection.

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Further article:

 

http://www.laweekly.com/publicspectacle/2014/09/05/quentin-tarantino-on-his-new-role-running-the-shows-at-new-beverly-cinema

Edited by John E Clark
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Melbourne's IMAX theatre still shows 15/70mm prints occasionally, Interstellar will be shown as a print, but may be the last one ever.

 

The Astor shows 35 and 70mm prints regularly, mainly from it's own collection I suspect.

 

Melbourne Cinematheque shows plenty of archival 35mm prints sourced from all over the world, currently they are showing brand new prints of the Godfather trilogy, which I have heard some people claim to be the cultural highlight of the year - apparently Gordon Willis' cinematography looks more stunning than ever in a virgin film print, whole new layers and shades of brown being revealed! Wish I could make a screening.

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The way India fell off the 35mm print market is unprecedented.

 

35mm projectors were sold for as low as 900$. I was offered one from a multiplex and they said they will even store it for me. "Just buy it please, we don't see any use for them."

 

Except for few quality multiplex exhibitors who have 2K projection system, rest all are poor quality. and the worst part is people are okay watching that HD or 720P projections in smaller cities and don't seem to be bothered at all.

 

In this film digital war, Bollywood did not realise what hit it. The quality of films have suddenly tanked. There was a time around mid 2000s when our films, all being shot on 35 and digitally graded, were looking good, some were at par with west. Now we run the risk of turning into a video parlour industry.

 

wejust don't have the foresight or the sense to realise what does it take to shoot digitally - interns of additional crews and equipments. Its just like a low end TV shoot.

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Melbourne's IMAX theatre still shows 15/70mm prints occasionally, Interstellar will be shown as a print, but may be the last one ever.

 

The Astor shows 35 and 70mm prints regularly, mainly from it's own collection I suspect.

 

Melbourne Cinematheque shows plenty of archival 35mm prints sourced from all over the world, currently they are showing brand new prints of the Godfather trilogy, which I have heard some people claim to be the cultural highlight of the year - apparently Gordon Willis' cinematography looks more stunning than ever in a virgin film print, whole new layers and shades of brown being revealed! Wish I could make a screening.

 

No new IMAX films are being made???

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No new IMAX films are being made???

 

I don't know for sure, but this is what IMAX Melbourne say:

 

Not only does Interstellar feature the most ever footage shot using 15/70mm IMAX cameras for a feature film, but due to the film industries rapid conversion to digital projection formats, Interstellar will potentially be the last feature film ever to be projected on 15/70mm IMAX film.

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The way India fell off the 35mm print market is unprecedented.

 

35mm projectors were sold for as low as 900$. I was offered one from a multiplex and they said they will even store it for me. "Just buy it please, we don't see any use for them."

 

 

I was astonished as well. I was looking at digital conversions in the US last year, and then checked some 'large' international markets, and found that India was greater than the US at the time.

 

I suspect that what will happen is a licensed service will make projection prints, and then rent those out to theaters that don't convert.

 

But it looks like coversion will be the only way to be able to show films for most theaters.

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