35mm Film In Theaters – Fall 2012

 

By Nicholas Sheffo

 

 

It may seem like an odd thing to address, but it is no secret that, for better or worse, Hollywood studios are changing playback of films in movie theaters from film to HD projection.  This is not necessarily a great thing overall, but it is happening.  By the end of the year, 35mm prints of new films, even when they are shot on film, will no longer be made.  35mm prints previously made might be available, but don’t expect that too much.

 

Films will still be shot on film as well as HD, but also by next year, Kodak will be the only company making 35mm and 65mm/70mm film stocks to shoot as Fuji (who only had 20% of the world market top begin with) is ceasing motion picture film production at the end of 2012 save one stock for archiving films shot on film and/or HD.  70mm prints will also still be made, which has been a special venue matter to begin with (think IMAX, OMNIMAX and the few theaters that show 70mm worldwide), plus older films prints in great condition (especially those in three-strip, dye-transfer Technicolor, other color stocks that hold up and black and white with silver content that makes their black real black) will be more valued than ever and harder to screen.

 

For the studios, an average 35mm print would cost $15,000 for one film, but the new digital version is only $1,500!!!  That’s a 90% savings and no need to break down and recycle the physical materials of the print, so you see why they are so anxious to convert and avoid those expenses, but many theaters have lame older projectors and a report states that 20% of movie theaters in the U.S. (including drive-ins) face closure because they do not have the money to get digital projection.  Some theaters and drive-ins have both kinds of projectors, but know that the places that close are likely to be single-screen theaters that would show the better films, so the public pays a price beyond money when we loose great, fun places to see films.  Losing more drive-ins and single-screen theaters is never a good thing.

 

So what dopes this mean for you?  Well, quality projection im HD is at best, as good as an average film print, so it is better than a cheap “tissue paper” print that wears out after a week (like old slasher films), but not unlike the introduction of sound to filmmaking in the late 1920s, it is a step backwards for the presentation and quality of what you will pay to see and already, bad digital projection combined with bad (even amazingly idiotic) big budget films have given us some of the worst box-office since 2001.

 

We can only hope Hollywood will stop thinking it is still the 1980s and start coming up with new fun franchise ideas and more original smaller films, because all this remaking, remaking too soon, recycling, sequels, prequels and sequels & prequels to remakes has made production so generic, it is like a series of bad TV movies and audiences have finally caught on.

 

When the hits of the summer are CG animated releases, superhero films, a stripper movie and comedy about a foul-mouthed teddy bear as everything else bombs (as good as most of those releases actually were), it is time for new thinking in Hollywood, especially when the technical transitions going on are already not helping matters.