The Future of Cinema is Digital

A deal between Microsoft Corp. and Landmark Theatres Corp. to digitize all 53 of Landmark's theaters -- 10 of which are in the Bay Area of California-- will be a boon for independent filmmakers, for, although movie-goers won't notice much difference, the cost of distribution is cut dramatically.

Projecting a digital image instead of the light-through-celluloid method of traditional projectors eliminates the need to make costly prints for distribution. This allows more budgeting for production and marketing for independent filmmakers, whose work is the bread and butter of Landmark theaters.

Local filmmakers are pleased with the prospect of saving money on the distribution of their films. Prints cost more than $1,000 each; and more than 30 prints of an independent film circulate at once. They can be distributed straight from a server to the theater via a secure Internet connection, or on a DVD or removable hard drive.

"You can just send a digital file, a disk or a satellite connection," says San Francisco-based filmmaker and visual effects editor Scott Balcerek.

Los Angeles-based Landmark specializes in foreign and independent films, which are produced and promoted on a shoestring budget, compared with a typical Hollywood feature. Bert Manzari, Landmark's executive vice president, says that while retooling its theaters for digital projection does not save on costs to the theaters themselves, it's good for the industry as a whole.

"We're dealing with work that doesn't have the benefit of using big marketing blitzes," Manzari says. "Although Landmark doesn't see any savings per se, we can enable a greater distribution for these films."

Manzari declined to disclose the cost of outfitting its 177 screens to project digitally (without eliminating its traditional projectors), but says it will be "a lot less costly than the $100,000 [per theater] that's been quoted."

Erin Cullen, product manager with Microsoft's Windows Digital Media division, declined to discuss projection system costs.

But according to a Microsoft white paper, the Redmond-based software company's system doesn't cost much more than a required $2,500 computer and a $100 audio card. The white paper fails to factor in the cost of the projector, though, which can cost somewhere in the six-figure range.

Jack Nyblom, co-owner of Camera Cinemas, which operates theaters at five South Bay locations, is intrigued by Landmark's move. Like Landmark, Camera caters to independent and foreign films. But Nyblom is not ready to make the leap, though one theater in his Camera 7 location at the Pruneyard in San Jose is outfitted for digital.

"Right now we're using it for profiles of filmmakers," Nyblom says. "But as for the future, I don't know where it's going."

Landmark's Manzari declined to estimate when the Bay Area theaters -- located in San Francisco, Oakland, Berkeley and Albany, in addition to Palo Alto and Menlo Park -- would be ready for digital, saying only they would be finished by the end of the year.