With the world ‘going digital,’ it’s no surprise that over 2,000 movie theatres in the US are using digital projection technology.

A new system currently proposed by a consortium of the largest movie chains in the US “could give theater operators the flexibility to put a popular movie on an extra screen as quickly as the demand for it arises. At the same time, theater operators could boot out a surprise stinker and even book in for a day or two an art-house film with a small but devoted audience.”

Travis Reid, Chief Executive of Digital Cinema Implementation Partners said that the proposed digital delivery will allow for the most cost effective method for the theaters.

According to Darcy Antonellis of Warner Bros. the current ‘high-tech’ method of digital distribution is comprised of a system where the movie is “..copied onto hard drives and delivered by hand.. ” (a/k/a FedEx?) It’s hard to believe in 2007 this is the primary mode of distribution to the negligible number of theaters which are using digital projection.

But I can’t imagine why High-Def DVDs couldn’t be sent to them. I mean, really? Probably the fear of piracy has disallowed that option, however individually encrypted keys between the players and the discs themselves could provide some type of security, however it wouldn’t be foolproof by any means - another means could be on-demand authorization to play via a private network or even dial-up, who knows.

This new ‘on demand’ flexibility could allow for great options, especially at smaller theaters who can get one good showing a day, but has to keep running the same film 3 or more times the same day with a handful of viewers. Different films on those three other showing times could allow for increased selection, higher attendance per screening and maximize the seat capacity of every theatre - from 1 to 100 screens!

Source: Wired