Vancouver reels from 3-D movie screen scarcity

[SpongeG]

I've heard people who live downtown couldn't get into see avatar cause it was always sold out every weekend...

Vancouver reels from 3-D movie screen scarcity

By Marke Andrews, Vancouver SunMarch 26, 2010 2:08 AM

For the first time since the rebirth of 3-D movies, demand exceeds supply, and there aren't enough screens in Metro Vancouver to meet customer and studio thirst for the product.

With DreamWorks Animation today opening its new 3-D feature How to Train Your Dragon, and Warner Brothers slated to open Clash of the Titans next Friday, the studios are scrambling to find 3-D screens, which account for less than 10 per cent of the available screens in North America.

Even though the number of 3-D screens in Metro Vancouver increases monthly -- another one starts screening today, and four more will be available next month -- there aren't enough to meet the flow of product from Hollywood.

One reason for the squeeze is the box office performance of 3-D movies now playing in theatres.

Alice in Wonderland, a Disney picture that opened three weeks ago, and 20th Century Fox's Avatar, whose box office take since its Dec. 18 release is approaching $3 billion US, continue to draw good crowds.

On Wednesday, the Los Angeles Times reported that distributor Paramount Pictures threatened to withhold 2-D versions of How to Train Your Dragon from theatres that do not play the 3-D version. Such is the competition for 3-D screens.

In Metro Vancouver, with Festival Cinemas today opening the first 35mm 3-D screen in the city at the Fifth Avenue Cinemas, there are now 28 3-D screens operating. All but Fifth Avenue use digital 3-D projection.

Another four screens will convert to digital 3-D next month, though they won't help the crunch over the next eight days.

"I think this is only a problem for the next few weeks," said Leonard Schein, president of Festival Cinemas. "I don't think this will happen throughout the summer."

"I think the industry has been surprised a little bit at [how 3-D cinema] became so successful so quickly," said Pat Marshall, vice-president of communications and investor relations for Cineplex Entertainment.

" Avatar was a huge catalyst for a large audience seeing and experiencing 3-D. It brought people back into the theatre who may not have been there for a long time," Marshall said.

Right now, Cineplex has seven theatres containing multiple 3-D screens: Colossus in Langley has four, including a 3-D Imax theatre; Scotiabank in Vancouver and SilverCity Metropolis in Burnaby have three each; and SilverCity Riverport in Richmond, including Imax, SilverCity Coquitlam, Park & Tilford in North Vancouver, and Strawberry Hill in Surrey all have a pair. Another Cineplex theatre, Meadowtown in Pitt Meadows, has one.

Empire Studio 12 Guildford in Surrey has three screens and Empire Esplanade in North Vancouver has three. Festival's Park and Fifth Avenue, both in Vancouver, have one each, and Cinemark Tinseltown in Vancouver has one, bringing the Metro Vancouver total to 28.

For a big chain with hundreds of screens like Cineplex, the analog-to-digital conversion has an astronomical cost that has been paid by the chain, with the understanding that most of the cost will be absorbed by the studios and distributors once a Digital Cinema Implementation Partners (DCIP) agreement is in place in Canada. Such an agreement was recently reached in the United States (a third-party provider buys the equipment, and studios, which no longer have to create and ship film reels, pay a virtual print fee).

The chains have the resources for conversion, but the move can be intimidating for an independent exhibitor. Festival Cinemas spent $130,000 for the analog-to-digital conversion at the Park Theatre. The 35mm conversion at the Fifth Avenue is much less expensive because the theatre leases the equipment from Technicolor, paying the latter $2,000 for every film shown.

Schein believes the investment is worth it.

"I think it will pay for itself," said Schein. "The Park used to do quite well until the Canada Line construction, and then we lost a huge number of our audience. They never really came back until we showed Avatar in 3-D. Now Alice in Wonderland is doing as well as Avatar."

Dean Leland, vice-president of studio relations and media for Halifax-based chain Empire Theatres, agrees.

"It's a good investment," said Leland, whose chain just added a third 3-D screen at both its North Vancouver and downtown Vancouver theatres, bringing its total to six screens.

"We started with one screen at each site, added a second before Christmas, and just finished bringing it to three. We expect more 3-D films to come in the next 18 months, and we're well-positioned for that."

...

http://www.vancouversun.com/entertainmen...movie+screen+scarcity/2728209/story.html