Items tagged with cinema
Disney may be putting the infamous axe to LucasArts video games, but that doesn't mean the company doesn't have big plans for another segment of the mythical universe. A new report suggests that Disney is going to produce a new Star Wars movie each year starting in 2015... until the world tires of them, and thus, this plan fails to make money. It's the very definition of "milking a franchise for all that it's worth," and there will certainly be those who oppose and those who support such a plan. At least for now, these new films will largely be spin-offs -- alternatives to the "core" movies that have come before. But one has to wonder how many ways you can spin Star Wars before fans become exhausted...
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Back in the day, cinemas would receive major motion pictures in the back of a truck, on reels. Kind of archaic, when you think about it. And while digital streaming has become something of an understood commodity in the consumer world, it still hasn't taken the theater industry by storm -- but that may be changing soon. Reportedly, the Digital Cinema Distribution Coalition has inked deals with Disney, Warner Bros., Universal, Lionsgate and Paramount Pictures to "provide each with theatrical digital-delivery services across North America." The DCDC was formed by AMC Theatres, Regal Entertainment Group, Cinemark Theatres, Universal Pictures and Warner Bros., and it has crafted a "satellite and...
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As a company who plans on relying on other companies to make a program work, there are usually a few necessary steps to take before telling the public about your scheduled program. The first of which would involve clearing your ideas with your partner companies. It'd pretty looney to expect partner companies to just go along with whatever you publish before you even check with them, but evidently that is exactly what MoviePass did last week. There was a report suggesting that an all-you-can-watch theater program was going to start in San Francisco, but now it appears that MoviePass didn't even bother to check with theaters in the area before speaking about the trial. The truth probably sits somewhere...
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Here's a thought: what if you could visit your local cinema as often as you like, seeing whatever films you like, for one flat monthly rate? It's fairly amazing that no one has thought of this idea on a huge scale yet, but that's all changing. MoviePass is being called the Netflix for theaters, and that's actually shaping up to be quite accurate. The service is launching as a limited trial this coming weekend in San Francisco, offering consumers the ability to pay $50/month for "unlimited" movie viewings at participating theaters. We say "unlimited," because much like "unlimited" data plans, there actually are a few limits you'd need to stick to. For one, you can only view one film per day. Second,...
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Earlier in the week, The Boston Globe reported that some cinemas were not using Sony's 4K projectors properly when showing 2D content, noting that the amount of light and color could be drastically reduced if a 3D projector were not tuned for 2D performance. Boy, that made Sony all kinds of angry. The company wasted no time responding to the report, publishing an official "Facts" letter refuting the claims. Sony Digital Cinema claims that the Boston Globe's information was wrong, and that the projector technology isn't to blame for any poor performance. The company claims that their projectors don't rapidly alternate two images, and if the lens is burned out, it can be swapped in just 20 minutes....
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Can't say it's surprising, but theater owners are getting ready for a battle when it comes to Video-on-Demand. For years now, movie theaters, movie makers, and DVD resellers have been growing increasingly wary over VoD. Why? Because the window of time between a cinema release and a VoD release has been shrinking, and all the while, movie ticket prices have been skyrocketing. It's nothing to spend over $15 per movie ticket in a major city these days, which is comical when you think that these tickets were far, far cheaper just a decade ago. What's changed? Technology, and instead of embracing it, movie theaters have pumped up ticket prices, kept popcorn prices laughably high, and resisted the...
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If we didn't know any better, we would assume that James Cameron, the guy who directed Avatar, Titanic, and loads of other mega-hits, was a paid spokesperson for 3D. Every place we turn, it's James talking good about 3D, with never a negative thing to say about the format. Without a doubt, James is the most prominent proponent of 3D, and even with the famed Roger Ebert saying that he "hates" 3D and thinks consumers should too, Cameron is plugging away. 3D HDTVs Pushed Hard at CES 2010 in Las Vegas At this point, it's pretty transparent. Basically, Cameron has now stated a a technology forum in South Korea that 3D will "will replace 2D as the standard, mainstream format for film, television and...
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A very interesting new report at the Wall Street Journal has thrown a huge assumption from 2009 in the face of itself. If you'll remember, many entertainment analysts said that consumers could be spending more time in front of the television (instead of at the box office) during 2009 as they struggled to curtail entertainment spending in the face of the recession. It all made sense--consumers looking to cut back would be likely to stay at home on a Friday night and watch something on ABC instead of shelling out $15 per ticket (in large cities, anyway) at the cinema. In fact, that's exactly what didn't happen. 2009 marked the first year since 2002 that U.S. consumers spent more money buying movie...
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It's a question worth asking, but the answer is still probably a couple of years out, at best. Will 3D finally make a lasting impression? Unless you've been living under a rock over the past year, you will have noticed that the movie industry, the consumer electronics industry and big time TV makers have all been pushing 3D with an almost comical amount of force. Just two or three years ago, most folks would laugh at you (or scoff at you, one) if you asked them if they'd be excited about watching a film at the local cinema in 3D. Mention the same question but with "TV" instead of "local cinema," and your pal may have requested that you see a doctor.It's rather amazing how marketing teams from...
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CyberLink Launches PowerCinema 6: Media Entertainment Center for the Home PC Taipei, Taiwan—November 13, 2008—CyberLink Corp. (5203.TW), an innovative solutions provider for the connected digital lifestyle, today launched CyberLink PowerCinema 6, a software solution that enables users to turn a home PC into a high-definition TV and multimedia entertainment center. PowerCinema 6 offers features for enjoying TV, photos, videos, music, movie DVDs, and radio. With scheduled TV recording, support for high-definition digital TV, and easy channel management, PowerCinema 6 lets users access HDTV programming directly on their PC."PowerCinema offers an all-in-one solution for enjoying TV, movie DVDs, music,...
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It looks like Dell is moving forward with its somewhat bizarre idea of pre-bundling movies starting at $25 a pop onto new systems. Dell's first foray into this new business model was a few weeks ago when you could order Iron Man pre-installed on a Dell system. Now that it has partnered with CinemaNow, the selection of titles grow. The press release is below...Dell Jump-Starts Digital Libraries with Pre-Installed Movies Powered by CinemaNowMovie Bundles include Spider-Man, The Matrix, and Children’s pack starting at $25Round Rock, Texas, October 23, 2008--Today Dell and CinemaNow teamed to provide a simple, economical way to jump-start a digital music library by pre-loading movie bundles on select...
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AMD wants to push the envelope of realism in interactive games with its new "Cinema 2.0 experience." Using its upcoming RV770 GPU as the engine driving the demonstration, AMD showed off "the fusion of dynamic real-time interactivity with convincing cinematic digital effects that appear to be real places and things captured on video." "With Cinema 2.0 you won't just play movies, you'll play in them. Imagine the ability to look around the environments in a sci-fi movie, put yourself in the driver's seat in a race scene, duck behind things and pop up to see what's going on in an intense firefight -- all of these things are possible with Cinema 2.0," said Charlie Boswell, director, Digital Media...
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Intel and CinemaNow Advance Burn-to-DVD Entertainment Experience with Intel(R) ViivTM Technology SANTA CLARA and MARINA DEL REY, Calif., Jan. 4, 2007 - Intel Corporation and CinemaNow, a leading Internet provider of downloadable videos, today announced a collaboration that will allow consumers using Intel technology-based media PCs, such as those with Intel(R) ViivTM technology, to legally download and record major motion picture movie content to blank DVD discs for playback on both the PC and consumer electronics devices, including most standard DVD players. Intel Viiv technology-based PCs currently provide consumers with the ability to view their movie content locally on the PC, sync it with...
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The Tech Report to a trip to a demonstration put on by Valve, spotlighting their latest collection of cinematic effects. The goal is to both simplify the coding process on the programmers side while adding to the realism of the end result. The Tech Report was their and offers a complete write up on the new effects, offering their impression on how this new techology will affect gaming in the future. "Some of the effects Valve has incorporated into the Source engine won't appear in games anytime soon, but color correction and film grain will. Both have acceptable performance with current hardware, and they'll be available to mod authors...
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