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New IHS report claims studios are going all-digital by 2015.
There's nothing quite like the look of 35mm film. Unfortunately, the time has finally come for theaters to go full-on digital. Studios’ use of conventional 35mm prints “is projected to cease in the United States and other major markets by the end of next year, with global cutoff likely to happen by the end of 2015,” according to the latest IHS Screen Digest Cinema Intelligence Service report.
The firm notes that 51.5% of worldwide screens are now using digital projectors, an 82% increase from last year's numbers. Filmmaker Peter Jackson is currently lobbying to have theater owners upgrade their software to screen his upcoming 3D epic The Hobbit, which will need to play at 48 frames per second (twice the speed of a conventional film). Likewise, James Cameron's Avatar 2 will be shot at 60fps. By the end of 2011, an estimated 50,000 of the world’s 63,825 digital screens will be capable of being upgraded.
The same IHS report also notes that the shift from film to digital mostly stems from a substantial price hike in silver, a key element in producing film. Just this year, silver prices soared from $5 an ounce to about $25. Therefore, it's only a matter of time before we say goodbye to 35mm for good.
There's nothing quite like the look of 35mm film. Unfortunately, the time has finally come for theaters to go full-on digital. Studios’ use of conventional 35mm prints “is projected to cease in the United States and other major markets by the end of next year, with global cutoff likely to happen by the end of 2015,” according to the latest IHS Screen Digest Cinema Intelligence Service report.
The firm notes that 51.5% of worldwide screens are now using digital projectors, an 82% increase from last year's numbers. Filmmaker Peter Jackson is currently lobbying to have theater owners upgrade their software to screen his upcoming 3D epic The Hobbit, which will need to play at 48 frames per second (twice the speed of a conventional film). Likewise, James Cameron's Avatar 2 will be shot at 60fps. By the end of 2011, an estimated 50,000 of the world’s 63,825 digital screens will be capable of being upgraded.
The same IHS report also notes that the shift from film to digital mostly stems from a substantial price hike in silver, a key element in producing film. Just this year, silver prices soared from $5 an ounce to about $25. Therefore, it's only a matter of time before we say goodbye to 35mm for good.
