Digital Film Switch by Hollywood Could Signal End Of Historic Community Movie Theaters

[MattBaggins]

5. I am going to go ahead and disagree with the entire premise

I think digital will save and help indy theaters and film makers to thrive. Let the big chains mess with the really expensive digital systems that Hollywood is pushing and the indy and small theaters can still go digital and high resolution with less expensive DLP or other projection methods. It doesn't have to cost quite as much as they want to push.

In NY we are actually seeing a revival of drive ins that are mom and pop operations with bigger screens and full crisp DLP projectors. We have students who use the same type of cheap projectors and laptops to show movies on the sides of buildings in the summer. The ready availability of the cameras and projectors is actually helping a lot of film makers and small theaters to survive. People in my area flock to the drive ins during the summer just for the fun of hanging out with some friends and a few good movies.

What is killing a large portion of small theaters is us. Most people it seems want to watch the latest Michael Bay explosionpalooza crapfest rather than really good storytelling. There is also the fact that people can now sit at home and download, even indy films, and watch them on their own 80 inch 1080i/p 3D tv sets.

Indy movies and theaters can survive it they make movies that tell a good story and if the theaters can make them feel like a small community event and not just a movie.