Mae West: Goin' Digital

Hollywood can't wait to go digital.
.
Studios look forward to the day when they can slash by 75% the $1.2 billion they spend each year to make film prints and ship them in bulky metal cans to and from theaters. With digital, they transmit encrypted signals to theaters via satellite or ship a small, reusable hard drive with the film preloaded.
.
"The studios have already said in principle that they will pay" for the digital equipment, says Bud Mayo, CEO of Access Integrated Technologies, a publicly traded firm that offers software and services to help theaters manage digital films and programming. "But the exhibitors have to have some skin in the game," such as by agreeing to cover maintenance costs for the equipment.
.
Bud Mayo, who expects the digital transition to be virtually complete by the end of 2008, is doing his part to move things along.
.
This month Bud Mayo installed digital projectors for five of the eight screens in a Brooklyn movie house he owns, a former vaudeville palace that headlined stars such as Jimmy Durante, Mae West, and Abbott & Costello.
.
Mayo will use his theater to showcase Access Integrated's software and services. "This is a disruptive technology, and the little guys often win in that market because they're single-minded," he says.
.
Others are less sure about the pace of transition.
"You're talking about a seven- to eight-year rollout or possibly longer," says Levin.
.
Studios may not be able to invest heavily on digital projectors. Their costs will probably rise as they have to simultaneously support digital and analog. . . .
- - excerpt from an article in USA Today - -
Digital film revolution poised to start rolling
By David Lieberman, USA TODAY
May 17, 2005