In a companion “Theatrical Trends from CinemaCon” article I described some of the trends I saw after my first morning at CinemaCon 2017. These trends remain valid, and are fully explored in the articles in this report, but upon completion of the event, other trends emerged as well. These included:
- LED video walls for cinema screens
- A new urgency to develop HDR solutions
- Expanding PLF options
- Cinema transformation
The clear buzz of the show was around the invite-only demos that Samsung was doing at the Orleans Hotel and Casio regarding the new cinema screen. This is an LED-based video wall solution that will compete toe-to-toe on price and performance with RGB laser projection. Screens of 4K and 8K are planned with a 500 cd/m² (146 FL) peak luminance, wide color gamut beyond P3 and high dynamic range. It sent shock waves through the event, surprising Sony who had also brought along their LED video wall known as Cledis. Sony was thinking an LED videowall solution for cinema was 5-10 years off – not any more.
In HDR, we were surprised to hear that 50 screens are now being branded as HDR by a company called Ymagis working to develop an HDR mastering and certification process with a company called Éclair. Currently, these use Sony lamp-based SXRD projectors as these have a sequential contrast of 8000:1. But Éclair says their minimum spec for HDR is 5000:1. This was in fact being demonstrated by new RGB laser high contrast projectors from Christie and Barco, so they could be candidates in the future.
But there is no standard for HDR in a cinema. And, now with the emergence of LED video walls with HDR capability, I suspect we will see a new urgency to develop something around HDR from bodies like SMPTE and DCI.
The Premium Large Format (PLF) segment of the market is only around 2600 screens today but some, like Barco, expect that to grow to 10K screens soon. Established players like IMAX and Dolby Cinema have lots of orders for more theaters. All these PLF branded theaters share a theme of focusing of top video and audio quality, premium seating and concierge service and a thoroughly design auditorium for a premium experience. But give the growth potential (and likely higher margins) these PLF options offer, others are jumping on this bandwagon too.
For example, RealD has a small installed base of their Luxe PLF Theater. These will now be rebranded as RealD cinema and will expand to include high contrast projectors, their Ultimate screen, premium audio, designed theater and concierge service.
GDC, working with Samsung and Harman, will establish their JetReel line of PLF cinemas. These will have the full treatment and feature 8K resolution cinema screens from Samsung.
Ymagis/Eclair also introduced the “Sphera” concept which encompasses the EclairColor components with theater design requiring 4K resolution projectors, 3D projection, wall-to-wall screens and specified audio solutions based on Dolby Atmos. It also specifies luxury seating, light absorbing wall treatments and even includes the ability to fill the theater with 360-degree images for advertising and other effects. The concept extends to the lobby as well to include a bar.
I also want to re-emphasize that cinemas are transforming rapidly from popcorn-movie venues to entertainment centers. The latest round of investment has focused on premium seats, improved concessions and dining options. The next rounds of investment seem poised to look to transform the lobby into an entertainment center. This includes VR-based experiences, but also a transformation from static signage for movies and advertising to dynamic digital signage. All of the features of the maturing digital signage market will be deployed include targeted advertising, merchandising and more. All this, including the VR experiences, are designed to create a destination so attendees will be there longer, buy more stuff and attend more movies.
This trend is getting more urgent as all the major studios, perhaps with the exception of Disney, are now getting serious about shortening the theatrical window from 90 days. This is likely to hurt exhibitor revenue, hence the need to make the above investments.
But, like in the transition from film to digital where the Virtual Print Fee (VPF) model was developed to funnel money saved by the studios to the exhibitors, revenue sharing options are on the table if the theatrical window is indeed shortened.
CinemaCon was very exciting this year with lots of moving parts. Hope you enjoy the full coverage in LDM and the coverage of VR in MDM. – CC
