Digital Cinema Threatens to Pull the Curtain Down on Kodak

Kodak Logo

CNN today reports that Hollywood’s bright lights could dim on Eastman Kodak as movie outfits turn increasingly to digital movie-making.

Kodak has had glorious years – a century of monopoly – on film distribution in Hollywood, and that is quickly changing as movie studios, filmmakers and major theater chains are digitizing motion pictures.

For example, Access Integrated Technologies Inc. (AIXD), or AccessIT has converted about 88% of the movie screens in the U.S. that have switched to digital cinema thus far in a partnership with Christie DLP Cinema projectors.

Regal Entertainment Group (RGC), Cinemark USA and AMC Entertainment, representing 14,000 movie screens, joined forces earlier this year to create Digital Cinema Implementation Partners aiming to foster the expansion of digital cinema. The venture has gained the alliances of Warner Bros. Entertainment, a unit of Time Warner Inc.’s (TWX) and General Electric Corp.’s (GE) Universal Pictures.

Right now, only 9% of the 37,000 movie screens throughout the U.S. and Canada are digitized, but industry pundits predict that most theater chains will be digital by 2010.

[Via: CNN]

Published by Chris Malinao

Chris teaches Lightroom as workflow software to photography students at the FPPF, Federation of Philippine Photographers Foundation. He also teaches smartphone photography.