'Pirates' floats all boats
The Hollywood Reporter headline read:
'Pirates' raising flag of digital cinema community
The article marked another milestone for digital cinema, with "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End" the first feature to open on more than 1000 digital cinema screens domestically and 400 internationally. It might make you wonder: Is this digital broadside sinking color print film sales down to Davy Jones' locker?
Let me first acknowledge digital cinema is growing, and growing impressively. The number of worldwide digital cinema screens jumped 253% in 2006, from 848 to 2996 (Source: MPA, from Screen Digest). But digital is not the only element of cinema whose flag is on the rise.
There are more 1st run cinema screens:
- I estimate there were more than 84,000 1st run screens worldwide in 2006, 4% more than in 2005.
- The number of 1st run cinema screens is growing in all regions of the world. While growth is strongest in Asia (+14%), there is also growth in mature cinema markets like North America (+3%).
- The quality of the world's cinema infrastructure is on the rise. Of the world's 147,000 screens (Source: Screen Digest), 55% are now 1st run. In 2001, 46% were 1st run.
Even with the strong growth of digital cinema, this means there were more worldwide 1st run screens with film projectors in 2006 than there were in 2005.
And the releases continue to grow wider, as distributors look to fill those 1st run screens and keep the box office sailing. "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End" is just the biggest example of this. As of May, 2007, it was the widest release in history, opening on an estimated 29,000 screens worldwide. One year earlier, "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest" opened on something like 17,000 screens worldwide. That means the third 'Pirates' flick lit up more than 10,000 more film screens than its predecessor.
Obviously not every release is that big. But the average release width statistics are growing too.
What does this mean for film? We track the size of the color print film market worldwide, as well as the size of the exhibition market (how big the film market would be if there were no digital cinema). Both these markets continue to grow strongly. Even with the increase in digital cinema screens, the worldwide color print film market grew more than 7% in 2006 (the exhibition market grew 9%).
We know digital cinema will gradually take the place of film in theaters. But for now, a rising cinema tide is lifting all boats: box office, 1st run screens, digital cinema, and the color print film market. We are not yet "at world's end" for film.
- Dave Middleton
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