Thought some of you Star Wars fans might want this info:
Funding can't be secured for the 2,000 digital screens on which George Lucas hoped to release the next Star Wars film.
By Vincent Rowe
The digital takeover of film and broadcast is a little behind schedule. George Lucas hoped that up to 2,000 digital screens might be ready for his release of Star Wars: Episode II -- Attack of the Clones, but it looks like the number will be scaled back to a paltry 20.
The film is scheduled for a May 16 release and was shot entirely in digital video. The screen conversion to digital lags behind mostly because there's still no uniform set of engineering standards for digital cinema systems. Also, exhibitors have had to worry about finances with a dozen circuits filing for bankruptcy reorganization mostly because the large chains overbuilt venues.
It will cost many millions of dollars to fund the screen conversion, and nobody is likely to ante-up in the near future. Clone's distributor, 20th Century Fox, won't, nor are any of the nation's cash-strapped exhibitors likely to do so. Hopeful service providers for digital theaters, like Technicolor, Boeing and Kodak, have been approached by Fox and Lucasfilm, but so far no funding deal has been reached and no digital equipment has been ordered.
I read it here, but saw it in Variety a couple of days ago as well.
Funding can't be secured for the 2,000 digital screens on which George Lucas hoped to release the next Star Wars film.
By Vincent Rowe
The digital takeover of film and broadcast is a little behind schedule. George Lucas hoped that up to 2,000 digital screens might be ready for his release of Star Wars: Episode II -- Attack of the Clones, but it looks like the number will be scaled back to a paltry 20.
The film is scheduled for a May 16 release and was shot entirely in digital video. The screen conversion to digital lags behind mostly because there's still no uniform set of engineering standards for digital cinema systems. Also, exhibitors have had to worry about finances with a dozen circuits filing for bankruptcy reorganization mostly because the large chains overbuilt venues.
It will cost many millions of dollars to fund the screen conversion, and nobody is likely to ante-up in the near future. Clone's distributor, 20th Century Fox, won't, nor are any of the nation's cash-strapped exhibitors likely to do so. Hopeful service providers for digital theaters, like Technicolor, Boeing and Kodak, have been approached by Fox and Lucasfilm, but so far no funding deal has been reached and no digital equipment has been ordered.
I read it here, but saw it in Variety a couple of days ago as well.
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