Talk About Digital Cinema

Dan McGrath
Executive Vice President
Cineplex Entertainment

Dan McGrath

On the importance of the pre-show

The pre-show is absolutely critical to the guest experience. With big movies especially, people are sitting in their seats upwards of a half hour before show time and the key goal for us is to have an entertaining pre-show that is also profitable for us as a company. It requires the right balance - enough advertising so we're making money - but a show that is also entertaining and engaging on screen for our customers to enjoy while they are waiting for the show to start.

Our current pre-show digital projectors deliver very good image quality now, with full screen coverage, but once we have the DLP 2K projectors installed, we'll have more light output and a crisper, clearer picture, but the content of the show will remain the same. It really enhances the overall experience.

On working with the Kodak pre-show system.

When we were first looking at providers for a digital pre-show solution, Kodak came to the table and they were the most cost-effective and the quickest to market. Every installation has happened on time and on budget. In terms of distribution of content, it gets there when it's supposed to get there and it's accurate. We've had absolutely no issues at all with the whole Kodak experience. Kodak delivered what they said they would deliver with no surprises.

On his issues and concerns around digital cinema

It's our intention to convert sooner rather than later. We want to move quickly enough to have everyone's attention and to be able to obtain the equipment. But, we don't want to go so quickly that we're jumping the gun, getting too far ahead of the curve, before there's a change in technology, a change in delivery, or a change in the business model.

On the beneficial impact of digital.

The industry's business model today is based on the physical limitations of film. It's very difficult to move movie prints around quickly, so right now, we're pulling something off the screen after a couple of weeks because it's not doing enough business to support having its own screen.

When digital comes along, the ability will be there to change movies very quickly. So what's to say, in a 16-screen complex, that we won't be able to dedicate two auditoriums to running four different movies a day, on each screen? There's no reason we won't be able to do that, so we can actually extend the life of a movie - run a movie right up until the day before the DVD comes out -- while still being able to play all the wide releases.

We will want to do other things with those screens as well and we have a major focus on alternative programming. The bottom line is that the conversion to digital projection will be an 'industry transforming event'. It will change the business model, far beyond what most people expect. It's going to take everyone a little while to get their heads around that.

On the importance of partnerships.

We very much value partnerships. Let's use Kodak as an example. Kodak has been a great partner for us in the digital space. It's important for us to work with a partner we can trust and whose technology can tie into our existing digital pre-show. We don't want to have several different kinds of servers, which could involve potentially building two different networks and having them sit on top of each other. That doesn't make a whole lot of sense.

As we look to move further into the digital realm, we've got to make a decision on projectors and we've got to make a decision on a theatre management system. We took away any manual involvement - when we installed the Kodak system for our pre-show.

On service providers.

We outsource all of our service, and to the extent that we could use the same people and the same companies in the future that we use today, that would make sense because we know them, they've trained on our systems.

Obviously, there will be a period of time when we have digital projectors, digital pre-show projectors, 35mm film projectors, all in the same complex. We don't want to have three different service companies coming in to look after them. I would rather use one service company where, if there is something to be fixed on the digital projector, they can do that, but if there is something to fix on the film projector, they can do that while they are there, as well. Maybe that's an ideal world, but that's what we're shooting for.

The future of the business.

Watching a movie at home is easy, but people need to socialize, they want to interact with other people, in a public environment, and I think cinema will be around for a very long time for that reason.

But we really feel that our business should be a lot more than showing movies; it's about being a full entertainment destination. Movies will always be the catalyst, they'll drive our business, but we can't sit back and say we'll just be an exhibition company. We need and want to be so much more than that.

The reality is - our business is changing and we have to change as well. We have to continue to provide an experience that's better than you can get at home; we have to continue to create experiences that get people out of the house -- and digital will help us do that.