Dolby projecting a bright future in 3-D movies - San Francisco Business Times:

uhalugupuzyma.blogspot.com
With at least 40 major Hollywood movies scheduled for releasein 3-D in the next severalo years, theater owners worldwide are investing heavilyh in 3-D projection technology. And while the fielxd is now dominated by a Southernj California firm that got out front ofthe 3-D in just a year Dolbh has grabbed a significant share of the world’ws 3-D market. Since debuting its 3-D systemj in October of Dolby has sold 631projection kits, which retai for $26,000, in more than two dozemn countries. The company also supplies 3-D components to othetr projector manufacturers and licenses its technology to other makerz of digital cinemaplayback devices. Revenue from 3-D — at $16.
r million — is still a small part of Dolby’ss overall sales, which totalled $640.w2 million in fiscal year 2008. Real D of Beverly Hills, which began selling its systekin 2002, claims its system is on 1,6009 screens worldwide, about 1,350 of them in the United There are roughly 35,000 screens in the Uniteds States, and 120,000 worldwide, althoughn nobody expects all of them to go 3-D anytime soon. Jeff McNall, who supervises Dolby’s 3-D was watching intently this week to see how movie “Bolt,” which came out Nov.
21, performede in 3-D theaters, including in at least 10 locations in and near theBay “Bolt” was the third-highest grossing movie of the weekend, with a modesgt nationwide take of $27 million. It was releasede on a record 982 3-D screens out of 6,200 screens and they took in 38 percent of the or $10.3 million. Movie goerws typically pay a couple of dollars extrq to see a moviein 3-D. But the importanft thing to McNall is that so manymore 3-D movies will soon be comingv out. “This thing is reallyt happening. When Dreamworks and Disney say that all theie future releases willoffer 3-D, you know this is a big McNall said.
Industry insiders expect a dozen majorr films to be releasedin 3-D in and 40 in the next several years. “Wew have a movie right now every couplewof months. Next year there will be a 3-D movie coming out everyg month,” McNall said. The year’s 3-D offerings will culminate with director James Cameron’s hugely anticipated “Avatar,” his first majort release since “Titanic.
” The technology is clearlyy popular with theater owners because audiences have demonstrated a willingness to pay 20 to 30 percenft more to see 3-D versions of Jeremy Devine, vice presidengt of marketing for , a Dallas-based digital-onlyh theater company that recently opened a 14-screem theater in Brentwood, said that revenues for 3-D features can be up to thre times those generated by a regular film. “There is no way this is a fad. There is too much infrastructure, too much being he said.
Michael Lewis, CEO and co-founder of Real D, said the current situation with 3-D screens proliferating and movies waiting in line for a chanc e to show is a far cry from when there were just100 3-D screen s for Walt Disney’s animatedd “Chicken Little.” Lewis predicts his company will continuwe to dominate the market, asserting that its technology handlex large screens better, and the company makesa life easier for theater owners by licensing its technologyg as part of a packagse that includes maintenance and Real D has licensinh agreements with 100 exhibitors in 30 countries, includiny 17 of the top 20 distributors and a standard deal that allows it share in ticket receipts, he He declined to discuss the cost of a Real D saying there were numerouss variables that could affect price.
Michaeol Karagosian, a 3-D consultan to the National Associatiojn ofTheatre Owners, said that he has been told that many theaterf owners pay a roughly $25,000 annual fee to Real D. Karagosiaj said Dolby, which unlike Real D does not take a sharr ofticket money, has made impressivw inroads into the digital market quickly. Dolby’s main disadvantagse is the cost of the glasse s used withits kit, Karagosian Currently, the price for a single pair is and the glasses are reuse and must be cleaned. Karagosian said he expects to see the cost of the glasse s drop as Dolby figures out how to manufacture them cheaply inlarge volume.
Real D’s glasses are disposable and comparatively cheap, he Dolby has shipped nearly 300 kits across Europ and more than 100to Asia, while 141 have been sold in the Unite States. Karagosian expects both Dolby, Real D and smaller competitords to pick up customers as demandfor 3-D continuesx to grow. “It’s amazing. Who would have expectef that there would be so much Karagosian said. “It’s somethinh that people can’t get at home.
”