GALLERIA 14
Beckley’s Mega Plex Becomes Second in State with Digital Projection; Pullman on Line Later in June
By Tony RutherfordHuntington News Network Writer
Huntington, WV (HNN) – When the lights dim and the projector rolls, occasionally, something goes amiss in the theatre auditorium. Prior to automation, a projectionist stayed in the upstairs booth ensuring a smooth show. He also had to thread up the next reel, as 35mm films came in on six to nine 20 minute reels. The little white circle at the end of the reel told the projectionist to switch to the other unit.
As automation took over, the projectionist ceased to maintain a presence in the booth. Instead, about 24 hours prior to the new movie’s opening to the public, the projection team spliced together the movie reels onto a couple of spindles that bear some resemblance to an eight track tape player. Once assembled, the projectionist threads the film through the machine then after it passes through the projector, it curls up onto a large flat take up reel.
Each time the film goes through the aperture, it would deteriorate slightly. You’ve seen some of the results --- lines invading the frame, a sound bump, or maybe you’ve had the misfortune of watching a film ‘melt’ on screen due to a projector jam or for a film to break necessitating light up while the projectionist splices the movie back together.
Though the set up varies according to theatre, the so-called ‘platter’ system revolutionized film exhibition for the multi-plex / mega-plex where three, six, or 16 films run simultaneously.
All the splicing together to prepare a film for presentation has already changed at Marquee’s Galleria in Beckley, W.Va. The digital projectors have been installed.
“Beckley is 100% operational,” said Curtis McCall, president of Marquee Cinemas. He indicated that the only bugs were in “programming.”
Marquee plans to upgrade 153 of its screens to the digital format, which puts them on the cutting edge of the new technology. At present, their theatres in Lewisburg, Welch, and Summersville will not be upgraded.
Derek Hyman, president of the Greater Huntington Theatre Corp., anticipates, like McCall, that in the future, most cinemas will offer digital projection. “We’ll all go digital. It’s a better presentation,” Hyman said.
However, Hyman, who operates the first run Park Place Stadium Cinemas (Charleston) and Fountain Place (Logan), sees the conversion “making life so much easier for the [film] distributors,” who will no longer have to print thousands of reels of 35 mm for theatrical releases, ship them to theatres, then store or destroy them once the theatrical run ends.
With digital projection, the theatre simply downloads the movie which has a “nominal” cost, according to McCall.
Although some of the larger cities i.e. New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, have added 3-D digital projection of some films, neither McCall or Hyman foresees digital 3-D in the immediate future for West Virginia cinemas. But, Hyman suggested “3-D will help differentiate movie theatres from home theatres,” and, in the future, might be more viable.
Hyman believes that due to the profit surge from DVD sales that theatrical releases have become less important to the large studios. He explained that the theatrical release has evolved into “promotional” run” or an “kick off” advance package to hype DVD sales. However, the upside has been an increase in the number of films released. For instance, even during slow periods, the studios have been putting two or three pictures out weekly on ‘wide’ release.
One downside to the conversion: Cinemas in rural towns and second run and discount theatres may be hard pressed to justify the $75,000 to $100,000 per screen upgrade cost. And, as digital expands, eventually, the film companies will stop making 35mm film prints, rendering the old equipment obsolete.
Marquee operates a second run discount house at Crossroads Mall in Beckley that has not been scheduled for upgrading. Greater Huntington operates the Cinema on Fourth Avenue in Huntington which also shows discount films, as does the Mid Town Cinema 3 in Ashland, Ky.
Pullman 16 will be converted to digital projection June 25-28. The complex will remain open during the process with workers closing four auditoriums at a time for the installation.