Spielberg, Nolan Among Directors Who Have Serious Concerns About LED Screens in Movie Theaters

[The NZA]

source

 

There's a radical idea being proposed about the future of cinema that's being debated this week in Las Vegas: putting LED screens (effectively large video walls) in theaters as a replacement for projection, which is how movies have been shown since the birth of the art form.

"It’s a very interesting debate right now," National Association of Theatre Owners head John Fithian said Tuesday during a press conference at CinemaCon. "We had a meeting last week with the Global Federation. It was informative, the range of attitudes."

 

Fithian said that some seasoned filmmakers, including Steven Spielberg, Christopher Nolan and Michael Apted, "just went after us. 'You have to have projection. … Don’t just go the way of just being television.' Voices are coming at us from all sides."

[Keth]

I mean... They are just projecting it from a computer now anyways.

[Mr. Hakujin]

On 4/27/2018 at 5:12 PM, Axels said:

I mean... They are just projecting it from a computer now anyways.

Not all theaters are at this point yet though..or are they? Nah. Can't be. Can it? *googles*

 

Okay, I found this very cool article about the history of film, as in cinema and physical film,;it even has a size chart comparing all the different film sizes! (Nerd alert!) 

Anyway, the short answer is most big chain theaters show films with digital projectors. Some theaters still have non-digital projectors and these are mainly the smaller, local cinemas. But you still have special "70MM" showings that are popping up from film die-hard supporters like Tarantino, Nolan, & PT Anderson.

 

I'd have to honestly see a comparison in person to know if there is a difference in seeing a projection versus an LED screen at that size. Personally, I like the look of film, but when I saw Hateful 8 in 70mm at a special screening I didn't catch any noticeable differences between that and a digital projector other than it was a bit grainier than what I was used to seeing. 

 

Honestly, if the look on the giant LED screen isn't different than a projector I'm not sure I'd care one way or the other what type of screen it was on. The size of the screen along with the whole social and communal aspect of going to the cinema should keep people coming in to theaters.