Is Film the End of the Road for Small Cinemas?

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Hollywood's major studios are in the final days of distributing movies on film reels and moving to digital distribution sent via hard drives or satellite, a method that is cheaper for studios but requires significant investment by theaters in new equipment. The conversion means small theaters could fade out for good.

Major US cinema chains have converted essentially all of their screens to digital distribution over the past several years, many using Wall Street-financed programs that allowed studios to shoulder some of the expense in anticipation of the switch. But those programs favored theaters with reliable credit and required upfront expenses for theater owners like projection-booth renovations costs that many small theaters, however important to their communities, couldn't afford. About 87% of the 5,762 theaters in the U.S. are now digital, according to the National Association of Theatre Owners. The remaining 13% is mostly made up of one-screen independents, in rural communities with no multiplexes for miles. More than half of the approximately 600 drive-in theater screens in the country have converted so far, according to the United Drive-In Theatre Owners Association.


Is Film the End of the Road for Small Cinemas?