Movie Distribution and Theatre Management

In this report is covered an information about new digital technology, its benefits and costs. The purpose of this report is to help theatre managers to decide whether there should be should made investment in this technology. There is detailed information given about what is digital technology and what is its purpose. Also recommendations based on the information given are provided. This report is going to cover information relating to movie distribution and theatre management.

It will be discussed in depth the problems raised – like duplication, distribution, degradation etc., and will be proposed appropriate solutions. As well will be described new emerging digital technology as one of solutions to movie distribution problems. It will be considered in details about the benefits, costs and problems arising from possible changeover to new digital technology. Further recommendations will be given to theatre managers for successful decision whether to changeover or keep using the same system. Additionally in this report will be provided draft invitation to tender to potential suppliers in order to get finest option for buying best and most cost-efficient technology available.

Identification of problems

Movie theatre managers come across many problems in relation to duplication and distribution. Making thousands of copies of films needed for wide release leads to a degradation in the quality of the copies, with each production of copy being worse than the previous duplicate. As well as each copy is shown, mechanical damage takes place and the copy’s quality is even more decreased. The existence of so many copies also poses a security hazard like piracy. It is possible to improve technology that is already used but it still would not overcome all problems completely.

Proposed solution for the problems listed above may be new digital technology. Digital Movie distribution is already set up in America’s cinemas contributing with largest movie companies like Disney and Warner Bros. “Digital distribution is the principle of providing digital information and content over the Internet in the form of products or services. ” (Landstrom, 2008) As it already used by other cinemas and movie companies there are more resources available for research its effectiveness.

Digital technology produces better quality copies of films and it stays the same with next duplicate as well. The distribution is easier as it can be sent via network. Security is more effective as there are less people involved in the copy production and distribution. Costs and Benefits “The average cost of a celluloid print is about 750, while a digital copy costs more like 125. ” (Times online) It is seen that new digital technology for movie theatres obviously will be more cost-effective.

Of course the new technology is very expensive, but setting it up will give benefits in long-run. It will save a lot of money to movie theatres and will bring more money from ticket sales as there will be less paid for the movie. On the other hand, setting up costs are very high, but as the cinemas will save money from using digital copies instead of celluloid prints, it will pay back in future even more. Using digital technology the films may be delivered either physically or through satellite. It is more time efficient as well.

There are less people involved in distributing the movies. It is better that way because it also reduces possibility of piracy and is more secure. It also will benefit cinemas using updated technology in context of competition. As if it will use old technology and the quality of movies will not be as good as in other place, the company will have losses in money terms and customers. Recommendations It would be recommended to theatre managers to obtain the new technology as the benefits are more likely to be cost-effective in the future and time efficient.

The security of the distribution and copies may improve as well. It is the future of the movies and cinemas. Most of cinemas already have this new technology and more are installed every day. The managers should look in the future of the company and it may be that if the new technology will not be installed, the money may be lost. As well there will be better cinemas around using the new technology and competitiveness will be too big. In order to provide consumers best quality, the managers should decide to buy the new technology.