Grand Theater by the numbers as digital movie delivery looms closer

Think about a $200,000 loan with monthly payments of $3,600 on top of what it already takes to operate the Grand Theater in downtown Du Quoin and you understand what Richie Baker is up against as film distributors go digital.

Unless somebody comes up with an answer by year's end, Du Quoin is building $800,000 worth of new downtown sidewalks that start in front of an empty theater.

The Grand Theater is a community asset but the numbers here are huge.

The numbers double when Baker starts thinking about the theater he owns in Fairfield.

Back in 1975 small town movie theaters were a slam dunk. AMC wasn't around to buy out Kerasotes Theaters and China wasn't buying 100 percent of AMC. Now, China owns 40 percent of the theater industry.

Companies like Sony are not only ditching the warmth of 35mm film copies sent out on reels to local theaters, but are building the digital projectors that play their own digital format you can't program into any other equipment.

Gone are the days where you found an auditorium or a white wall on a big parking lot, bought a ton of popcorn and a truckload of Coke cups, found some padded seats and projected first run movies from miles of 35 mm celluloid.

Digital is the way now, and while that makes life easier for distributors, the cost for small cinemas across the country could be enough to put a lot of them out of business.

At first, the announced end to movies on reels was August of 2012, then December, then June 2013 and now by the end of the year, believes Baker.

Major theater chains are already replacing 10-year-old digital equipment with new equipment, and Baker says he could borrow the money to buy older equipment. But, the problem is that it is still old equipment.

AMC owns only one theater still showing 35mm reels.

Baker says the sound and quality are really no better with digital.

There's no more shipping and lugging huge reels around. Cinephiles usually only quibble with digital's tone or lack of warmth-traits that are likely invisible to the average filmgoer.

You just have a $200,000 debt and can't pay the bills.

But while digital may be easier it threatens the livelihood of existing ones. Obtaining a 35-millimeter print to thread through those projectors isn't going to be easy very soon. For new releases, it's going to be almost impossible in only a year.

2014 is probably the drop-dead date for new 35mm content from the studios. Even showing reruns of the classics on 35 mm is a problem because the copies are getting rough and hard to come by.

If the cost burden is so great for a changeover that's designed to save the studios vast sums of money, why haven't the studios offered to help presenters upgrade their equipment to show the product they're providing? Well, they have-sort of. Distributors have developed something called a Virtual Print Fee that's meant to help theaters with the changeover by redistributing money that the studios are saving to fund the upgrade.

That sounds great in theory, but it's more complicated in practice, particularly for small independents and theaters that don't do as much first-run content. There are a lot of strings attached.

The gradual changeover to digital dominance doesn't necessarily spell death for celluloid. There are a lot of classic movie fans. But, the Grand Theater has always prided itself on getting first run movies.

Movie goers this past weekend enjoyed all of the first runs--the "Lone Ranger'. Grown-Ups 2 and others.

But what Du Quoin has to decide is whether the Grand Theater is a just a business--or something more--like the town's Kroger store or the Du Quoin State Fair.

If Du Quoin decides that it is, then the Grand Theater must be thought of as an asset--not a loan applicant. And even though it may go against a town's grain to capitalize private business. coming up with a digital makeover will cost less than losing a landmark.

Remember how much you miss Krogers?

Is the Grand Theater going to close? Richie Baker is struggling with his very limited options and there's no answer at this writing.