It’s the end of an era. Hollywood is calling it quits on making film. Everything is entering the digital age.
“After over a hundred years, film is coming to an end,” said Napier Theatre owner Jeff Larson, who prides himself in having one of the few remaining film theatres in Alberta.
Hollywood studios recently decreed they would be severely cutting back the number of film prints they would be making. The announcement essentially forces theatres across North America, including Drumheller’s Napier Theatre, to make the switch to digital projectors.
It is expected the Napier will have a new digital projector ready in time for the summer blockbuster season.
“May is when they start releasing all the big blockbusters, like Iron Man 3, which we want to have opening week,” said Larson.
However, despite the change, Larson will keep his film projectors and collection of film reels. The projection booth will continue to house the projectors that Larson has lovingly laboured over for years and have shown thousands of movies will remain.
“This building is 60 years old and the projectors have been here the whole time. We are keeping our film equipment intact, so we will still be able to run film. Our projectors can also run 70 millimetre film and, as far as I know, we are the only theatre in Alberta and one of the few in Canada that can do that,” said Larson.
Napier Theatre owners Kathy (left) and Jeff Larson are making the switch to digital this spring, although for the two film buffs, the change signals the end of an era of film. For a hundred years, film prints have been used to show movies across North America.
The change, according to Larson, is so studios can save some money.
However, the switch to digital does offer some new opportunities for the Napier.
“It does give us an opportunity to do new things. You can plug a satellite dish or even a game console into it if people wanted to have an afternoon playing games on the big screen,” said Larson.
“All the Hollywood studios are changing over. It’s basically to cut costs. Your average film prints costs about $2,000 to make. Multiply that by thousands in just North America, and add shipping and storage costs, it adds up,” said Larson. “Unfortunately, they’re not passing the savings on to people, like us, who own the movie theatres.”
A new digital projector can cost roughly $50,000.
For those watching movies at the Napier, there should be no difference to quality,
“I still like watching film over digital. On film, unless you’re watching something that has never been run before, you’ll see imperfections like dust or scratches. With digital, it’s different, because it’s so clean and clear. But, the average person probably won’t see the difference,” said Larson.
Over the past five years, film prints have slowly been phased out of production. The result has been fewer prints for theatres to share. Often times this means small community theatres have to wait weeks before getting a copy of a new movie.
For the time being, residents are welcome to come to the Napier, enjoy a movie and popcorn, and have an authentic movie experience. Larson, always proud of his vintage projectors, is also happy to show them off to those interested.
“We just want people to keep coming to the shows. With community support, we can keep bringing in first-run shows,” said Larson.
