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January, 1997 49
theatres. It's the most cost-efficient system,
insists Schwenk: "For example, if Warner
Bros, runs 4,0(X) prints of 'Batman Forever,'
wiiich [the studio] did, all 4,000 can be done
on a single print run. You don't have to stop
and do 300 prints with a different [analog or
mono] track."
SDDS, already equipped in more than
2,600 screens in North America, could offer
the most attractive digital
system for the audiophile.
It features a
cross-redundancy format
in which the same
digital information is
contained on each side
of the film. If one side
is damaged, the backup
digital track takes its
place. More significantly,
the eight-channel
SDDS boasts two
additional channels of
sound. (However, the
system is also capable
of presenting films in
six channels.)
Dolby's
Both
Schwenk and DTS'
Kirchner contend that
the eight-channel advantage
is
not one at
tence overseas aren't
big enough to take advantage ofan eight-channel
system. As more multiplexes and
megaplexes appear on foreign soils, however,
Sony is betting that a big future lies ahead for
larger theatres built to house even more dazzhng
digital sound.
"[You're seeing more] gigantic megaplexes
and more stadium seating [woridwide], which is
going to lead to larger screens on different angles,"
says John A. Scarcella, president andCEO
of Sony Cinema Products. "Hght-channel capabihty
is going to be even more important as
the screen size gets larger. Also, with the
advances that home theatre systems have
made, the theatre owner is going to have to
recognize that he's going to have to do something
differently to get the person out of the
Uving room. Until you've Ustened to eightchannel
and compared it to something else,
you don't know how good it is."
All
all, because the vast
majority of screens
and theatres in exismovie
starts
that will play to some famous
sound score like 'Star Wars.'"
"Germany is probably our top country,"
Dolby's Schwenk adds. "The Germans want
to hear everything, and they're one of the
largest filmgoing audiences in Europe."
India, Southeast Asia and Latin America are
other areas cited as having potential for great
growth in terms of digital theatre sound sys-
ALL FOR ONE: The Kinepolis Group's new Le Chateau du Cinema
outside Lille, France, boasts DTS, Dolby SR-D and SDDS installations.
three companies agree that an audience
thirst is growing in foreign markets
for films with digital sound. Not
suiprisingly, given their top 10 status in the
world's movie markets, France and Germany
are viewed as countries with particularly great
appreciations for this format.
"France is the most advanced country in
Europe for sound and the moviegoing experience
in general," says Gemma Richardson,
vice president of worldwide marketing for
Sony Cinema Products. "They enjoy new, exciting
ways to see movies. In Paris and other
major cities,
they have laser shows before a
tems. Schwenk beheves a country's willingness
to embrace digital sound has less to do
with its overaD economic wealth and more to
do with how important it views movies as a
cultural value. Kirchner says DTS is doing
"extremely well" in India, for example; although
it's a relatively underdeveloped country,
India is known for its great love of movies.
Schwenk notes that more films are produced
in India than in Hollywood.
China represents another potentially lucrative
market for those involved in producing
digital theatre sound systems. In a proposition
that
mirrors the wishes of many exhibitors
stateside and their fellows abroad for a single
industry format, the Chinese government
plans to choose just one digital sound system
to implement in its theatres.
Kirchner says that in countries Uke Thailand
a new thirst for a more high-tech moviegoing
experience has led many theatres to move fiom
primitive mono sound directly to the digital
format. Digital might seem particularly well
suited to areas Uke Latin America and some
countries in Asia, where elaborately produced
action-adventure movies—the very genre that
most boldly exhibits digital's abihty to handle
"big-bang" sound—are the rage.
Of course, there are new theatres in foreign
markets that are opting for analog sound systems.
But Kirchner states that many of these
theatres are being built so that a digital system
can be implemented at a later date.
SDDS' Richardson says doing business in
most foreign markets is "surprisingly easy."
She points out that the theatre exhibition and
sonics segments of the international film
industry are relatively small in terms of the
number of key business players involved.
Richardson adds that many of the overseas
dealers with which Sony interacts speak
very good English.
One exception on the foreign scene, however,
is Latin America countries, where conducting
business can be problematic at times.
Sony has SDDS screens in Buenos Aires, Argentina,
Mexico City, Mexico, and in Colombia,
Brazil and Ecuador.
"It's pretty hard doing business [in Latin
America]," Richardson says, due to the
states of certain local economies. "You think
you're getting somewhere, but it's really all
talk. You always encounter some major
problem with legalities with shipping, or
some horrible tax that you have to pay....
[But] I wouldn't say it's dishonest.
'The standard of living is tough there, and
money is short," she says. "If you take into
consideration the devaluation of the peso since
digital sound has been around, [digital] has come
in at a very unstable time in Latin America."
Because
each film print can be tailored
to one, two or all of the digital sound
systems, securing the rights to topflight
movies is a key component to the success
of each digital sound company. DTS
jumped off to a fast start in North America
when it debuted with the blockbuster Universal
release "Jurassic Park," and the company
continues to lead the U.S. market in terms of
the number of digitally equipped screens in
operation.
DTS also has exclusive deals to
present all MGM-United Artists films and all
Universal titles in its digital format.
Sony Cinema Products handles Sony
movies (released via the studio's Columbia,
TriStar, Triumph and Sony Classics labels)
in SDDS and recendy signed a deal to provide
the digital sound for all Buena Vista
productions. Dolby Digital does not yet have
any exclusive film company deals, but that's
hardly stopped it from handling the digital
sound duties for a plethora of major and
independent films.
The digital sound marketplace is such a
complex one that it's unlikely any one format
will triumph anytime soon. DTS' Kirchner, for
example, believes the campaign to make digital
sound the accepted standard for theatres
around the globe is going to be a long oik for
DTS, Dolby and Sony
"We still have a fair amount of work to do
to make DTS a household word in each of
these countries," he says. "They've been
accustomed to listening to analog or mono
sound. Part of [converting them to digital]
involves having post-production equipment
available in each of these countries so they
can choose our [digital system]. We've actually
made a substantial amount of headway
in this area.
"It's going to take some years for the
entire world to get there," Kirchner says.
"But things are going to go digital. No question
about it."
H