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Caroline and Melanie basically took the information collected in recent days on the plane.
After listening to the suggestions of the two of them, Eric asked them to bring the materials, and the three of them discussed in depth.
As the North American film market has become more and more prosperous in recent years, in 1997, the total number of screens in major theaters in North America exceeded 36,000, an increase of almost 10,000 compared with ten years ago. The substantial increase in the number of screens will inevitably lead to market saturation. As well as various problems such as intensified competition, small theaters with weak strength have been annexed and integrated by several major theater giants.
So far, the top three theater chains in North America, Regal Entertainment, AMC and Cinemark, after years of expansion, have more than 14,000 screens with the highest commercial value in North America, becoming the three most competitive commercial theater groups in the United States. Although the number of screens owned by other small theaters, art theaters or local theaters still far exceeds the sum of these three theaters, these second- and third-tier theaters basically have problems such as remote location, outdated equipment, and insufficient film sources. various reasons.
If the Firefly Group, which wants to enter the theater industry, abandons the Big Three and initiates acquisitions of other small theaters, it may even be better to build a theater chain from scratch. Even the top three theater chains have more or less various problems due to over-expansion over the years. Although Regal Entertainment, which ranks first, has more than 7,000 screens, among the top three, On the contrary, the operating conditions are the worst, and there is even a risk of bankruptcy in the next few years.
On the surface, Regal Entertainment seems to be the best acquisition target for the Firefly Group, but if the Firefly Group really does this, it will embrace more than 7,000 screens distributed in prime locations in major cities in North America, and the entire Hollywood, and everyone outside the Firefly system The film company is probably going to be restless. For the other two, although the number of screens is around 3,000 to 4,000 yuan, if Firefly wants to get involved, it will still face anti-monopoly issues.
In the study, Melanie showed Eric a document and said, "Eric, look, the three major cinema entertainment groups all have several sub-brands, just like Regal Entertainment, its sub-brands There are three brands, Regal-Cinemas, Edwards-Theaters-UnitedArtistsTheaters. In fact, we can adopt this sub-brand penetration method and cooperate with one of the top three cinema chains. I think the best is Regal Entertainment. After completing another large merger and acquisition before, although the number of screens has expanded to more than 7,000, due to the rising debt ratio and chaotic theater management, it has been in a state of loss for the past two years. What we have to do is to learn from them The theater chain has selected a number of screening halls, and the Firefly Group has injected capital and held shares to transform it into a sub-brand dedicated to playing 3D movies."
The biggest reason why Eric hopes to enter the theater industry is to promote 3D movies in advance and find a new profit growth point for the Firefly system. On the other hand, he also hopes to lead the promotion process of 3D movies.
In the past, the promotion process of 3D movies can only be described as chaos.
In the early stage of "Avatar", many Hollywood blockbusters already had 3D versions. However, compared with the huge film market in North America, the sources of 3D movies can only be described as scarce. Without enough 3D film sources, the number of 3D screens in North America has been unable to develop. The insufficient number of 3D screens has also curbed the motivation of film companies to produce 3D versions of their films.
After "Avatar", driven by huge profits, several major film companies and theaters in North America began to swarm to produce 3D movies and rebuild 3D theaters.
This swarming trend has naturally caused the quality of 3D film sources and theater 3D projection systems to vary, and even most of the 3D film sources and 3D theaters are of very poor quality, which has caused audiences not to further accept 3D movies, but gradually once again developed an aversion to this film mode.
As long as the 3D film source and theater projection system meet the standards, the visual experience of 3D movies will definitely be very shocking. At the same time, it can also tend to re-enter movie theaters for audiences who are more and more inclined to watch movies on TV or online platforms.
What Eric wants to do now is to put the promotion of 3D movies on a healthy development track, instead of being overwhelmed by theaters and filmmakers who are overly pursuing profits with low-quality projection systems and rough conversion sources. This new form of film was gradually ruined.
After patiently discussing with Melanie and Caroline, Eric finally said, "Then, this sub-brand should be called RealD."
Both women showed puzzled eyes: "RealD?"
Eric nodded, RealD is actually the most popular 3D movie projection system in the original time and space.
For 3D movie projection, the biggest problem is usually the brightness.
Different from 2D movies, 3D movies will reduce the brightness of the movie at the same time in three aspects: 3D projector, big screen and 3D eyes. There is a special unit for movie screen brightness called FL (foot-Lamberts). For traditional 2D movies, the brightness can easily reach 14FL because there are not many attenuation factors. Only about 4.5FL left. In order to prolong the life of projector high-pressure xenon lamp bulbs, many theaters even deliberately reduce the brightness, which further reduces the brightness of 3D movies and gives the audience a dark feeling.
Faced with the chaotic situation in the 3D movie market, the later RealD company not only developed a special RealD projection system, but also introduced a set of special RealD certification standards. Below 6FL.
What Eric wants to do at this time is to establish a set of special 3D movie certification standards from the very beginning. For this reason, he also inquired about the status of the RealD company, but found that the company had not been established at all. In this case, Eric took the name over without hesitation.
"RealD, you can understand it as the meaning of real 3D." Faced with the doubts of the two women, Eric picked up the pencil next to him, wrote down the brand new word RealD in the blank space of the document in front of him, and continued: "Not only this Sub-brand, I hope that the 3D movie projection system developed in the digital field will also use this name. At the same time, we need to set a set of 3D movie playback standards in advance. In the future, if you want to get a copy of the Firefly system 3D movie, the relevant theaters must pass Certified to our standards."
After listening to Eric's words, Melanie nodded in a self-conscious manner, and said with a smile, "This is a good way."
She thought Eric did this mainly to monopolize the 3D movie market.
Caroline obviously thought that Eric was thinking this way, and there was also a guilty expression on his face as if he had done something bad.
However, Eric had no such intention in mind.
In the early stage of 3D movie promotion, as long as the quality of 3D movies and theater playback standards are well controlled, the Firefly system can naturally enjoy exclusive profits for a long time by virtue of its technology and theater resource advantages. However, in the extremely open film markets of Europe and the United States, other film companies will naturally follow up after seeing the benefits of Firefly.
Moreover, Eric does not want Firefly to monopolize the interests in this area all the time. If he eats alone for a long time, he will definitely lose his motivation to move forward. Introducing competition is the best option to keep the Firefly system alive for a long time.
Unknowingly discussing for several hours, when it was time for dinner, Eric kept his promise and went to prepare food for everyone in person, while Caroline and Melanie stayed in the study and continued to sort out the results of the three people's discussions. Eric After planning to get off the plane, discuss the detailed implementation plan with the group management in Los Angeles.
Not only is it from the 3D projection system to the RealD of the theater certification standard, Eric also discussed with the two women a plan called '4200'. Eric hopes that in the next two to three years, Firefly Group will build 2,000 standard-certified 3D screens in North America and overseas. This is 4,000 of the '4200'. As for 200, it is another IMAX theater project.
At present, there are a total of 54 IMAX screens in North America, which are basically distributed in museums or science and technology museums in major cities. Moreover, the number of IMAX screens worldwide does not exceed 100.
Two years ago, after watching an IMAX documentary at the Museum of Natural History in New York, Eric contacted the Canadian IMAX company, urging them to speed up the technological development of ordinary 35mm films converted to IMAX films. Before that, the length of IMAX films It has always been limited to about forty or fifty minutes.
According to the information that Caroline and Melanie obtained from IMAX a few days ago, by next year at the latest, the DMR (Digital Remastered) technology that IMAX has been developing will be able to convert normal-length movies into IMAX films. .
Since "Gravity" is going to be produced, Eric will naturally not miss the IMAX screening that can maximize the visual charm of this space epic movie.
Therefore, while building 4,000 3D screens, Eric also plans to build 100 IMAX theaters in North America and overseas.
Finally, after the plane landed in London, Eric discussed the two plans of 'RealD' and '4200' with Firefly executives through video conference at the residence of Kensington Garden Street in London. Wells and the others couldn't help but secretly stunned.
In Eric's plan, the RealD projection system that needs to be developed in the digital field must abandon the current stand-alone 3D projector and adopt a dual-machine 3D projection mode that can greatly increase brightness and reduce audience dizziness. This means that each 3D Auditorium renovations could end up costing $300,000. The renovation cost of a single auditorium is naturally not a big deal, but to reconstruct 4,000 3D auditoriums around the world, the total cost will be at least 1.2 billion US dollars, not to mention the later operating costs.
Similarly, 200 IMAX theaters were built from scratch, even at a cost of $2 million each, which is also an expense of $400 million.
Thinking about it this way, in order to promote 3D and IMAX, the total investment that Firefly Group needs to pay will definitely not be less than 1.6 billion US dollars, not to mention that the later operating costs are also huge.
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Moreover, Eric does not want Firefly to monopolize the interests in this area all the time. If he eats alone for a long time, he will definitely lose his motivation to move forward. Introducing competition is the best option to keep the Firefly system alive for a long time.
Unknowingly discussing for several hours, when it was time for dinner, Eric kept his promise and went to prepare food for everyone in person, while Caroline and Melanie stayed in the study and continued to sort out the results of the three people's discussions. Eric After planning to get off the plane, discuss the detailed implementation plan with the group management in Los Angeles.
Not only is it from the 3D projection system to the RealD of the theater certification standard, Eric also discussed with the two women a plan called '4200'. Eric hopes that in the next two to three years, Firefly Group will build 2,000 standard-certified 3D screens in North America and overseas. This is 4,000 of the '4200'. As for 200, it is another IMAX theater project.
At present, there are a total of 54 IMAX screens in North America, which are basically distributed in museums or science and technology museums in major cities. Moreover, the number of IMAX screens worldwide does not exceed 100.
Two years ago, after watching an IMAX documentary at the Museum of Natural History in New York, Eric contacted the Canadian IMAX company, urging them to speed up the technological development of ordinary 35mm films converted to IMAX films. Before that, the length of IMAX films It has always been limited to about forty or fifty minutes.
According to the information that Caroline and Melanie obtained from IMAX a few days ago, by next year at the latest, the DMR (Digital Remastered) technology that IMAX has been developing will be able to convert normal-length movies into IMAX films. .
Since "Gravity" is going to be produced, Eric will naturally not miss the IMAX screening that can maximize the visual charm of this space epic movie.
Therefore, while building 4,000 3D screens, Eric also plans to build 100 IMAX theaters in North America and overseas.
Finally, after the plane landed in London, Eric discussed the two plans of 'RealD' and '4200' with Firefly executives through video conference at the residence of Kensington Garden Street in London. Wells and the others couldn't help but secretly stunned.
In Eric's plan, the RealD projection system that needs to be developed in the digital field must abandon the current stand-alone 3D projector and adopt a dual-machine 3D projection mode that can greatly increase brightness and reduce audience dizziness. This means that each 3D Auditorium renovations could end up costing $300,000. The renovation cost of a single auditorium is naturally not a big deal, but to reconstruct 4,000 3D auditoriums around the world, the total cost will be at least 1.2 billion US dollars, not to mention the later operating costs.
Similarly, 200 IMAX theaters were built from scratch, even at a cost of $2 million each, which is also an expense of $400 million.
(To be continued.)