“The potential loss of thousands of screens will only hasten the day when Hollywood doesn’t have to deal with those pesky exhibitors anymore.”
—Gary Susman, RollingStone.com, September 4th, 2013
Now on this third post, it’s become very clear to me that the digital conversion is old news. It was the talk of the industry before I became part of the business and even prior to my involvement with the Elks Theatre. And yet, we are likely one of hundreds of small town cinemas in the nation that didn’t get the memo early enough. And now we’re left behind.
Was this part of the plan?
I have accepted that cinema is an ever-evolving medium. But I never expected our heritage to be at stake. This post is not a podium for me to exclaim film is superior to digital, nor will I be stating the digital conversion (or DC) was a poor decision of the industry. As a society furthering itself in the Digital Revolution, the DC was the most obvious future for the way we exhibit motion pictures theatrically. But I never expected this: