Close Up with David Prosser

Hello Exhibitors,

This is my first monthly blog and whilst January is traditionally a subdued month of the year there is nothing subdued about January 2013.

History

January was the first month that DCM delivered all cinema ads on a digital format. What an historic event when you remember for how long 35mm has been operating. I feel a bit nostalgic about the whole changeover, a bit like the passing of the steam train! We'll all think back with affection about the boys and girls stitching all those 35mm ads together day and night in readiness for delivery by the Friday screening. However, at the same time, 2013 marks the start of a very exciting time in cinema and DCM is now able to offer a raft of new possibilities to advertisers making cinema an even more attractive medium to them due to the increased flexibility and shorter booking and copy deadlines that digital brings. This week, DCM Close Up features a recent campaign for Nurofen that would not have been possible before digital.

Exhibitor News

Nearly all DCM Exhibitors have converted to digital. If you are an Exhibitor yet to convert don't forget to call us and keep us right up to date with your progress. We would be only too pleased to try and assist you wherever we can.

Geoff Greaves of Merlin Cinemas is getting close to completing the digital conversion of his whole estate and I'm really looking forward to seeing the finished refurbishment of the Redruth Theatre.

Peter and Irene Davies are planning their digital installation in February at their three sites in Wales and we hope it all goes smoothly for them.

It was good to talk to Gerald Parkes, owner of the Parkway Cinema in Cleethorpes, last week and also so good to hear he's feeling better. Gerry has put back his meeting with the Queen until June to accept his MBE. What an honour, well done Gerry.

Gerry Parkes, is pictured with one of the new state-of-the-art 3D digital projectors, which have been installed alongside the more traditional film projectors at the Kings Road venue. Pictures: Rick Byrne

Awards Season

What a job Stephen Fry does on hosting the BAFTAs!

He's fantastic isn't he? The Awards season acts as a wonderful trigger for cinema goers to see the movies being discussed.

January Admissions

On the back of all the talk and promotion the Admissions for January at 17m raced in to whack January 2012 by being no less than 26% up. Looking further back it also beat January 2011's 152m by a substantial margin. What a great start to the year!

Wasn’t it good to see such a huge variety of movie genres in January and then this variety proving to be such a huge success. From Les Misérables, Tarantino’s Django Unchained, J R Tolkien’s The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, Spielberg's Lincoln, ex-musicians age concern Quartet and CG epic Life of Pi. What a mixture!

Digital Conference

Finally the conference at Vue Westfield on 7^th February was very well attended with a wide mix of views from the technical to the huge increase and success in screening alternative content due to the new digital technology.

Let’s all hope the BAFTAs and the Oscars spark February admissions. Here's to the Red Carpet!

David Prosser