The digital cinema market could be worth more than $100 million a year to projector manufacturers by 2005 says a new report by Dodona Research.
The report
Digital Cinema Factbook says that in response to the emergence of industry standards and innovations it expects digital cinema screens to rise to over 5,000 worldwide by the end of 2008.
Currently the digital cinema market is tiny, with only 19 high-end DLP cinema screens in 25 countries expected at the end of last month. However, some exhibitors are now side-stepping issues that are slowing down the role out of DLP screens. Belgium based Kinepolis has recently just installed ten DLP cinema projectors in its eight multiplexes.
Asia is the most proactive region in rolling out high-end digital cinema networks, more than 18% of this area is expected to have rollout by 2008. North America has the highest proportion of digital screens with 45%, yet it is the region that least progress is being made.
Latin America is predicted to have the second-fastest growing market as real opportunities lie in undeveloped countries such as Brazil.
In Europe, Belgium was an early adopter of digital and the UK is on the verge of digital cinema expansion thanks to the UK Film Council’s planned network.
The report states that while digital cinema is still in its early states it is here to stay but the speed of digital rollout is still very uncertain. Report author, Katharine Wright said: “What is certain is that digital cinema is beginning to influence the way business is done in a number of important markets. Early adopters include the second and third largest theatrical markets in the world, Asia’s two most populous nations and Latin America’s largest. This is a sea change no one involved in the film business should ignore.”
