Erected in the town of Tottori, Japan (about 400 miles southwest of Tokyo on Japan's northern coast) by Katsuhiho Chaen, the Star Wars sand 'castle' took 160 tons of sand to build. The sculpture is 10 feet high by 23 feet long by 13 feet wide. It will be on display as part of the annual Tottori 'Castle Festival' until December when the new Star Wars film, 'The Force Awakens' opens at cinemas and it will then be moved to Chaen's sand museum.
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| Full sand 'castle' work |
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| 35mm film projector - a relic |
Looking to the next generation of moviegoers, I believe, cinemas MUST drastically improve the movie-going experience or they will simply lose their customers. Going forward, the movie experience must be more than 'come to our cinema and watch a movie' - if so, the experience will not be perceived as having value and people will stop going to the cinema.
There is a movement by some film-makers and others in the industry that want to turn back time and technology and go back to 35mm film presentations as a way to get people into cinema seats. To me, this is not only a non-starter but totally ludicrous for many, many reasons - which I won't elaborate on as you are fully aware of them. Moviegoers, as least the vast, vast majority, could care less about how the movie gets onto the screen. What they want is a good, for-value entertainment experience - period! The cinema experience has to be larger than life, and it's not just the on-screen image but the 'whole' experience.
Entertainment in the future will be all about 'the experience' - and that includes the 'movie experience'. Cinemas, like never before, will be tested on providing the best movie-going, viewing experience - from when patrons enter the lobby to when they leave. The facility, concession, service, presentation (image and sound), seating, and overall ambiance must be first-rate, and customer-centric.
Going back to the future by using 35mm film is not the answer for the cinemas' long-term prosperity, in fact, it would be a detriment - a throw-back to an era which will never have a resurgence. Cinema's need showmanship, not old technology, to survive and prosper.
'PAN' - A Case-study in Bad Movies
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| No demographic for this prequel |
Prequels are always touchy and usually judged rather harshly by audiences - it's the comparison to the 'already seen'. 'PAN' is the perfect example of this as it utterly failed to capture the imagination of audiences.
The Warner Bros. big-budget, fairytale, fantasy film is on-track to lose upwards of $150 million. So far, 'PAN' has grossed only $40 million worldwide compared with over $275 million spent on production and marketing. Wow, come to find out 'PAN' has no demographic as it is too adult for children and too childish for adults. As well as very poor critical reviews, "don't go see" social media buzz was a death blow for the film.
Warners has had a bad year at the box-office. Rumors are that 'Jupiter Ascending' lost over $100 million and 'The Man From UNCLE' was a huge flop. The big studio winners this year are Universal and Disney which are pushing 2015 into box-office record-breaking history.
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