If digital cinema is going to fulfill its promise of truly bringing about a new era of movie making and exhibition then the independent theatres that are an important part of the cultural lifeblood of small towns around the world can not be left behind. Fortunately the independent spirit that has kept these theatres alive through many difficult times is still evident in many communities and there are signs that a significant number of them are taking part in the digital transition. Cinema Centers in the rural mountains of central Pennsylvania is a good example. The community-focused Cinema Centers features five multiplexes with a total of 55 screens plus one single-screen drive-in theatre. All the theatres can be found within a two-hour driving radius and include 9 to 12 screens per complex. They feature stadium seating high back rocker seats and the latest projection and sound equipment. Cinema Centers recently installed one digital cinema projector in all five of its theatres and plans to install a sixth projector in the next two weeks. The first installations were completed in time to premiere Avatar. The company is using Real D 3D on its 3D screens. To say that Cinema Centers’ CEO Gina DiSanto grew up in the exhibition business is an understatement. Her parents Marvin and Doris Troutman opened the doors of their first movie theatre in 1955 and DiSanto says she and her brother and sister started working in the family business at a very young age. “We grew up in the theatre ” DiSanto says. As a teenager she worked at the family owned drive-in during the summer seasons and a former single-screen theatre in the winter. The Troutmans opened their first Cinema Centers brand multiplex in 1993. Di Santo who is the president of the Pennsylvania chapter of the National Association of Theatre Owners says that in some ways she would still love to go back to the single-screen theatre era. “You knew the names of all your customers and it seemed more special ” she says. “After awhile though I know I’d miss the excitement of the multiplex.” She is also a member of NATO’s Cinema Buying Group and has a real appreciation for the important role that movie theatres play in the cultural life of a community. Her company serves a region that in some ways is geographically isolated. Cinema Centers has multiplexes in Bloomsburg Selinsgrove Reading Camp Hill and Williamsport. Reading and Williamsport are community hubs with populations of roughly 80 000 and 30 000 people respectively. Bloomsburg has roughly 12 000 people but the other towns are much smaller. The Sky Vu Drive-In is in Gratz Pennsylvania which has fewer than 700 people. “What many of my colleagues in exhibition don’t always realize is how important a movie theatre can be to a rural community ” DiSanto says. “Our customers often drive 45 minutes one way to see a movie. It’s a big deal for them.” DiSanto says she worked with a leasing company to finance the first five digital projectors. She found that local banks while receptive to lending money for a major renovation like the one that Cinema Centers currently has in the works were not receptive to financing movie theatre equipment because it’s an area of business that’s unfamiliar to them. “It was all new for us to go to a leasing company ” she says. “We did a lot of research before we chose All Media Capital ” she says. She liked that All Media is also a family-owned company and has a twenty-year track record in the exhibition business. The advantage of leasing DiSanto says is it permits a relatively low upfront expense and “it makes your cash flow more even.” Conversely she says self-financing requires “a bigger down payment but we’ll own it sooner.” For that reason she says “We’re going to self-finance the sixth projector.” Cinema Centers does not currently have a VPF agreement and will pay for the new projectors out of regular cash flow. The company is a member of NATO’s Cinema Buyers Group and is exploring VPF agreements with several integrators. All six projectors are from Christie Digital Systems. “After much due diligence analyzing all the specifications talking directly to both installers and other exhibitors it all came down to one company – Christie – without a doubt. Word of mouth was also extremely positive which made them the best choice ” DiSanto says. “Christie has a first-class reputation and a superior product that ensures our customers always experience the brightest images for 3D showings.” DiSanto was extremely enthusiastic about Christie service and support. “The Christie team was fabulous. They were there every step of the way as we made our conversion to digital cinema. We are very excited with the results of our decision and plan to buy more Christie digital projectors in the very near future ” she says. “With the introduction of digital cinema technology Cinema Centers takes their audiences into the 21st century of entertainment ” says Craig Sholder vice-president entertainment solutions Christie. “They continue a tradition of leadership built upon the entrepreneurial spirit of its founders by redefining the movie viewing experience for every new generation of customers. To help bring world-class entertainment to audiences everywhere Christie supports independent exhibitors like Cinema Centers offering them the widest range of cost-effective digital solutions at the lowest cost of operation.” DiSanto understands that digital technology creates the opportunity to show programs other than just Hollywood features and she is eager to take advantage of that fact. “We’re exploring all our options at the moment but we will definitely get involved in alternative content ” she says. One idea she is considering is showing high school football games. “I think people might like to see the local team on the big screen ” she says. Perhaps nothing embodies the independent spirit in exhibition so much as the drive-in theatre. There are just over six hundred drive-in theatres in the United States and with 35 Pennsylvania has more of them than any other state. When you talk with DiSanto about her experiences in exhibition you get the sense that none of her theatres is closer to her heart than the company’s Sky Vu Drive-In in Gratz which runs each year from May to September. For now though the digital transition does not include the drive-in theatre. “The technology is there to put a digital cinema system in our drive-in ” she says “but right now it just doesn’t make financial sense to justify the expense of digital in a business that is only open three-and-a-half months a year.” She believes that the drive-in theatre experience is such an American cultural tradition that people will simply not let them disappear completely. She thinks that in a few years the costs of digital technology will lower and there may also be used digital equipment on the market and then drive-ins can and will begin to make the transition. “I hope drive-ins will never go away ” DiSanto says. “There are a lot of memories with all of this.”
