Welcome to BigScreenBiz.com

I am in Yuma, AZ. Good job!

I am told we are the smallest market with digital capabilities, but I would be unable to give financial info. I am a hands on guy, and had nothing to do with the financial haggling. It is my understanding, however, that we pay a fee to technicolor each time the projector is shown to the public, but I honestly am not sure. If you run all digital, you would not need projectionists, and that would certainly help to offset the costs! The only drawback is that it takes a HUGE amount of time to "assemble" the movie. If done from hard drive to hard drive, 80-90% of run time is required. From DVD, it requires actual run time! For example :

Episode II : Run Time 2 hrs 22 minutes
To load from DVD it would require 2 hrs 22 minutes!
To load from A hard drive, it would require 80-90% of that time OR approx. 1 hour 55 minutes!

THEN you need to "build-up" the print (about 5 minutes)

THEN you should (you don't have to, but...) create a backup of the "platter" you just built up (for EP II ~ 1 hour 35 minutes)

So, to put together one print and have it ready for show, you need about 3 hours 35 minutes to 4 hours 2 minutes).

Of course, you can "build" more than one print at a time (on different units).

Then the movie needs to be screened for errors (in case you get a corrupt file or anything like that).

I still think its worth it, as the chance for errors is so much less than film and the quality of picture/sound is far superior.

If digital were everywhere, we would never have to worry about that one projectionist that doesn't seem to care about cleanliness or print quality...

For the record, I have no issue with film when handled correctly, it's just so hard to find people that will do so!

Thanks for listening

Just getting a little off topic:

Big Guy: Every second or third Christmas, my family goes to Yuma. My grandma and grandpa use to head south for the winter from Kenora. Now, its just my grandpa, because my grandma died at 61 from an anyresum in November 2001.

Anyways... We go to movies there at that one that I believe has 4 screens, and is near those fruits for sale on the side of the road. It had the box office right outside on the sidewalk and I remember it being red and white... Do you know which one I'm talking about? We're due to go this christmas, so I haven't been in awhile.

It's also close to Country Roads

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"I don't want you playing with something that has such bizarre hair. Such awful, awful hair!"
-Marge Simpson, on Bart's toy trolls

[This message has been edited by Andrew McCrea (edited May 25, 2002).]

Big Guy,

Thanks for the digital info. What is the size of the Yuma market?

Andrew :

You are referring to the old theater on 4th Avenue. They are aging and have only been showing second run movies (for the most part). Their owner has let the place go, sadly. I work at the newest guy in town, Main St. Cinemas. We are located in downtown Yuma, with lots of walking paths and local shops to browse. I think you'll like it, stop by and see us!

Our town (as of last census, including nearby communities) is about 160,000.

Big Guy,

Yuma pop. sounds similar to my area. There may be hope for digital hear yet.

Yes.. The downtown one... my grandpa sent me an article a while back.. isn't the new downtown one a Loews or Cineplex?

There was also that closed one that was very old, that had the old box office in front and was very near that bar/restaurant place.

The Lyric is the OLD theater downtonwn, they have been closed for a while now...

All three of the theaters in town are independents, including us downtown. The Plaza/Mandarin are owned by one man, we (Main St. Cinemas) are owned by another group. The Lyric is actually about 100 feet south of us, but is sitting empty.