In the last few months, re-releases have taken over movie theatres in the city. Some of the re-released films have generated more footfalls and have fared better at the box office in comparison to the current releases. This has also led to film projectors making a comeback as the demand for more films to be re-released has increased. Since the old classics aren’t available in digital format, theatres have chosen to revive film projectors and showcase the films in their original prints. We talked to experts regarding the revival of projectors and what has led to this phenomenon...
THE DIGITISATION OF OLDER FILMS IS WAY TOO COSTLYFilm projectors have been brought back to life because the digitisation of older films is very costly. Ruban Mathivanan, managing director at GK Cinemas, believes, “The problem is that not many older films are available in digital format. When I spoke to the producers, they said the cost of converting to digital was very high, so they weren’t interested in doing that. The only way for people to enjoy those films is if we can play them in film format.”
CT Valliappan, the owner of Kamala Cinemas, agrees and states, “It takes a lot of money to convert the older movies to digital. As the producers were not clear on how much money they were going to collect, they did not want to convert their films to digital. So, I said that doesn’t matter because I have a projection system. So, they happily gave me the film reels, because, all of a sudden, these movies are getting a second life.”
THEATRES ARE REINSTALLING OLD FILM PROJECTORSTheatres have reinstalled the film projectors that they already had. Ruban says, “We just serviced and reinstalled our old projectors. We’re doing this out of passion and to keep the business going.” Valliappan shares, “ With a little bit of maintenance, the device is ready to go. The quality is also almost as good as the new-age projection systems.”
FOR AUDIENCE, NOSTALGIA MATTERS MORE THAN PRINT QUALITYEven if the film prints are not of good quality, the audience is still coming to theatres due to the nostalgia factor, shares Balaji Gopal, a digital cinema designer and colourist. He adds, “The audience doesn’t care if the print is in bad shape. This is why re-released films like Siva Manasula Sakthi and Kadhalukku Mariyadhai have been running for three or four weeks straight.”
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