Since the 1890s, 35 millimeter? film has been used by every movie studio in Hollywood, and everywhere else, to produce films. In the 2010s, expect that to change. One major motion picture company is leading the way.
Paramount Pictures is the first major movie production house to stop using the old film entirely and to start going all digital. Will Farrell’s ‘Anchorman 2’ was the last to go film and Leonardo DiCaprio’s ‘Wolf of Wall Street‘ is the first to be produced, released and distributed only digitally. Digital distribution is so much cheaper : it only cost $100 to put a digital copy on a disc. Digital technology is also easier to hook up to bigger 3D screens, also becoming popular today. Other major studios are following suit. Disney and 20th Century Fox said they would stop sending 35mm film in the next year or two. It’s just as well: it’s reported 92% of all movie theaters in the US are digital.
I think it’s best and a sign of the times. The only thing that surprises me is that total crossover took this long. This trend started over a decade ago, but some top cats in the industry were resistant due to potential low revenue. The only thing that’s going to lead to low revenue is bad movies. There’s not a technological fix to that, is there?