International projectionist (Jan 1963-June 1965)

, INTERNATIONAL PROJECTIONIST Volume 39 December 1964 Number 12 Parti Drive-in Operations with 70 mm Equipment It is necessary for any engineer or technician, regardless in which professional field he happens to work, to occasionally put his books and tools aside and take a good look at statistical facts about the overall business he is in. In the motion picture industry this type of thing seems to be even more important since, contrary to any other product, we are sellling entertainment on celluloid which seems to be a piece of merchandise having very uncertain and unpredictable acceptance and market value. When therefore, a few months ago, I was approached with the question of stating the total number of 70MM theatrical projection installations world wide, I found as many different answers as there are figures published in different magazines throughout the industry. I therefore started from scratch and undertook, with the kind cooperation of 70MM projector manufacturers throughout the world, a reliable survey of all presently existing theaters having 70MM projection facilities. For obvious reasons of course, I shall refrain from listing these installations by manufacturer names but merely list the total number of installations. It would exceed the scope of this presentation to publish every theater by name, city, state and country but merely summarize all installations supplied with projectors from American, European and other manufacturers. There are now 1,100 theaters throughout the world equipped to show 70MM films. According to data compiled chiefly from projector manufacturers throughout the world, the United States and Canada lead the list of 70MM theaters with a combined total of about 350 installations. Italy is next with 175, France comes third with 119, Japan fourth with 78, England has 54, Germany 44, Africa 30 and remainder of installations are distributed among 46 other countries. Table 1 lists the 70MM facilities in detail. Even though they add up to only 993 it should be understood that I have listings of 150 more theaters having installations with modified 35/70MM projectors such as XL, Friesecke -f Heopfner Zeiss Ikon and others. My statistics do not include as yet installations for single film 70MM Cinerama showings. A preliminary follow up of my sur By Walter Beyer Universal Pictures vey shows a speeding up of 70MM installations so that the total number at present will be considerably higher than the above figures. Hardly any new theater installation is being completed now without serious consideration given to 35/ 70MM projectors. I may furthermore remark right here that having established reliable information sources, I shall repeat and extend my survey at the end of this year and bring all my figures correspondingly up to date. So much for the statistics on the 70MM situation. Let me now present my views on "Drive-In operations with 70MM projectors and prints". During the last eight years at least, a substantial amount of new widescreen processes of all kinds have been introduced to the industry and found practical application. Although all of these innovations have been widely ballyhooed, it seems strange that one of the most important technical presentations has not yet found the attention it deserves, namely, the use of 35/70MM projectors and 70MM prints in Drive-In theaters. Two basic viewpoints have to be taken to recognize the importance International Projectionist December. 1964