Hollywood has used 35-millimeter film to capture moving images and bring them to the big screen for over a century. However, Paramount Pictures is going to be the first major film studio to retire the film and distribute movies in the digital format, the Los Angeles Times reported.
Citing executives from the theater industry who were told about the plans but were not allowed to speak publicly about the matter, the report said Paramount's "The Wolf of Wall Street" will be the studio's first movie to be released solely in digital format. The sources added that the studio has already informed theater owners that the comedy "Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues" which premiered last month was the final movie that it would release using 35-mm film.
Before the recent development, only documentaries and other small movies were distributed through the digital format, the report said. Paramount's move is most likely going to set an example for other film studios and hasten the phase out of film which could happen by the end of 2014, the report said.
UCLA Film & Television Archive Director Jan-Christopher Horak told the LA Times, "It's of huge significance because Paramount is the first studio to make this policy known/ For 120 years, film and 35 mm has been the format of choice for theatrical presentations. Now we're seeing the end of that. I'm not shocked that it's happened, but how quickly it has happened."
Paramount has still not made its decision public, a reflection of the fact that no film studio wants to have the reputation as being the first to ditch film which is still held in high regard by purists of the industry. Other studios might not also want to sacrifice their box office earnings by going exclusively digital as there are still around 8% of US theaters that can show movies only through film, the report said.
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