Now showing at your local cinema: operas, circuses and television shows
This new breed of programming is made possible by the spread of digital technology. Cinemas no longer rely on the delivery of 35mm reels, now that pictures can be delivered over satellite or broadband connections. Cinema-owners can make fuller use of their screens, and audiences see delights they would otherwise miss. “We have a presence in 78 Mexican cities,” says Alejandro Ramirez, the boss of Cinépolis, which runs plush cinemas in the Americas and India. “In the vast majority of these cities, there is no opera,” he notes. So far this year nearly 300,000 people worldwide have gone to see opera and other “alternative programming”, such as “Cirque du Soleil 3D”, a circus performance, at Cinépolis’s theatres.
Finding new uses for screens is a product of economic necessity as well as technological opportunity. Ten years ago Americans and Canadians went to the cinema almost five times a year on average; now it is closer to four. In America and Europe in particular, at-home film offerings, including video-on-demand, are plentiful—and cheaper than a night out.
