There are a number of 3D films intended for release later this year, most notably Avatar from James Cameron due for release on December 18th. While this is the movie with the most publicity, there are other 3D movies scheduled to release before the end of the year including "A Christmas Carol" from Disney and "Alvin and the Chipmunks II." For a more complete list of 3D movie releases from 1904 through 2012, see the 3D@home website.

Matt Brennesholtz
Insight Media Analyst

"Avatar" is expected to open on about 3,000 3D screens in about 2,700 theaters, and may have an opening weekend gross of more than $75M. So what if you are a theater owner without a 3D screen, but you want to get a piece of this action? NEC Display Solutions (Itasca, Illinois) may be able to help you.

3D screens are profitable for all concerned, the theater owner, the distributor and the studio. Cameron originally intended to allow Avatar to be shown on 3D screens, but Insight Media understands the current plans include a mix of 3D and 2D screens. So why is a high-profile movie like Avatar only opening on about 3000 3D screens? There are more than 30K screens in the US, so why are there so few 3D screens available if a 3D screen is profitable to everyone and popular with the public? The answer, of course, is money. It costs $60K - $75K to equip a screen for digital cinema and then it is necessary to get the add-ons from Dolby, RealD or MasterImage to turn that digital screen into a 3D screen. Typically, someone needs to lend the money and the 3K 3D screens to date represent an investment of about $225M. The recent investment environment has not encouraged large investments in new technology so digital cinema installations, and therefore 3D installations, have been lagging.

NEC Display Solutions is offering to lease projectors for terms of up to 5 years, and at the end of the time period the theater owner can own the projector. Leases are arranged through NEC Financial Services and payments are stepped, as shown in the table, with relatively modest payments initially, going up toward the end of the lease. These lease terms are good for NEC NC1600C-A, NC800C and NC2500S-A projectors. The DLP-based NC2500S-A is the high-end system and can produce 20K ANSI lumens when used with a 6kW NEC lamp. This is enough, according to NEC, for an 82′ cinema screen. I suspect they mean an 82′ 2D screen, since all digital cinema projectors loose a lot of light when used in the 3D mode.

I talked to JoAnn MacPherson at NEC about this. She said when a theater owner applied, they were trying to get the paperwork and credit approval out of the way within a week, and then fast-track the installation of the projectors in the theaters. She wouldn’t commit herself on how long it would take to install a projector, but presumably it could be done in time for the Christmas releases.

Herschel Salan, VP of NEC Financial Services, said, "Theater owners have a unique opportunity to affordably improve their digital cinema projector technology and subsequently reap the benefits of increased revenue due to 3D movies. During these difficult economic times, we want as many theaters as possible to experience the value that NEC has to offer."

For an expanded version of this article, plus additional stories on 3D and Digital Cinema, see the upcoming issue of Large Display Report.