Digital cinema is headliner as concerts hit big screen
By Carolyn Giardina
December 27, 2007

"We had people dancing in the aisles. It was really fun to see," says Jonathan Dern of an audience enjoying a recent Beyonce concert. But Dern -- who is co-president of the Bigger Picture, the alternative concert arm of digital-cinema provider AccessIT -- wasn't describing a live concert experience. Instead, he was referring to an audience at a digital-cinema theater that recently played a one-night-only engagement on a Monday of "The Beyonce Experience."

The same month, the Bigger Picture had similar success with a concert screening of Bon Jovi's "Lost Highway." Meanwhile, two of the most anticipated digital 3-D releases of 2008 are high-profile concert films: "Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus Best of Both Worlds Concert Tour" and "U2 3D."

It seems that you can't stop the beat. It looks like there will be more of this sort of concert content -- in 2-D and 3-D -- in 2008. "We're looking at different programming scenarios for concerts," Dern says. "Fans of performers are fans, and they want to come out."

The results could be such theatrical releases as Hannah Montana and U2 or concerts playing as alternative content. "The whole idea of alternative content is to (attract audiences) at times when occupancy is low in theaters," Dern says. "On a Monday or Tuesday night, it is very easy to book a location, certainly in a multiplex. ... Not only did (Beyonce and Bon Jovi) do better than the regular-run features (on their Monday night screenings), but in some cases there were more people in our theater than there were in the entire multiplex combined.

The Hollywood Reporter
complete article