It was a thought-provoking Sunday at the Digital Cinema Summit, permeated by the notion that while the long-building digital cinema rollout generally is gathering a nice head of steam across the land, a new monkey-wrench has been thrown into that mix. That monkey-wrench is, in the view of John Fithian, President and CEO of the National Association of Theatre Owners (NATO), the unexpectedly rapid rise of stereoscopic 3D into the equation. In his Keynote Address, Fithian pointed out that digital cinema’s enablement of a new generation of 3D motion pictures has been wonderful for box office business lately (due to some of us digging U2 3D and the like, while the younger generation, or so I’ve been told, has been swarming to check out Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert), and as a result, a lot more is on the way in 2009, including James Cameron’s Avatar among others.

Indeed, as many as 10 full-length stereoscopic motion pictures are expected in cinemas in ‘09, according to Fithian, which is all well and good, except for the fact, he claimed, that there are not currently nearly enough stereoscopic cinemas wired up and ready to roll in this country, and even fewer overseas. Thus, he told the assembled throng, NATO and studios are locked in intense negotiations right now to greenlight the hiring of a rising generation of integration firms to rectify that situation over the next few months. And all of that would be well and good, he insisted, except the negotiations aren’t going all that well right now. He issued a dire warning that “a potential train wreck is coming in 2009 with 3D pictures, if we don’t solve this now.” That, of course, may be posturing for the ongoing studio negotiations, and there were no studio reps to discuss this situation with that I could find on Sunday. But, that said, his point that 3D’s rise has brought the digital cinema rollout in terms of converting cinemas to “a new, critical juncture,” is well taken, and it will be interesting to see, as it has been for the last few years, who will pay for what, and how quickly. One might speculate that since several major studios are greenlighting big-budget stereoscopic pictures as we speak, they must have given a little thought to how, where, and how soon those films will be viewable in all their 3D glory on a massive scale across the globe. So, hopefully, it will all get sorted out soon.

And, oh, by the way–Fithian promises that the looming recession is highly unlikely to trash box office prospects. He quoted statistics suggesting that people go to the movies more, not less, when they hit hard economic times. Hopefully, we won’t have any need to test that theory.

–MG