CMU School of Drama


Wednesday, February 05, 2014

Theater Producers Weigh HD Broadcasts in Movie Theaters

NYTimes.com: Coming soon to a movie theater near you: Orlando Bloom!
Yes, I know that’s not in itself news. Mr. Bloom is a familiar presence on screens the world over. But in this instance this British actor will not be appearing in a traditional movie, but in an HD broadcast of the Broadway production of “Romeo and Juliet,” which ended its run in December. The show will be screened in at least 400 theaters around Valentine’s Day, a marketing-friendly date for one of the world’s most famous love stories. (Even if the play does end — spoiler alert! — with the lovers dead inside a tomb.)

1 comment:

Unknown said...

One of the most jarring movie-going experiences I can recall was a simple trip to see a Marvel movie a few years back and seeing a trailer for Stephen Sondheim's Company intermixed with the typical popcorn fare. Movies are movies, musicals are musicals, hell, even movie musicals are a thing. Taping a musical and throwing it up on the screen, though, just seemed like too much of a money-grab. As the movie industry's profits balloon to all time highs, it makes sense that the lagging Broadway industry is attempting to jump ship. As the article mentions, negotiating with Unions significantly cuts down on the profit margins, and audiences still won't react well to seeing a broadway show filmed and put onscreen. Some outside research tells me that no data was collected regarding the box office results of the film, and considering that the film came out around Valentine's Day, it's safe to assume that the whole project crashed and burned.