The number of movie screens in the U.S. remained relatively constant at 41,172 in 2019 and 40,998 in 2020, according to the National Association of Cinema Owners.
Notably, MiT is providing turnkey furniture, fixtures and equipment (FF&E) services to movie theaters under construction in the United States opening 140 of these new screens in the United States.
In general, movie theaters have a long history of offering services to attract people out of their homes and into theaters.
Motion Picture Association of America data indicates that at the end of 2019 there were 41,172 screens in the United States and more than 168,000 in the rest of the world, and 96% of the world’s movie screens are digitized.
The conversion to digital cinema began in 2006.
Movie screens
According to Film Journal International, the first machines to enter the market were Series 1 projectors for Digital Light Processing (DLP) licensees, some 20,000 projectors of all brands were installed before Series 2 machines hit the market in mid-2010, and the assumption of a projector’s lifetime is 10 years.
From this, MiT estimates that some 3,100 Series 1 projectors will need to be replaced over the next four years as obsolescence sets in and upgrades become the new norm to remain competitive.
Laser projectors are a significant improvement over current lamp-based digital projectors, offering a wider color gamut, providing substantially more vivid colors, as well as substantially brighter images.
MiT believes that 3D movies have fallen out of favor in the U.S., mostly because of the poor brightness of the images, but the higher brightness of lasers, especially RGB laser projectors, makes 3D images bright and vivid, giving a boost to 3D movies, especially overseas, where 3D is still very popular.
Although lasers are a bit more expensive, they last up to 20 times longer than lamps, which pays for itself in cost savings on lamps.
By eliminating the lamp, there are significant energy savings and lower maintenance costs.
Approximately 99% of the new projectors MiT sells have laser light sources.
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Live sports viewing has returned to pre-pandemic levels, with stadiums and arenas regularly selling out.
However, new construction, upgrades and renovations of new stadiums and arenas have not recovered as quickly as the movie industry.
