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Some of the developments Denby notes are clearly bad news (a theatrical distribution model geared toward big opening weekends and, therefore, children and teenagers), some are clearly good news (digital distribution, which may level the playing field between the multinational corporations that own the studios and the kid shooting a movie in his basement). But the knottiest problem Denby considers is the advent of digital exhibition—projecting movies not from 35-millimeter prints, which must be physically delivered in cans weighing 50 to 80 pounds, but from a hard drive.
The quesion is, should we really care? Denby writes reverentially about the communal experience of moviegoing, a sentiment I heartily endorse. But for most people in America the communal experience of moviegoing isn’t watching Viridiana at the Film Center–it’s sitting in an ugly multiplex watching Saw III. Public hangings were a communal experience too, but I’m not sorry people have moved on to other amusements.
