Report forecasts 17,000 d-cinema screens worldwide by 2010

The rollout of digital cinema is rapidly gathering momentum toward full-scale deployment, according to Screen Digest’s “Digital Cinema: Rollout, Business Models and Forecasts.”

The forecast, which is being marketed by Research and Markets, finds that 2006 is likely to be a year for negotiations and signature of contracts with wide-scale rollout happening from 2007. Hollywood will drive the market forward, and the key factors in the switch to digital cinema are savings to distributors, the economic imperative of controlling piracy and the need to maintain the experience gap with regard to home cinema and HDTV, according to the report.

Key findings from the report include:

• A forecast of more than 17,000 d-cinema screens worldwide by 2010;
• The number of d-cinema screens globally doubled in the second half of 2005. By the end of that year, there were 849 d-cinema screens;
• Ninety-seven titles were released globally in the d-cinema standard during 2005;
• Of the top five cities by number of digital screens deployed, four are in Asia and one is in the United States;
• Christie dominates the market for d-cinema projectors in the United States; Barco holds the majority of market share in Europe and Asia;
• North America is the leading region for d-cinema screens, followed by Asia and Europe.

For more information, visit: www.researchandmarkets.com/reports/c42015.