Having watched Kung Fu Hustle on Blu-ray and Harry Potter 5 in a conventional theater on the same day, I can say now that watching movies in HD with surround sound has surpassed regular movie theaters. Image quality from film can't match the color and the detail of HD, but maybe it was just this print of Harry Potter, and if that were the case this print was also missing a narrative structure and decent acting. Does the grainy film of Harry Potter mean the end of movie theaters is imminent? I hope not. Something about watching movies in a theater makes it an event. Films are made to be watched on the Silver Screen. Television and film have always been competing with each other, and film for the most part has been slightly ahead technologically. Color films came out before color television, and when color was introduced to TV, they started making movies in widescreen and now that TV is going digital, movie theaters and studios must now follow suit, or better yet one-up TV. As home theater systems get more advanced, hopefully so will local movie theaters. While the number of IMAX theaters is expanding ever so slowly(still only about 70 in North America), digital projectors like the ones used by Century 22 is more cost-effective way by updating existing theaters, as opposed to pushing for wide construction of new IMAX theaters.
While some would argue that the jump from current displays to HD is not as significant as that from black and white to color, the fact remains that once you see something in HD, there's no going back. HD may not revolutionize either the television or film industries, it is a significant step forward. A step that will compel people raise their expectations of not only home theater, but movie theaters, optical storage, video games, and broadcast television as well.Once the bar is raised, cultural and economic forces will push us to take the next step. And so, to speed up the progress of HD is to advance the march of mankind.
That might have been a bit much, but seriously... IT'S THE FUTURE!!1!one!!11exclaimation!
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