Era Of Film Movies Coming To Abrupt End

After a run that lasted more than a century, the era of film appears to be coming to an abrupt end, but just slightly sooner than was predicted by most people who were paying attention. Paramount has told theater owners that the Will Ferrell comedy “Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues” is the last movie that it would release on 35-millimeter film. Other studios are expected to follow suit. No one knows if the word film will persist, as in “film festivals,” but film itself along with its drive gears, sprockets and chemicals, will soon be almost entirely obsolete except as an expensive hobby. Most theaters – about 92 percent – have made the transition to digital projection equipment, but for smaller theaters, including many in small towns, the change could be a crisis they won’t survive. Some communities are raising money to help cover the roughly $70,000 it costs to make the transition.