The Metropolitan Opera has inked a deal to simulcast six opera perfs in several hundred movie theaters in the U.S., Canada and Europe.
While the Met is trying to use new media technologies to distribute its opera perfs to a wider audience, exhibs have been high on the idea of using digital distribution to show content other than films, such as concerts and sporting events, on their screens to fuel ticket sale growth. But, so far, previous attempts to show concerts and sporting events in theaters have attracted small audiences.
In the Met's broader initiative, it also announced it would stream video of more than 100 performances over the Internet and on digital radio.
The Met's movie theater deal is with National CineMedia (a joint venture between Regal Entertainment Group, AMC Entertainment and Cinemark) domestically, Cineplex in Canada and Odeon/UCI in the U.K. and Europe.
National CineMedia was formed to sell pre-show advertising across the chain's screens, but the company is spearheading the transition to digital cinema for the chains, including an effort to finance the purchase of pricey new equipment for feature presentations.
Odeon/UCI chief Rupert Gavin said in a statement, "We think that the quality of the performances, the live high-definition pictures and the comfort of our cinemas will make this an ideal way to attract a new audience to the very best that the opera world has to offer."
Likewise, recently installed Met topper Peter Gelb said the digital distribution deals are part of an effort to win new audiences for opera. "This is a unique opportunity to raise our profile and grow our audience. Opera will now enter the digital era," he said.
Gelb said he expects the simulcasts to draw opera lovers who don't live in Gotham.
"Opera fans are as fanatical about opera as baseball fans are about baseball. We want to make the Met as available electronically to its followers as the Yankees are to theirs."
Separately, National CineMedia's rival onscreen ad company, Screenvision, said Wednesday it had struck a pact with National Amusements to install $10 million worth of digital projection equipment on more than 1,000 of the exhib's domestic screens.
National Amusements prexy Shari Redstone said the chain also would be looking to use the digital distribution network that serves blurbs to show nonfilm content in theaters.
"National Amusements is focused on reinventing the moviegoing experience," she said in a statement. "Screenvision's digital platform is also one of the key elements of our strategy for alternative programming, such as simulcasts of Red Sox games, concerts, children's programming and other unique concepts."
In the Met's deal, the six perfs to be shown in movie theaters will all be Saturday matinees. They are: Julie Taymor's "The Magic Flute" on Dec. 30; "I Puritani" starring Anna Netrebko on Jan. 6; the world premiere of Tan Dun's "The First Emperor" starring Placido Domingo on Jan. 13; "Eugene Onegin" on Feb. 24; "The Barber of Seville" with Juan Diego Florez on March 24; and "Il Trittico" on April 28.
PBS will have rights to broadcast the opera perfs following a 30-day window after the live shows.
Digital distrib pacts were inked after extensive negotiations with the Met's unions. Also negotiated were rights to allow the Met to build an on-demand audio service with its archive of 1,500 radio and television broadcasts from the last 75 years as well as allow it to distrib perfs in virtually any electronic form. It said it's also exploring deals with other companies to sell digital downloads, video-on-demand, cell phone ringtones and instant CDs after performances.
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