Commentary

Movie tastes change, lasers will follow

Sept. 13, 2017

While the reduction in 3D movies doesn’t spell the end to laser-powered cinema, there are some other ominous items to watch.

Allen Nogee

If you have been following, you know that lasers are now being used as the white-light source for thousands of cinema projectors in movie theaters around the world. Many IMAX theaters use them, as do Dolby theaters. In addition, the technology is being used at thousands of smaller multiplexes being built, especially in China. In fact, anyone following the fast-growing use of lasers as a light-source for cinema is sure to be impressed, and in fact five years ago this technology didn’t even exist.

While the reduction in 3D movies doesn’t spell the end to laser-powered cinema any more than the death of 3D TV spelled the end to TV, there are some other ominous items to watch. Like the fact that summer 2017 U.S. box office revenues in the U.S. might be the lowest in 25 years. It’s clear that there are changes occurring in the movie-watching public. Also, in other areas, the trends can be very different, for example in China, which now has more movie theaters than in the U.S., and also last year installed more laser cinema projectors than anywhere else in the world.

To read the full blog from Allen Nogee, click here.

About the Author

Allen Nogee | President, Laser Markets Research

Allen Nogee has over 30 years' experience in the electronics and technology industry including almost 20 years in technology market research. He has held design-engineering positions at MCI Communications, GTE, and General Electric, and senior research positions at In-Stat, NPD Group, and Strategies Unlimited.

Nogee has become a well-known and respected analyst in the area of lasers and laser applications, with his research and forecasts appearing in publications such as Laser Focus World, Industrial Laser Solutions, Optics.org, and Laser Institute of America. He has also been invited to speak at conferences such as the Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics (CLEO), Laser Focus World's Lasers & Photonics Marketplace Seminar, the European Photonics Industry Consortium Executive Laser Meeting, and SPIE Photonics West.

Nogee has a Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering Technology from the Rochester Institute of Technology, and a Master's of Business Administration from Arizona State University.