The Boeing Co. is best known for its jet planes, missiles, bombs and satellites. But Phil Condit, Boeing’s chairman and chief executive, has said repeatedly the company is much more than that.
Last week, it was showtime for Condit’s talk.
At 23 movie screens in the U.S. and London, George Lucas’ “Star Wars: Episode II–Attack of the Clones” blasted forth to the crash of light sabers, courtesy of Boeing Digital Cinema.
“Episode II” was encrypted, uploaded and “shipped” via satellite to the theaters–the first digital multicast of a feature-length film–in less than two hours. And the digital delivery cost a fraction of what Hollywood now pays to distribute its films.
This is the other side of Boeing.
With hundreds of Boeing satellites orbiting the globe, the Chicago-based company plans to beam signals for a trio of new products.
For its commercial jets, Boeing is developing an in-flight Internet connection so passengers can surf the Web. For controlling the comings and goings of the world’s aircraft, Boeing is working on a new system for air traffic control. And on the ground, Boeing hopes filmgoers will enjoy the crisp digital images of Yoda, the Jedi Master, battling evil.
Two weeks ago, Boeing received a license to install and operate an Internet connection on board commercial and business jets.
Called Connexion by Boeing, the airborne Internet system exists on only five planes–Air Force One, three military command jets and a Lufthansa passenger jet. All have been installed since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11. Satellites beam the Internet links to the jets.
Unlike Boeing Digital Cinema, Connexion has no commercial customers. United, American and Delta airlines all abandoned their investments in December. Lufthansa is conducting tests on the system for Boeing.
Boeing’s business plan called for airlines to sell to their passengers access to the Internet for as much as $20 per hour. It still hopes to do that.
Boeing’s satellite experts also are working on a technology to replace the ground-based radar systems used around the world for air traffic control.
The existing air traffic control system doesn’t provide air controllers or pilots with completely accurate information. Ground-based controllers direct pilots of commercial and private planes where they can fly. Boeing’s system, which would allow pilots to know where they are in relation to other planes at all times, would allow pilots more latitude in deciding where they can fly.
Analysts say the company’s first customer for the system is likely to come from abroad, where aviation authorities do not have a large investment in ground-based systems.
A future in movies
In the short run, the digital cinema program may provide the best opportunity for creating a significant stream of new revenue for Boeing.
The technology being pioneered by Boeing offers the promise of transforming the way Hollywood delivers feature-length movies to thousands of movie screens worldwide.
But for the aerospace company, it’s just another day at the office, albeit one with George Lucas.
“We are moving existing technology into new markets,” said Frank Sterling, the head of Boeing Digital Cinema. Sterling has been given a movie industry-type title–executive director–to better interact with people like Lucas.
“Moving large files of data over satellites is well known to us. Data encryption is well known. The compression of data is just as well known,” he said. Combined, “we can deliver a system capable of merging today’s technologies and put it into new markets.”
That’s what Lucas was searching for in the late 1990s when he began meeting with Sony Corp. officials to develop a new digital movie camera. And in December, Lucas began pushing Boeing to install as many systems as possible before his newest “Star Wars” adventure premiered.
“There is no doubt that digital technology is the future of the feature film and television industry,” said William McDonald, a professor and vice chair for production at the UCLA Department of Film, Television and Digital Media.
In the Chicago area, three theaters are showing the new “Star Wars” movie in digital, but only one–at McClurg Court in Chicago–is using the Boeing satellite system. “Episode II” was loaded into digital projectors at the other two–Loews Woodfield in Schaumburg and The Village Crown in Skokie–from 15 DVDs.
As much as Lucas believes digital improves the viewing experience, it also increases the chance that a feature film can be pirated. That happened to his latest movie two weeks ago, although it apparently was copied the old-fashioned way–by placing a video camera in the back of a Hollywood screening room, according to industry officials.
But Steven Bergman, a member of the strategic development department of Boeing Digital Cinema, says it is unlikely that hackers could steal a copy of a movie as it is being beamed to theaters around the world.
In addition to a military encryption process used by Boeing, hackers “would have to know the satellite and the transponder that was being used,” said Bergman, adding that the transponders are shifted to prevent theft. More than 300 commericial satellites could be used to transmit the film.
Overcoming pitfalls
But McDonald said many other issues remain to be decided by filmmakers before Boeing can widely distribute the system, including development of a digital camera that can replicate the image captured by 35 mm film.
“Some will argue that a properly maintained 35 mm film projector, run by a professional projectionist–not the popcorn kid–will deliver a far superior image to digital projection,” he said. “If you take today’s digital projector [and] have a battery of engineers standing by to make sure it looks great, you get great images at those venues.
“Whether the technology continues to deliver good quality when it is run by the popcorn kid remains to be seen,” he said.
For Boeing, however, that’s the least of its concerns.
Costs of installing the system could keep many theater owners away for years. The current system Boeing is installing costs $200,000 to $225,000 per screen–including the projector. Bergman says Boeing is hoping the cost can be reduced to about $100,000 per screen.
But Boeing hopes economics will drive theater owners and Hollywood studios to digital satellite. Hollywood spends about $2 billion annually to distribute films to about 121,296 movie screens worldwide, or about $16,500 per screen.
Boeing says its system will cut that cost dramatically–to about $500 per screen.
Sterling believes theater owners will move quickly to install the new system as they recognize the opportunity for revenue from alternative entertainment. The system could deliver auto races, concerts, plays or corporate events.
But UCLA’s McDonald says many obstacles remain to be negotiated, including reducing the cost for setup and engineering “to make it work in a routine way.”
“The technology exists, it just is not cheaper and better yet. It is more expensive and not quite better than film prints,” he said.
“When the technology is so simple and reliable that anyone can make sure the 11:30 show downloads from the satellite as easily as threading a 35 mm platter projector, at the same cost [or less], satellite delivery will be the standard.”
