JBER's Reel Time AAFES theater to shutter

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  • JBER Public Affairs
JOINT BASE ELMENDORF-RICHARDSON, Alaska --  The JBER-Richardson theater will no longer show films, according to Army and Air Force Exchange Service spokesman Sgt. 1st Class Jon Cupp.

As the motion picture industry moves from 35 mm prints to digital picture and sound, movie theaters must upgrade, Cupp said.

Movie theaters around the world have been transitioning to digital during the last several years - but production companies still created 35 mm prints.

However, those 35 mm prints will soon be virtually non-existent - by mid-year, they will be difficult to find and soon unavailable altogether.

As a result, AAFES theaters have been forced to analyze whether to invest approximately $120,000 to convert to a digital format or cease operations; that decision is made largely on attendance rates, Cupp said.

To date, 60 Exchange theaters worldwide will be converted to digital format; another 60 have stopped, or will soon stop, operations.

The theater's final screening, on Saturday, will be Skyfall, at 7 p.m.

The theater building will continue to be used by command as it has been.