thE futurE of thE moviEs Special RepoRt Lasers Light up the Silver Screen Moviegoers are about to experience the greatest revolution in Motion pictures since color by bill beck photography by david yellen when was the last time you saw a movie in a theater? Three months ago? A year? Longer than that? * That's the problem. * The movie industry is among the world's most important businesses. The Motion Picture Association of America says that films produced in the United States alone pulled in US $34.7 billion in worldwide box-office revenues in 2012. And yet the industry is beset by a dismaying trend: More and more, people are watching movies on their laptops, tablets, and smartphones. In wealthy countries, middle-class homes are now typically outfitted with huge flat-panel TVs and powerful surround-sound audio systems. The upshot is that for many people, particularly middle-aged ones, a trip to a movie theater is becoming a rare event, if not an increasingly distant memory. SPECTRUM.IEEE.ORG | nORTh aMERICan | MaR 2014 | 33http://SPECTRUM.IEEE.ORG