I just read this morning about a major initiative by the big studios (Warner Bros., Paramont, 20th Century Fox, and Disney) to convert European cinemas to digital projection systems. The agreement will reach into 22 countries or about 8,000 screens. 

Going and gone are the days of film. Even when I was in school just three years ago, film still seemed to be considered the higher form of media production. The technology has caught up…  I lament that I didn’t have more foresight in those days to encourage digital production on a project that never materialized because of prohibitive film processing costs.

Do American media companies really have that much influence over European cinema? Perhaps going and gone are also the days of national cinemas. They may be exchanged for global-American cinemas.