Lasers light up the silver screen

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.