The Film Distributors Association has turned 100! So what's the current life expectancy for cinematic releases?

Celebrations are underway for the centenary of the FDA - but with Netflix in such ascendancy, can traditional film distribution survive the looming shadow of the digital streaming giants?

The lights go down; you settle back in your plush fake-velvet seat; the projector beam ignites overhead; the silver screen begins to glow ... it's an age-old ritual, and one of cinemas great selling points. But the communal experience of cinema exhibition is under threat as never before. Not content with permanently altering the way TV is consumed with their on-demand, binge-watch-oriented streaming services, the likes of Netflix, iTunes and Amazon are taking aim at the cinema itself. Increasingly emboldened by its success and financial muscle, the big-league digital platforms are looking to buy more high-end feature film product and exert more and more control over where and how it is seen. The age of the digital world premiere for major films is not far off.

At the recently concluded Cannes film festival, for example, much of the talk in the film market revolved around Netflix's plans for their burgeoning film slate, and how it will affect the larger arena of film distribution. At an industry panel at Cannes, Netflix's chief content officer Ted Sarandos suggested that the current practice of delaying the release of films on home entertainment platforms until several weeks after they have appeared in cinemas (the so-called "theatrical window") will no longer be the norm, and that that "movies will be more profitable" if they were to debut online simultaneously with their conventional cinema release.