The DCI World Championships premiered on the big screen in August of 2004. Through partnership with National Cinemedia's Fathom Events, Drum Corps International has grown the reach of this annual event from just 44 theaters in its first year, to a record 543 in 2011.
"Our in-theater attendance for the Big, Loud and Live event, combined with our live Prelims audience at Lucas Oil Stadium (6,903), makes us very pleased that we've been able to share the excitement of the drum corps activity to more than 45,500 fans across the nation on a single night," said DCI Executive Director and CEO Dan Acheson.
The summer of 2011 marked the first year Drum Corps International also offered its "Tour Premiere" to theatergoers. The tape-delayed kickoff event on June 20 brought the first performances of eight of last year's top corps from Austin, Texas to a nationwide audience.
Total attendance for the "2011 Tour Premiere," shown in 436 theaters, came in at 23,044.
"The Tour Premiere gave us the unique opportunity to bring together corps from the East, West and Midwest and showcase their season-opening performances to a huge audience," said Acheson. "We're already looking forward to bringing this event back to theaters in a similar format in June of 2012 along with Big, Loud & Live 9 in August."
