THIS Saturday some young film fans won’t be going to the cinema simply to watch Cars, Disney’s new animated film about motor racing; they’ll be able to race them, too.

At seven Vue cinemas around Britain, youngsters will be able to play the computer game based on the film on the big screen.

Two players will be able to race each other and there will be prizes for the fastest lap. Afterwards they can, of course, buy a ticket to watch the movie.

“I don’t care how good your home-entertainment system is,” said Steve Knibbs, chief operating officer of Vue Entertainment. “Compare that with playing on a 40ft screen.”

Events such as this are possible thanks to the installation in cinemas of digital projectors.

Traditional analogue equipment is able only to project reels of film. But digital projectors open up a range of possibilities. For instance, they allow exhibitors to provide video games or broadcast live events, such as football matches or pop concerts. They could even be used by companies for sales demonstrations or lectures.

They also allow cinemas to become more flexible with the films they show. A piece of celluloid for an analogue projector is heavy and expensive to produce. Digital films are much easier, like changing a cartridge on a video-games console, and are a fraction of the cost to produce. For a chain such as Cineworld, which prides itself on screening films tailored to its local customer base, such as Bollywood movies in areas with large Indian populations, it will make life easier.

While the technology for digital cinema has been around for years, it is only now starting to take a foothold in the UK. Of about 3,500 cinema screens in Britain, about 260 have been converted to digital. Worldwide, there are 849 digital screens. By 2010, it is forecast there will be 17,000.

The prospect of generating extra revenue from showing concerts or sports events is appealing to the big chains.

Cinemas have been slow to test such “alternative content”. David Hancock, a senior analyst at Screen Digest, a consultancy, said: “There has not been much high-definition programming produced and content needs to be available in high definition. That’s why the World Cup worked this summer.”

Companies that have experimented with content have been pleased with the results.

Gerald Buckle, Odeon’s vice-president of business affairs, reports that screenings of World Cup matches at some of its cinemas doubled the average customer numbers it would expect from normal film usage.

“Our average occupancy for film screenings is 10% to 15% across the year. The World Cup screenings had occupancy levels of about 30%,” he said.

But there are drawbacks. Buckle points out that big-ticket events, such as the World Cup or rock concerts (David Bowie is among those to have had their shows beamed live into cinemas) do not come along very often, so the benefits are minimal, particularly given the amount of effort that goes into marketing the screenings.

Proponents of digital cinema argue it just needs a little more thought and imagination.

Howard Kiedaisch, of Arts Alliance Media, which has a contract with the UK Film Council to install and run the first 238 digital screens in Britain, said: “Cinema chains have to come up with a continuous programme of content.

“That doesn’t mean putting on something every day, but enough so they know the cinema becomes a destination. If you show football matches on a regular basis, you build awareness for the World Cup.”

The real beneficiaries will be the film studios, which will have lower distribution costs. Once the Film Council-funded projectors are installed, the debate will switch to who will pay for the rest of the equipment.