Theater and DVD Release Simultaneously

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » July 24, 2005, 6:34 am

Could Theater-to-DVD Window Shrink to Zero?

Amid Box Office Slump, Some See Answer in Simultaneous Marketing and Release in Multiple Formats

Jul. 22, 2005 - So far this year, a blockbuster about the Crusades, "Kingdom of Heaven," fell on its sword, and even "War of the Worlds" didn't quite wake up an audience that seems to be falling asleep at home.

DVDs bring in more than twice the money as theaters, but disappointing sales of some recent hits have the industry talking about changing the way the movies do business.

"One day, if 'King Kong' is going to be released on Friday, Dec. 14, it will be released theatrically around the world, DVD around the world, pay-per-view around the world," says Peter Sealey, an adjunct professor of marketing at the University of California-Berkeley's Haas School of Business. "That's where the marketplace is going."

Sealey's example may be hypothetical, but Steven Soderbergh, the Oscar-winning director of "Traffic," and Mark Cuban, the Internet billionaire who bought the Dallas Mavericks basketball team, have joined forces to do just what he describes -- release a series of films simultaneously in theaters, on DVD and on Cuban's HDNet Movies cable TV channel.

"Once you start giving the customer what they want, when they want it, how they want it, they'll pay you for it," Cuban says.

In addition, the actor Morgan Freeman and Intel Corp. are among investors in a venture called ClickStar Inc., which will distribute movies over the Internet before they become available on DVD.

It already costs a fortune to market movies for shorter and shorter runs in the theaters, the theory goes. So why not market once, and sell all at once across multiple formats all over the world?

'Serious Threat'
That doesn't play well with the theaters, where attendance is off by about 10 percent from last year.

"You're talking about a serious threat to exhibition," says Kendrick MacDowell of the National Association of Theater Owners. "And [it's] not just a threat to exhibition -- [it is] potentially a threat to the studios, and potentially to patrons."

Cuban says digital distribution and universal release will expand both the audience and the profits, while curbing piracy.

"Historically, people talked about how radio was going to kill orchestra," Cuban said, "and how TV was going to kill film, how DVD was going to kill both. It just has never turned out that way."

He envisions a future in which you can still go to the movies. But if you want, the movies will come to you.

hmmm...

two people want to go to the movies...$9.00 X 2=$18.00
two people want to watch new movie at home =$20.00

Home:
more comfortable, cheaper snacks, no smelly loud people, get to keep movie for life

Theater:
Smelly loud people, germs!, lines, time constraints, probably worse picture and sound than on HD Home Theater.

Going to the movies is still a social thing so I don't think they'd die but having the option of paying for new movies in a PPV format or on DVD sounds good.

http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/WNT/story?id=959904

Mr Bacon · Post by **Mr Bacon** » July 24, 2005, 9:11 am

Screw releasing it on the same day - if they want people to see it in the theatre and on DVD, separate it by a month. Most movies are advertised for that long already anyway, so that would cut down on a lot of money issues.

The other option is to (OMG) lower movie ticket prices. Perhaps I could even buy a soda for less than 10 bucks! I'm tired of movie theatres complaining about money - people don't buy your shit because it's so expensive, retards.

Chidoro · Post by **Chidoro** » July 24, 2005, 12:53 pm

The reason there may be a 10% decrease is because there are so many damn remakes and the audience is not biting. I don't think simultaneous release formats would spur interest any further as it would be the same fucking crap.

kyoukan · Post by **kyoukan** » July 24, 2005, 3:22 pm

Two people want to see a movie at home = $20 + $3000+ for a decent set up that can come close to emulating a theater.

Film studios will never bite a simultaneous release because they would lose half their payday. people go to a theater to see a film and then buy it on dvd six months to a year later. I basically pay twice to see most movies I like. We have a home theater setup here that is far superior to anything in the movie house not including imax. I'd never go to a theater again if they started this. Nor would anyone else. hollywood would lose my double payment.

film studio execs complain about how nobody goes to the theater anymore and blame trends and dvd and whatevere else they can blame it on, but they know (and they are just not saying it) that the reason people aren't going to movies this summer is because there is nothing but dog shit playing all summer. batman begins was okay, the rest of the big blockbusters were tripe. the best movie I saw this summer was a comedy that probably cost 3 million dollars to make not counting the star's salary. film execs know that if they make content that is worth going to the theater to see, then people will get off their ass and go see it.

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » July 24, 2005, 6:07 pm

kyoukan wrote:Two people want to see a movie at home = $20 + $3000+ for a decent set up that can come close to emulating a theater.

Which can also be used for viewing HDTV, Console entertainment, as a PC display, and for playing back your music anytime you wish.

There's no denying big screen TVs and sound systems in the home are a big part of this. The problem now is that DVDs aren't good enough for home theater equipment at least visually. 480 lines isn't even half of what HD displays are capable of. Given a choice of keeping a DVD copy of a movie or recording it on Tivo-HD off of HBO-HD, there's no comparison so DVDs will also be under attack from the HD format.

The entertainment industry will jump all over the chance to introduce HD-DVD (be it Blu-Ray or HD-DVD format) in order to boost prices and give the electronics industry a chance to sell new hardware again as they screwed up on DVD and can't make much money on sub 49.00 Progressive DVD players and 5 cent blank DVDs anymore.

I spend plenty on entertainment. It's come to the point where I'll set aside X amount of money per month devoted to supporting various forms of entertainment anywhere from movies, games to comics. I try to get that money to those I think are creating the best work and then do as I please otherwise in sampling other stuff off the net. They get their money one way or another. Sony, for example, works both the entertainment and electronic sides. Not that I buy much Sony stuff anymore but you get the picture. Diversity will keep these mega companies in the black.

Aabidano · Post by **Aabidano** » July 24, 2005, 6:30 pm

There's usaully only 3-4 movies a year that are worth going to the theater for, most of it is absolute crap. Many of the ones we go see are ones that aren't nearly as good on a small screen either, so i wouldn't rent or buy them anyway.

If they'd stop putting out shit movies more people would go watch. All the fancy CGI, etc.. in the world doesn't make up for crap writing.

They should take a clue from Bollywood.

Voronwë · Post by **Voronwë** » July 24, 2005, 10:47 pm

to suggest Theater + DVD release on the same day misunderstands the business model COMPLETELY.

even if theater sales are low, you get some people who go to the theater AND buy the DVD.

You release them both at the same time, and forget that.

33% of film revenue is from box office

roughly another third is from DVDs.

they then have sales to premium channels like HBO. Then they sell the rights to networks, then cable syndication.

This is a 20 year established business model, that is somewhat adapting to the increased proliferation of home theater technology. but the fundamentals are still the same from the way i see it.

It may happen one day, but that day isn't in the near term. By the way, last weekend, was up on par from the previous year for box office receipts.

Slump over?

lazy entertainment journalists? Wwhat? say it isnt so??!?!?

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » July 25, 2005, 12:23 am

Voronwë wrote:to suggest Theater + DVD release on the same day misunderstands the business model COMPLETELY.

even if theater sales are low, you get some people who go to the theater AND buy the DVD.

I could see the time between theater release and DVD release shortened to 30 or 45 days though.

Animalor · Post by **Animalor** » July 25, 2005, 8:11 am

Don't forget that a lot of times, a movie in the US opens much earlier than a movie in Eurpoe or Asia.

Here's the release schedule for serenity as an example..

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0379786/releaseinfo
UK 22 August 2005 (Edinburgh Film Festival)
Australia 29 September 2005
Netherlands 29 September 2005
USA 30 September 2005
Iceland 7 October 2005
UK 7 October 2005
Belgium 19 October 2005
France 19 October 2005
Italy 28 October 2005
Sweden 4 November 2005
Argentina 17 November 2005
Denmark 18 November 2005
Finland 18 November 2005
Czech Republic 24 November 2005
Germany 24 November 2005
Norway 2 December 2005

By going to 30 or 45 days, you get folks from those countries that can just go ahead and buy the movie before it makes it to theaters.

Ogbar · Post by **Ogbar** » July 25, 2005, 9:31 am

Since you mentioned 'Serenity', I'd just like to say that 'Firefly' is the best gorram show in the 'verse, and is now on SciFi on Fridays at 7:00PM (6:00 PM this week for the complete 2 hour premiere episode).

Zaelath · Post by **Zaelath** » July 25, 2005, 11:02 am

Animalor wrote:Don't forget that a lot of times, a movie in the US opens much earlier than a movie in Eurpoe or Asia.

Here's the release schedule for serenity as an example..

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0379786/releaseinfo
UK 22 August 2005 (Edinburgh Film Festival)
Australia 29 September 2005
Netherlands 29 September 2005
USA 30 September 2005
<snip>

By going to 30 or 45 days, you get folks from those countries that can just go ahead and buy the movie before it makes it to theaters.

But that's why they have that awesome region code system!

Psyloche · Post by **Psyloche** » July 25, 2005, 11:57 am

Ogbar wrote:Since you mentioned 'Serenity', I'd just like to say that 'Firefly' is the best gorram show in the 'verse, and is now on SciFi on Fridays at 7:00PM (6:00 PM this week for the complete 2 hour premiere episode).

Even more of a little derail, but what does Gorram mean? ><

Animalor · Post by **Animalor** » July 25, 2005, 12:02 pm

Zaelath wrote:
Animalor wrote:Don't forget that a lot of times, a movie in the US opens much earlier than a movie in Eurpoe or Asia.

Here's the release schedule for serenity as an example..

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0379786/releaseinfo
UK 22 August 2005 (Edinburgh Film Festival)
Australia 29 September 2005
Netherlands 29 September 2005
USA 30 September 2005
<snip>

By going to 30 or 45 days, you get folks from those countries that can just go ahead and buy the movie before it makes it to theaters.
But that's why they have that awesome region code system!

Isn't that easily defeatable by just buying North American machine and having it shipped to you or just modding a system to play media from other regions?

I suspect that you're being sarcastic however it's monday morning and I don't have the particular inclination to think about it.

Hesten · Post by **Hesten** » July 25, 2005, 3:53 pm

Animalor wrote:
Zaelath wrote:
Animalor wrote:Don't forget that a lot of times, a movie in the US opens much earlier than a movie in Eurpoe or Asia.

Here's the release schedule for serenity as an example..

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0379786/releaseinfo
UK 22 August 2005 (Edinburgh Film Festival)
Australia 29 September 2005
Netherlands 29 September 2005
USA 30 September 2005
<snip>

By going to 30 or 45 days, you get folks from those countries that can just go ahead and buy the movie before it makes it to theaters.
But that's why they have that awesome region code system!
Isn't that easily defeatable by just buying North American machine and having it shipped to you or just modding a system to play media from other regions?

I suspect that you're being sarcastic however it's monday morning and I don't have the particular inclination to think about it.

The code system aer VERY easily defeatable, at least in DK. You basically dont buy a non-region free DVD, its one of the selling points, and IMO one of the most important ones, seeing how danish DVD distributors butcher DVDs sometimes, or leave all the extra materials off.
For example, the Scanbox (our 3rd biggest distributor) release of The Man Who Wasnt There do ONLY come in color. The basic idea of this movie is that its in B/W, and some US versions put an extra CD with the color version in. Here we get color ONLY.
So you are sometimes forced (if you can watch a english movie without danish subtitles that is) to buy the region 1 version to get a just halfway decent movie or get the good extras.

And luckily most DVDs nowadays are made code free from standard, and are software locked, instead of hardware locked. So either your DVD are already code free, or as mine do, open the tray, use a code, and select your region (including region 0, codefree).

Personally around 70% of my movie collection are region 1 (and was higher % till the danes finally found out how to make a DVD without fucking it up, put extras on it, and lower the price on movies relatively fast), and i would never even consider buying a region locked DVD player.