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This topic comprises 4 pages: 1 2 3 4
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Topic: VOD plan starts next week
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Scott Jentsch
Phenomenal Film Handler
Posts: 1061
From: New Berlin, WI, USA
Registered: Apr 2003
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posted 04-25-2011 11:19 AM
From his comments, I would imagine Kenneth Ziffren would think that putting a Redbox outside a movie theater would be a really good idea. ![[Roll Eyes]](rolleyes.gif)
I've long held the belief that far too many movie theaters have relied on their exclusivity as a crutch. Many theaters don't deserve the opportunity they are being given by the studios, and for a larger number of reasons, studios are getting more aggressive about taking that opportunity away. This is something I've been predicting for years, even though it could mean the decline of my own publication that I have dedicated a large portion of my life to.
What Ziffren doesn't seem to understand is that the tightening of the home video release window affects the perception in people's minds about how long they'll have to wait to see the movie if they don't go to a theater to see it.
When a person sees a TV commercial for Fast Five, I think they make a value judgement about whether the movie is worth seeing in the theater, or waiting until it's available for home viewing. Using the 100-day window, the movie won't be in stores until the beginning of August, and might not be available on Redbox or Netflix until the beginning of September (I think people will use the earlier date in their heads, and when it shows up in the Best Buy ad, they think about whether it's worth buying, or putting it on their Netflix queue and waiting another four weeks).
What kind of assistance is NATO providing its members, if anything? Are they producing information about how to attract more people, how to improve the moviegoing experience, and distributing information about approaches that have and haven't worked for other theaters? Are they doing anything beyond posturing in a few press releases and quotes in the media?
If they aren't, that's a shame. Lacking that, hopefully there can be some grassroots efforts on the part of theaters in forums like this (however, if there are, I haven't seen many to date).
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Martin Brooks
Jedi Master Film Handler
Posts: 900
From: Forest Hills, NY, USA
Registered: May 2002
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posted 04-25-2011 12:30 PM
quote: Jonathan M. Crist
As previously speculated, DirecTV will charge a household $29.99 to view a film in HD and turn over 80 percent of that “box office” to the studio. Statistics compiled by nonpartisan research firms reveal that more than 97 percent of a film’s theatrical gross is earned within the first eight weeks of release; in fact, check the April 1-3 box-office chart, and you’ll find that none of the films earning more than $1 million has lasted 56 days. Thus, the exercise should have only a limited impact on a film’s performance in theaters.
That's not the point. The point is that if people know they can see a film 60 days from theatrical premiere, many will stop going to the movies at all and will wait for the VOD. And the most important thing for the industry is for people to stay in the habit of going to the movies.
Also, windows have been shrinking forever. What makes you think that it's going to stay at 60 days and $30 or just on DirectTV? Movies used to not be available on VHS until a year after theatrical release. Now it's on DVD/BD in just a few months from premiere. This is the beginning of the end of theatrical distribution. They'll still be a few theatres in large cities and populated suburbs, just as there are a few legitimate theatres in most cities, but most of them will disappear.
The studios see this as more money up front. The execs only care about the revenues in the next quarter. Few of them expect to keep their jobs more than a year or two. The problem is that it's theatrical distribution that gives movies their credibility. Without that, budgets will drop and movies will start to look a lot more like cable TV: there a few good shows on Showtime and HBO and everything else looks like "Auction Hunters".
In the studio's defense, fewer people go to the movies regularly. In 1946, 61% of the U.S. population every week. By 1978, it was down to 10.36%. In 2010, it fell to 25.4 million weekly admissions representing 8.24% of the population (and frankly, that number sounds suspiciously high to me.)
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Mike Blakesley
Film God
Posts: 12767
From: Forsyth, Montana
Registered: Jun 99
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posted 04-25-2011 09:41 PM
But it makes no sense to debate those percentages. In the 1940s, outside of things like sports events and saloons, there was literally NO other way to get entertained outside the house, unless you lived in a big city where live entertainment was featured. There was radio and that was it.
In the 60s, the TV "bloom" had faded somewhat but there still weren't a lot of options outside the home. If you wanted to see the hot movie before everyone forgot about it, it had to be in a movie theatre.
Things are completely different now. Not only are there a multitude of ways to get entertained wherever you are, but you can see the EXACT SAME THING wherever you are. Want to watch "The Office" at work or at home or on your iPod or on your car stereo or on your, I don't know, wristwatch TV? No problem!
So it's dumb to go into all these percentages of how many people are going to the movies. There is only so much pie to go around. The pie keeps getting sliced more and more, is all. You have to compare apples to apples.
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Frank Cox
Film God
Posts: 2234
From: Melville Saskatchewan Canada
Registered: Apr 2011
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posted 09-26-2011 09:01 PM
DirecTV CEO says price is too high
quote:
DirecTV CEO Says $30 Price for Premium Films Is ‘Too High’
By Alex Sherman - Sep 22, 2011
DirecTV (DTV) Chief Executive Officer Michael White said demand for films offered for rental just eight weeks after their theatrical release has been “small” because the price of $29.99 per movie is “awfully high.”
DirecTV, the largest U.S. satellite-TV provider, began offering some Hollywood studio films on demand in April for $29.99 after 60 days. Historically, pay-TV providers had waited 90 to 120 days before airing movies on television.
The service is part of an attempt by studios to harness pay-TV as they seek new ways to sell movies and counter shrinking DVD sales. Few customers will purchase the premium rentals unless the quality of the movies improves and the price comes down, White said in an interview.
“They’re priced too high for consumers,” White said. “We didn’t choose that price, but that’s where the studios forced us to be.”
DirecTV Executive Vice President Derek Chang said in April the El Segundo, California-based company would consider renegotiating with studios on price if customers didn’t embrace the service. The early offerings, which have included “Just Go With It” and “The Adjustment Bureau,” have sparked criticism from theater owners, who are concerned they will lose revenue to home-viewers.
Sony Corp. (6758), Universal Pictures, Warner Bros. and Twentieth Century Fox have agreed to release certain films in the early window. Lions Gate Entertainment Corp. will offer the Taylor Lautner film “Abduction” on pay TV three months after its release for $6.99.
DirecTV hasn’t released sales figures for the $29.99 titles. Comcast Corp. (CMCSA) and Dish Network Corp. (DISH) have also said they’ve negotiated with studios for on-demand movies with a shortened window.
DirecTV fell 59 cents, or 1.4 percent, to $41.02 at 4 p.m. New York time on the Nasdaq Stock Market. The shares have risen 2.7 percent this year.
Note the quote "DirecTV Executive Vice President Derek Chang said in April the El Segundo, California-based company would consider renegotiating with studios on price if customers didn’t embrace the service."
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