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This topic comprises 3 pages: 1 2 3
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Author
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Topic: A True Home Theater
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Scott Jentsch
Phenomenal Film Handler
Posts: 1061
From: New Berlin, WI, USA
Registered: Apr 2003
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posted 02-23-2006 07:35 PM
I'm surprised at the amount of discounting going on with initial releases on DVD. The home video industry is shooting themselves in the foot by creating a consumer expectation that movies shouldn't cost any more than $14.00 on the day of release.
I know those prices are loss leaders by places like Best Buy intending to get you in the store so they can sell you batteries and cell phones for inflated prices, but the low prices of DVD's make it harder to release something that is more expensive, but may merit the higher price due to the complete package.
The low prices of DVD's also creates a completely reasonable value comparison in many people's minds about going to the theater. When Harry Potter 4 can be had for $16 a scant 110 days after its theatrical release, it's difficult for many people to see the value in dropping $17.50 (2 x $8.75) plus concessions for the theatrical experience, especially if they are in sub-par areas for theatrical quality.
HD-DVD and Blu-Ray duking it out for the future on the home front, DVD's getting cheaper and faster to release every day, Digital Cinema struggling desperately to get respect in theaters, and a society getting busier by the generation. We live in interesting times, that's for sure...
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Raymond Watson
Film Handler
Posts: 26
From: Waldron, Arkansas
Registered: Feb 2006
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posted 02-24-2006 11:30 PM
well I think its just a version of chicken little..."the sky is falling!!!"
sure the bean counters want to try it.
If you take out the "water fountain/coffee pot talk" about a movie,the sales will never get an upswing. commercials only start a movie, you never see them in quantity after it is out.
The movie companies depend on Joe Sixpack and the boys at the office to pump it up if it is good.
released to dvd same day would turn every other tavern in a city to a theatre for 2 nites a week..........unless baseball is on.
It will be like a Mike Tyson fight when 15 people go to someones house (the one with the best tv),and split the cost of the show. Thus turning every 100th home in the modern world into a private cinema in which the movie company only gets $29.95 minus markup for the first showing.
"You bring sodas ,I'll bring the chips thing" does not put money in movie makers pockets. The bean counters and suits all use psycologists and business models to make money,not lose it.
The first one to do it on a regular basis is committing suicide.
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They all know that,and will let you wonder about it ,just to keep you stirred up. Movie companies will never rule it out but on the other hand I am betting they never go direct to dvd on anything but a very small scale.
As far as digital projection , guys..... technology cannot be stopped,it is here to stay. DP will be the wave of the future, just as the talkies were in 1929. ALL decent quality movies will be shown in a large venue. The method of display may change but,per ticket sales in a large venue will not.
Its just part of the show,and a show ain't a show if it ain't
on the bigscreen!!!!!!!
theres my $0.02....plus tax........Ray
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Bernie Anderson Jr
Master Film Handler
Posts: 435
From: Woodbridge, New Jersey
Registered: Apr 2000
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posted 02-28-2006 06:14 PM
quote:
As far as digital projection , guys..... technology cannot be stopped,it is here to stay. DP will be the wave of the future, just as the talkies were in 1929. ALL decent quality movies will be shown in a large venue. The method of display may change but,per ticket sales in a large venue will not.
Its just part of the show,and a show ain't a show if it ain't
on the bigscreen!!!!!!!
I'm not sold on the DP thing. I do think though that the future is already here and has been here for awhile, but no one really noticed it for awhile. I think that IMAX (or something similar) will be the future. Look at it this way, you're spending about $150,000 per screen to equipt a theatre with DP. What will it bring in? What difference will you see? I run an 18-plex and I can tell you, I had prints that were months old and left as good as the day it came in. My Wedding Crashers print was 5 months on screen with 5 shows a day each day, 7 days a week and it was still perfect. So the print scratches, wear and dirt don't fly with me. That being said, I don't think you will bring in one extra dollar over the fact that it's DP. I know I'm off the topic a bit, but I think what I'm saying relates to the whole day and date thing. If IMAX where to take off with more wide releases, you will GAIN audiences. It has proven even on a small scale 200 screens across the country that films like Harry Potter and Batman and the like will make money. It is something that you will NEVER get at home. I saw my first IMAX booth for the first time last month at Lincoln Square and I was blown away by the quality, not only on the screen but in the booth. The rerelease of Polar Express made an extra $1,000,000 dollars over the Thanksgiving weekend. What? Polar Express made about 35 Mill on inital release and you're talking about 200 screens. WB is going to rerelease it again this year too. So it has proven it's self. Even with a Day and Date release, IMAX will still pull. It's already running Day and DAte with standard theatres now.
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Bobby Henderson
"Ask me about Trajan."
Posts: 10973
From: Lawton, OK, USA
Registered: Apr 2001
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posted 02-28-2006 11:58 PM
True, second run and bargain theaters give movie prints a second life.
However, there are far fewer second run theaters in the country. A lot of them have closed recently, in part because of those ever-shrinking release windows to DVD. Here in Lawton, the Vaska theater (an old single screen theater) is the only bargain screen left in town.
Overall, I think there's a very lopsided balance of first run screens versus 2nd run. And while some prints can be shipped overseas for runs there, usually new prints have to be struck for theaters over there because of subtitling and other concerns (like having a different edit of the movie).
My point is, a great deal of prints made for first run are likely only going to play on one film projector and then get shredded, recycled or whatever happens to prints once they're done. This would be especially true for those big event releases with 5000 or more 35mm prints in the US/Canada market.
My concerns are still pretty strong about the D-Cinema situation. 4K and standards above that are really where commercial cinema needs to be for video projection for a number of reasons. Unfortunately for us film fans (or nostalgic purists as the digital fans would say in a dismissive tone) the business people can make a strong case for D-Cinema just in terms of money. Unfortunate for us again, our nation's business culture cannot see past a few up front dollars to see what's good for itself in the long term.
[ 03-01-2006, 12:02 AM: Message edited by: Bobby Henderson ]
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