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This topic comprises 3 pages: 1 2 3
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Topic: Netflix Boss Suggest How To Save Movies
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Terry Lynn-Stevens
Phenomenal Film Handler
Posts: 1081
From: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Registered: Dec 2012
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posted 11-02-2013 12:06 PM
quote: Mike Frese
Which is why you need to take this guy seriously. He would easily give 80% of a $19.99 Premium VOD to the studios. $16 to the studios would be the equivalent to about $29 in ticket sales (assuming a 55% film rental.
Whatever the case is, this is all about trying to make money and legitimizing Netflix. If the studios feel they can make money, then they would do it. Selling a movie that cost the studio $50 million for $100 million to Netflix does not sound like such a bad idea. You never really know if a movie will take off in theatres. The studio wins in this scenario but if the studios has a hot movie that plays well in theatres, then that movie will demand money from someone who would be willing to pay for the streaming rights.
I don't see a problem with premiering a movie on Netflix and skipping the cinema if the studio knows they are going to make up front money on the movie, on the other hand, I doubt Netflix is going to pony up money for a big blockbuster so they can skip the cinema, I can't see that happening.
Netflix has become a bigger internet success than I ever thought it would, they have something like 40 million subscribers which is very impressive. What they did with House of Cards was pretty interesting.
When he says there is a lack of innovation on the part of cinema owners, I think he is right and he is also wrong at the same time. People are not going to flock to the cinema because of interesting innovation at the cinema, they flock to the theatre because of the content that is playing at that theatre. No amount of IMAX or Dolby Atmos is going to make people pay and watch a movie that they do not really want to see.
A good question for Netflix would be this. Produce and finance a movie yourself and premiere it on Netflix and show me how you will recoup the cost?
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Bobby Henderson
"Ask me about Trajan."
Posts: 10973
From: Lawton, OK, USA
Registered: Apr 2001
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posted 11-04-2013 10:06 AM
It's not like the FBI, Interpol or whoever will have a lot of time trying to bust VOD customers for letting friends and neighbors fill up a living room and chip in for the cost of the rental, food, drinks, etc. It's standard business for all other PPV events. I've been to plenty of house parties to watch a UFC event or championship boxing match. Watching a first run movie wouldn't be any different.
The proponents for day and date VOD release alongside theatrical foolisly think the theatrical release model will endure and that day and date VOD will just be a convenient new option. That's just not true. It will be a market destroying option. The new VOD option will kill the old theatrical option and turn the movie business into a home viewing only thing.
In the past 20 years we've seen all kinds of technology and news/entertainment mediums either die off completely or at least fall into the endangered species category. In some cases few, if anyone, saw the trouble coming. Movie theaters can wind up in the same terrible position if the balance is altered just enough to make the business unprofitable. Day and date VOD will do just that.
We all know what has happened to newspapers & radio in recent years. Local TV stations are up next to get squeezed.
Do any telephone booths still exist in the United States? I can't remember the last time I saw one. I don't personally know many people who still have a "land line" telephone. It's all mobile now.
10 years ago Nokia & Blackberry were the envy of the telecom industry; I'm sure no one at that time could have accurately predicted how both companies would be on the verge of ruin today. Sony, a company previously seen as invincible in the consumer electronics market, is hemorrhaging cash at a rate that can't be sustained for long at all.
Look at how many data storage formats have come and gone in the last 30 years. And now we have a new trend of computers being released with no removable storage drives at all. 10 years ago if someone released a notebook computer model with no optical disc drive, floppy drive, etc., it would have been considered a bare bones entry level device. Now certain companies (Apple) are selling such notebooks at a premium price. Go figure.
Anyway, paradigm shifts, even those that are destructive to a business or technology that has endured for decades, seem to be getting more common. Commercial movie theaters don't have any sort of magic halo preventing them from falling into ruin.
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Martin McCaffery
Film God
Posts: 2481
From: Montgomery, AL
Registered: Jun 99
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posted 11-04-2013 01:13 PM
And the other shoe drops:
http://variety.com/2013/digital/news/ted-sarandos-backs-away-from-day-and-date-movies-with-netflix-1200794822/
quote:
Ted Sarandos Backs Away From Day-and-Date Movies with Netflix
Ted Johnson
Senior Editor
@tedstew
DIGITAL 09:04 AM
Netflix Enters Oscar Race with Documentary Acquisition ‘The Square’
Days after floating the notion of Netflix releasing movies simultaneously with their theatrical bow, the streaming service’s chief content officer seems to be having second thoughts.
In a keynote Q&A held Monday at a Bloomberg-sponsored event in Los Angeles, Ted Sarandos appeared to back away from his original statement on the matter.
“I wasn’t calling for day and date with Netflix,” he said. “I was calling to move all the windows up to get closer to what the consumer wants.”
The sentiment was quite different than the one he made Oct. 26 at an Independent Film Forum event in which he suggested, “Why not premiere movies on Netflix the same day they’re opening in theaters? And not little movies. There’s a lot of people and a lot of ways to do that. But why not big movies?”
Sarandos was also sharply critical of theater owners in his Oct. 26 address, saying, “The reason why we may enter this space and try to release some big movies ourselves this way, is because I’m concerned that as theater owners try to strangle innovation and distribution, not only are they going to kill theaters–they might kill movies.”
That statement drew a harsh rebuke from John Fithian, the president of National Assn. of Theater Owners, who made clear that exhibitors would not cotton to sharing their window with Netflix.
Sarandos acknowledged having since spoken with Fithian, but not other exhibitors, though he didn’t specify what they discussed.
However, Sarandos may not be out of the woods yet; his suggestion that he’s still interested in “moving all the windows up” could still mean the theaters will find their own window crowded. He didn’t specify what he meant by that.
In other Netflix movie news, Sarandos discussed his company’s first-ever acquisition of a documentary, “The Square,” which details the unrest in Egypt. Asked whether he though the film had chances to snare an Oscar, he replied, “‘The Square’ is a great, great film. That is a hard thing to call but that would be phenomenal. “
Variety
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Mike Blakesley
Film God
Posts: 12767
From: Forsyth, Montana
Registered: Jun 99
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posted 11-04-2013 11:37 PM
Here is some more of that article, which was sent to me by NATO.
quote:
“Netflix is innovating on behalf of the consumer, getting the consumer closer and closer to what they want. I think that is a better business, giving consumers what they want, than creating artificial distance between the product and the consumer,” he said.
Since he gave his address on Oct. 26, to the Film Independent Forum, he said that he had received “mostly great feedback from people who say we have had this discussion [about windows] for a long time, but no one wants to say it out loud.” He said that the point of the speech to independent filmmakers was to show the “simple contrast to what is happening in TV” and what is happening in film.
“Figuring out a way to skim the market is healthy for the studios, but doing it in a way that breaks consumer enthusiasm for the product itself is taking it too far,” he said. “So that is why I am a big proponent of being much more progressive about premium VOD early in the life cycle. Just trying to move all the windows up before people just decide they are going to steal it. So I think all these kind of windows that were built well before the technology, well before people had the Internet in their homes, would serve the market well because you could actually skim the market, let it sit and come back out again. That just doesn’t exist anymore. So I think trying to cling to that is just going to do nothing but promote piracy.”
Sarandos’ speech on Monday was to the Bloomberg and Tribeca Film Festival’s Business of Entertainment breakfast at the Soho House in West Hollywood.
I was struck by this quote of his:
quote:
I am a big proponent of being much more progressive about premium VOD early in the life cycle. Just trying to move all the windows up before people just decide they are going to steal it.
This just shows he doesn't understand real people. Hey Mr. Sarandos: The people who steal movies DECIDE THEY'RE GOING TO STEAL THEM BEFORE THEY ARE EVEN RELEASED. You are NEVER going to stop them stealing. Even if you gave the movie away on the internet for free on Day 1, those same people would STILL steal it by pirating it before release day, just so they could say they did it.
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Scott Jentsch
Phenomenal Film Handler
Posts: 1061
From: New Berlin, WI, USA
Registered: Apr 2003
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posted 11-05-2013 02:07 AM
quote: Mike Blakesley
Come on, you're starting to sound like Richard Greenfield here. Sure, it might happen. Then when they find out they've killed the goose that lays the golden boxoffice grosses, then what?
I didn't say it was a good idea, I just said that I think it will happen. The indications are there, the dogs are barking at the door. It's just a matter of a spreadsheet somewhere hitting the right numbers for it to happen.
That may take a long time, who knows? I've been thinking it will happen for the last 10 years, and so far the furthest they've gotten is a few SuperTicket attempts.
And it may be a colossal failure that will go down in the history books. But it might not. A wise man prepares for both outcomes. To those with very deep pockets, a failure is often just a rehearsal for the next attempt. Try, learn, adjust.
Oh, and speaking of SuperTickets...
The SuperTicket for Anchorman 2 has just been pre-announced. No details yet.
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Bobby Henderson
"Ask me about Trajan."
Posts: 10973
From: Lawton, OK, USA
Registered: Apr 2001
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posted 11-05-2013 11:04 AM
quote: Scott Jentsch
And it may be a colossal failure that will go down in the history books. But it might not. A wise man prepares for both outcomes. To those with very deep pockets, a failure is often just a rehearsal for the next attempt. Try, learn, adjust.
Here's the big problem with that. If the idea, experiment or whatever it is turns out to be a colossal failure there's no going back to learn and adjust. Once a specific paradigm of entertainment delivery is destroyed there is no restoring it.
For instance, Redbox was an extremely destructive experiment. Redbox kiosks replaced brick and mortar video stores instead of supplementing their business. They didn't "grow revenue" or "develop new streams of income" like the business guys predicted. Instead, the kiosks turned out to be a much cheaper alternative for customers. Thousands upon thousands of traditional video stores were cannibalized as a result. Mail order & online services like Netflix, Gamefly, Amazon, etc. added to the damage.
Today, very few traditional video stores remain. The bulk of those are ones who have diversified, such as Hastings, into buying & selling used books, movies & games as well as offering a wider selection of movies & games to rent compared to the limited range offered at Redbox kiosks. Still, I wonder how long companies like Hastings can hold on. I can rent Blu-ray movies real cheap there, but they have to make enough money to pay that light bill. I worry I'm going to pull into their parking lot one day soon and find the place closed for good.
The same scenario applies to movie theaters. Once the theatrical release paradigm is contaminated by day and date premium VOD, there's not going to be any "putting the genie back into the bottle." Customers won't like going back to paying more for something once they get used to paying less.
With all the short term minded schemes these business guys keep floating they sound more and more like a teenager wanting to try heroin for the first time. They'll get a huge rush at first and then put on a fast track to oblivion.
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