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This topic comprises 3 pages: 1 2 3
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Author
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Topic: More Window Collapse
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Edward Havens
Jedi Master Film Handler
Posts: 614
From: Los Angeles, CA
Registered: Mar 2008
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posted 10-06-2014 09:36 AM
Bobby, that's been the way for television shows on DVD for at least ten to twelve years. Pretty much every show my wife and I have been buying on DVD/Blu-Ray, from The Office and How I Met Your Mother to Game of Thrones and Castle, finds the previous season being released days before (or sometimes, days after) the premiere of the new season. I didn't start watching GoT until just before the start of Season 4, so getting through Seasons 1 and 2 wasn't so bad. Took our own sweet time watching them. But damn, we had to plow through Season 3 as soon as it hit stores, because the first episode of S4 had already aired. Grrrrr.
I'd be curious to see how well the "pre-release" digital downloads sell. I don't know anyone from my seventysomething father to any of the teenagers I work with at my theatre, who go for them. Despite what the studios may desire, the people I know still like their movies the old fashioned way... on DVD and Blu-Ray. ![[Roll Eyes]](rolleyes.gif)
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Bobby Henderson
"Ask me about Trajan."
Posts: 10973
From: Lawton, OK, USA
Registered: Apr 2001
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posted 10-06-2014 10:29 AM
I think the approach seems to vary based on the network and then sometimes the specific TV show.
AMC's The Walking Dead now has its previous season available to stream on Netflix. That Blu-ray/DVD box set arrived in stores Aug. 26, the same day as the previous season box set of Sons of Anarchy. The new season of The Walking Dead starts next Sunday. Anyone wanting to get current on The Walking Dead will at least have some chance to binge watch on Netflix to get caught up prior to next Sunday.
Any HBO subscriber can sign up for a free HBO GO account and watch any episode of any original series they've aired in the last 15 or so years. New episodes, such as the latest episode of Boardwalk Empire for example, pops up on HBO GO immediately after its original Sunday night debut. OTOH, HBO does like to wait around for releasing a TV show's Blu-ray/DVD season box set right up until just before the next season starts. Amazon Prime Instant Video has started carrying various HBO series, but they vary in coverage (some are just season 1 only while others, such as The Sopranos have all seasons available; no GoT though).
IIRC, some TV shows have had current season episodes appear on Netflix, Amazon Prime or Hulu, not long after the original airings. I think Fox did that with that 24 mini series thing this past Summer.
quote: Edward Havens
I'd be curious to see how well the "pre-release" digital downloads sell. I don't know anyone from my seventysomething father to any of the teenagers I work with at my theatre, who go for them.
I don't know anyone who buys those digital downloads either. But I'll bet at least some people are buying them. Any time I boot up my Playstation 3 I see digital download movie ads on Playstation Network's front end. The same goes for Amazon's Instant Video service. Apple is in on this act too. Movie studios are aggressively pushing digital downloads on TV commercials, specifically saying they're available now but the Blu-ray and DVD are getting released later.
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Terry Lynn-Stevens
Phenomenal Film Handler
Posts: 1081
From: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Registered: Dec 2012
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posted 10-07-2014 01:31 AM
quote: Frank Cox
I have difficulty believing that in competition with a three-inch cell phone, folks like us who measure our screens in feet can't compete.
While I completely agree with others that the shrinking window reduces exhibitor grosses, I do have to say that some sort of change/shake up is on the horizon.
The current model of theatrical windowing really is its twilight, the window was once 9 months has now been brought down to as little as 90 days. (I believe Fault in the Our Stars was 97 days). Eventually, at some point in some way the window will be day and date or 14-21 days after the theatrical release. All in takes is one exhibitor to be crazy enough to change their business model or what if Verizon was to buy Regal and then agree to open a movie day and date with the option of cell phone streaming or home theater viewing? It would likely change everything. Then Rogers buys Cineplex and is the exclusive provider for theaters and streaming for the first six months of a movie in Canada? What if Netflix bought one of the chains? Currently Netflix has revenue numbers that match a studio. I remember when Blockbuster refused to take Netflix seriously and adapt their business model and look what has happened to Blockbuster.
The P & A costs are drastically reduced with shortened windows.
Well I totally expected the big chains to react to the Weinstein/Neflix deal, preserving their bricks and mortar venues and the window that provides the content is essential, but the chains really have to see the bigger picture. The chains exhibitors need to open up the possibility of other revenue streams. Would it be possible for the big chains to possibly allow a release of a digital movie at 14-21 days if they were the exclusive provider for the first nine months?
I never expected Netflix to become as big as they area, they have 54 million subscriptions in 53 countries. I also do not think it will all of a sudden cannibalize the big screen experience, it will certainly wipe out the smaller players and the week 3-4-5 revenues.
Let me say again, I totally agree that a longer window preserves the theatrical revenue and makes the same or more money for the exhibitor and studio. The better the relationship between the two, the more money that can be made. My big fear is that eventually some company or crazy chain executive will somehow end the window and that will totally destroy the power the chains currently have now. I think the major chains need to be open to allowing the smaller pictures that did not do so well at the box office to have a shortened window as long as they are the ones who are also exclusively distributing the content online.
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Lyle Romer
Phenomenal Film Handler
Posts: 1400
From: Davie, FL, USA
Registered: May 2002
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posted 10-07-2014 05:31 AM
quote: Terry Lynn-Stevens
My big fear is that eventually some company or crazy chain executive will somehow end the window and that will totally destroy the power the chains currently have now.
Unless the chain is owned by the studio or Netflix, no executive would EVER do this.
Also, theatres, as they have been built for the past 25 years (or however long it's been since the AMC Grand 24 opened), have too much overhead to survive without some sort of decent week 3+ gross.
To have anything like that, you'd have to have single to 4-plex type locations.
Bottom line is that NO chain will survive a day and date or 1-2 week exclusive model.
After the theatres shut down, movies will cease to exist as we know them. Once they become glorified TV shows, nobody will pay a premium to watch them. For the highest rated cable TV series, people are paying $10 or so PER MONTH to be able to watch them and they get several episodes plus everything else on HBO/Showtime.
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Martin McCaffery
Film God
Posts: 2481
From: Montgomery, AL
Registered: Jun 99
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posted 07-08-2015 02:50 PM
And now more collapse:
quote:
Paramount Teams With Exhibitors to Shorten Home Entertainment Release Windows
JULY 8, 2015 | 11:09AM PT
Brent Lang
Senior Film and Media Reporter
@BrentALang
Paramount Pictures is partnering with two leading exhibitors on an initiative that could significantly shrink the amount of time between a film’s theatrical release and its home entertainment debut.
The studio is teaming up with AMC Theatres and Cineplex Entertainment on an unorthodox rollout of two low-budget horror films, “Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension” and “Scout’s Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse.” The films will be available on home entertainment platforms 17 days after leaving theaters.
One other chain has signed on and is expected to go public as soon as tomorrow, but it’s not clear if other major exhibitors like Regal and Cinemark will show the films.
In recent years, studios and exhibitors have clashed whenever there has been an effort to shorten the window for when a film becomes available on DVD or on-demand platforms, which is traditionally 90 days, as many believe audiences will skip the multiplexes if they can see many films from the comfort of the couch.
Paramount is sweetening the pot by offering theater chains who show the film a percentage of the studio’s digital revenue for the period of digital and cable on-demand availability through the first three months from the initial U.S. theatrical release. The percentage that an exhibitor receives will be related to its market share, a spokeswoman for Paramount said.
The two films, both of which have October release dates, will be allowed to play in theaters exclusively until the number of screens showing the pictures drops to 300 or less. At that point, the clock will start ticking on the pending home entertainment release. Typically, for films of this size, that will take place four to six weeks after a theatrical debut, the spokeswoman said. She depicted the initiative not as shortening windows, but enabling greater flexibility, because by a time a picture has such a limited theatrical footprint, neither exhibitors nor studios stand to generate much revenue.
Paramount isn’t the first studio to try to overhaul release windows. In 2011, Universal Pictures got an earful from theater chains when it tried to release the comedy “Tower Heist” in a few select markets for a premium price three weeks after it hit theaters. Faced with a boycott, Universal abandoned that plan. Last year, Sony got into it with theater owners when the studio pulled “The Interview” from screens amid terrorist threats before backtracking and launching a simultaneous video-on-demand and theatrical launch. Most exhibitors refused to play the film, consigning it to a few indie chains and arthouses.
News of Paramount’s plan has yet to provoke the same level of exhibitor backlash, and a spokesman for the National Association of Theatre Owners, the cinema business’ main lobbying arm, praised Paramount for working with its members.
“For several years we’ve been asking for the studios to work with theater owners on developing new models and ways to grow the whole pie and market in ways that don’t damage a film’s theatrical run,” said Patrick Corcoran. “We applaud Paramount for discussing this with theater owners.”
Corcoran said NATO’s other members would have to “evaluate and decide for themselves” about supporting the Paramount initiative. AMC is the second largest theater chain in North America and Canada-based Cineplex is the fifth largest.
The Wall Street Journal first reported plans for the initiative.
Variety
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Mitchell Dvoskin
Phenomenal Film Handler
Posts: 1869
From: West Milford, NJ, USA
Registered: Jan 2001
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posted 07-09-2015 08:54 AM
quote: Steve Guttag
For it does TEACH the patron to wait for the home release.
That is exactly what it tells me. Unless it is the rare film that I really want to see on the big screen, I usually just put it on my Netflix queue while it is still in first run, and 90 to 100 days later it is in my home. I don't even have to remember I queued it, Netflix remembers. If this shortened window becomes the norm, it is a double bonus for home viewing.
The days when going out to a movie gave you an experience that all but the wealthy could not duplicate at home. This is no longer the case. Within the year, 4K home unit will become more common, meaning that home viewing will have higher resolution than many commercial theatres.
Yes, the industry is shooting itself in the foot. A year hold back would prompt people like me to go out to the movies more often, 45 to 60 days I would actually rather wait to see it at home.
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Bobby Henderson
"Ask me about Trajan."
Posts: 10973
From: Lawton, OK, USA
Registered: Apr 2001
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posted 07-09-2015 09:43 AM
quote: Steve Guttag
In the 1-year + approach, the exhibitor gets to milk it for what its worth for anyone that wants to see it (with their studio partner getting their substantial cut)...and then a year later, the studio gets to milk it again after it has been given enough rest that people won't think they just saw it. And if it is a real blockbuster...delay the home release even longer and do another theatrical run.
That's how it should be done. Unfortunately the movie studios and their global media conglomerate parent companies only want the opposite extreme. I think they would do a theatrical release as a single weekend UFC-style pay per view event if they thought they could get away with it, in theaters one week and on Netflix next week.
My theory is the bosses and bean counters are only looking at the situation through the prism of paying back all the money borrowed to fund a movie's production and marketing. The longer it takes to pay back all that money the more they have to pay out in interest. They want to minimize that at all costs, even if it means rushing a movie through all phases of production and making its original theatrical release a very short blip on the calendar.
Obviously they think they're going to make the same amount of money on a movie release regardless of how much time they give a movie in a particular release platform, be it the theater, digital download sales, VOD, Blu-ray, cable, Netflix, etc. The attitude is "let's make all that money, but much faster!" Of course that thinking way the hell all wrong.
The movie studio people and parent media company people don't seem to have the first clue the American public ALWAYS is looking for a bargain and will take the cheapest option available most of the time. They also don't seem to have the first clue Americans find it very easy to wait a few weeks or a couple months to see a movie.
It's nothing these days to skip seeing a movie during its theatrical release. Hardly any time passes at all before I see spam on TV or the Internet promoting the HD Digital download on sale. Those are now pre-dating the Blu-ray release by more than a month in some cases; and it's not a very long span of time between a movie leaving theaters and having BD copies on store shelves.
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Mike Blakesley
Film God
Posts: 12767
From: Forsyth, Montana
Registered: Jun 99
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posted 07-09-2015 12:30 PM
quote: Mitchell Dvoskin
A year hold back would prompt people like me to go out to the movies more often, 45 to 60 days I would actually rather wait to see it at home.
I don't know if that's really true anymore, at least in many cases. There are SO many things to watch on TV now. It's easy for a movie to get lost in the shuffle.
So many movies today are just forgettable fluff, so the notion of "I HAVE to see that!" evaporates quickly. I have already completely forgotten the most recent Avengers movie, for example and have zero desire to buy a BluRay of it -- or anything else I've seen lately, for that matter. So if they waited a year for video, a lot of people would STILL skip it in the theaters because they have so much else stacked up in their queue to watch.
To me the worst thing about this Paramount experiment is that they ARE doing it with horror movies, which do most of their business the first weekend, so the grosses will be about the same as they would have been anyway, and thus they will very handily be able to say "See, theater owners? The early video release didn't hurt at all, so let's try it with a few MORE movies." We're on a slippery slope here.
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