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Studios Push for $50 Early Home Movie Rentals (variety.com)
As many as five major Hollywood studios have been working with cinema owners to shrink the traditional release window and allow consumers to rent movies on-demand in as little as 17 days after they hit theaters, reports Variety. From the article: Warner Bros. and Universal have been the most aggressive in pursuing an arrangement that would see certain movies receive a premium video-on-demand release within weeks of their theatrical premieres, but now other studios are joining the discussions. Twentieth Century Fox has also begun to talk early releases with theater owners, while Sony is having its own separate talks with exhibitors and is trying to devise its own plan. Paramount, which previously did a pilot program with AMC and a few other exhibitors to release "Scouts Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse" and "Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension" on digital platforms early, has continued to seek a similar strategy. Though different studios are exploring different scenarios, the plan that has gathered the most steam would involve offering up movies for $50 a rental some 17 days after their theatrical opening. Those rentals would be available for 48 hours. The latest round of discussions began roughly 18 months ago.
Why not make it $500, at least if you're intention is to charge a wishful price that nobody is going to pay anyway.
No thanks. I'll just keep not seeing them. Yeah, not seeing them, that's the ticket.
I'm really disappointed with Scottish pirates. Trainspotting 2 has been in release in Scotland for weeks and there are no torrents on piratebay.
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I can take my sweetie to a nice dinner and released movie for less than $50.
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Considering I spend about $35 on two tickets plus concessions, $50 is not that bad to be able to watch new movies without leaving the house. I often see blockbuster movies with 2-4 friends or family members, so then its a bargain. And in my current situation I need a babysitter to see a movie in the theater, so this would cut the cost of a movie in half for my wife and I right now.
I certainly wouldn't call it cheap, but the price is about what I expected.
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They will also include free non-skip able ads
And there lies the killer. I might pay $20 to see a good, early, first run movie. Not $50. And not with anything else 'added' unless it is completely optional. For $50 I'd expect to get dinner with the movie.
Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!
I have not been in a cinema for months, and neither have the majority of people have seen any of the oscar 2017 films of which are oddly not superhero films.
and watch a pirated cam version.
by TheSpoom (715771) Uncaring Linux user here. I have nothing to add to this but please continue. *munches popcorn*
$50 is pretty step, but for some movies I might pay that much if I was basically purchasing early.
But as a rental I also think that's too high, especially for only a 48-hour window. That said I might pay that much for home access to Star Wars movies after they were in the theater, which would save on repeat theater viewings (so far Star Wars movies are the only movies I ever see in the theaters multiple times).
One aspect of the cost people are not factoring is in the mental savings of not having hundreds of other annoying people surrounding you as you watch a movie. That is worth quite a lot by itself.
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Let's see, cheapest movie tickets I can get is Costco $35 for 4. Then I have to buy popcorn and drinks $20. I have to deal with 20 minutes of commercials and previews, annoying kids yelling over the movies (ok, sometimes those are mine and I'm embarrassed by it), people walking pass the screen to use the restroom, dealing with new openings crowd, parking and herding the kids to the theatre. Versus at home and calling a couple of other parents to make it movie night. Yeah, sign me up and save my sanity.
I will pass on this option.
If you want to see fucking CGI, search for "3D hentai".
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No, really. This applies to movies too. Why spend more to see it now when you can find it in the Walmart bargain bin a year later?
So look at is this way, the money you pay at the theater is there to cover the costs of the equipment. Why would you pay a similar price if you are using your own equipment instead of theirs? It's kind of like how everyone thought ebooks would be cheaper because of distribution savings, but then they end up costing almost full retail price and Apple is getting sued for price fixing later.
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They will also include free non-skip able ads
Yay!!!! I don't have to pay for the ads!!!!!
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Why would I want to rent someone's early home movies?
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Very few movies are worth watching for free. Paying several times as much to watch it over two weeks after it hits the theaters? No thanks. I think I saw two or three movies in the theater last year.
Here's a clue for you, Hollywood: If you want more of my money, make more movies that don't suck throbbing purple donkey dick. But we all know that's not going to happen.
So, $50 to rent for 48 hours.
Invite 10 acquaintances over to watch the movie, suggest they pay a modest $2 contribution for, say, wear and tear on the carpet as they walk through the house to the TV room... two showings a day over two days... $30 profit!
systemd is Roko's Basilisk.
50 cents is about right.
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Think about having a watching party for a new release combined with party/barbecue or something. Maybe you could get your friends to pitch in and watch it on a 100" projection screen. The cost quickly becomes a non-issue.
Or invite over a few friends and split the cost. Oh, wait . . .
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My guess is that they are pitching a royal fit about this idea. They will not want to allow this, regardless of what it costs, unless the distribution companies make some kind of major concession. Theater chains fight hard to get exclusive rights to first run movies for a reason and they count on the suckers who feel they have to see the movie when it first comes out.
Distribution contracts for chains vary, but for the big movies, the distribution company gets a hefty percentage of the box office sales (as high as 100%) for first run films on opening weekend. After that, the percentage of the box office drops off as the film gets older and older. Where home viewers works for the distribution company (they get 100% of that take) it won't for the theater who losses out on concession sales and their percentage of the box office.
I wonder what the distribution companies are going to give up here? I also wonder what this actually says about the future of theaters? It is yet another nail in that long suffering industry's coffin, which started to die with the introduction of the VCR and video rental shops.
Think of it, now YOU can run a small theater business in your own home for $50 per showing.... If you have a small 12 seat media room, you can charge $20/seat, throw in $10 worth of drinks and popcorn and clear $170/showing. Two showings a night, two days a week and that's $680/week for 8 hours work. You'd only need to fill three seats to break even. Not bad money...
"File to fit, pound to insert, paint to match" - Aircraft Maintenance 101
And there lies the killer. I might pay $20 to see a good, early, first run movie. Not $50. And not with anything else 'added' unless it is completely optional. For $50 I'd expect to get dinner with the movie.
Dinner and a movie costs way more than $50.
You rent the movie, your friends bring over take-out or pot-luck.
$50 doesn't make sense for an individual but for a large group it's pretty easy.
That said, I only go to see digitally-projected 3D films anymore (kids, etc.). Bluray from Redbox is a way better deal than $50.
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If you're making it generally available across multiple content providers, cool.
If it's going to be on a proprietary platform per-studio, or some abomination like Hulu? Fuck no.
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THANK GOD!!!
I just wait until it shows up on Netflix on its own.
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When I first read the caption, I thought it was $50/year which would have been reasonable. Fifty bucks per movie is insane. I don' t think many will bite the hook.
I think this is a great idea. I can imagine throwing a movie night/party with friends. Normally it would be silly to throw a party to see a new release after everyone can simply rent/buy the movie. In this I can buy/rent the movie and throw a BBQ. My friends and I often throw parties for Boxing/UFC fights or other sporting events. Now we have one more excuse to get together.
I won't do this for most movies but I may for some.
They are not aiming this service at all of you who don't want to go out, wait for the movie to come to Netflix, are cheep that you don't want to pay for it, will download the pirate version anyways, or think that going to a movie is a loud and obnoxious thing (Which maybe it is on your area, but I have only encountered that a few times in the many years at the theater, but I don't go to the discount theaters anyways).
The point is, it's not for you, this is for the demographic of people that will pay to see it in their home early or don't want to go out.
This is to get an extra buck from those that want to see the movie but don't go to the theater for whatever reason.
Soon it will turn into same day releases at higher costs (and $50 is not that much.)
How they will combat someone ripping it and posting it, that will be the big question.
We will now get WEB-DL releases earlier.
Fuck off, Murdoch and co.
Being able to sell food deals with ticket prices? so they can clam $5-$6 of an $16 ticket as food cost and pocket it?
50 bucks to watch it or be patient and get the cd/dvd for a buck or two?
On a side note, just watched the 1.00 blu ray of transformers 4 tonight.
I'm going to follow that up with 5 dollars of 65 hours of "get Smart".
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I remember there was an interesting tidbit about this thing but I can't quite recall it. Wasn't it one of the Napster guys who came up with the idea?
If it's all crap, why even pirate it?
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Five bucks. Take it or leave it.
Well, that's how they make their money at theaters... Or did you think the box office was where they made the profit? For most first run movies, the box office is a pittance until you get into the third week. How many movies pack houses that long?
Think about what they sell at the concession stand. EVERYTHING they sell is cheap, nearly zero food cost with the containers being worth more than the food. Popcorn, Soda, candy? Likely the highest food cost thing they sell is nachos and hot dogs, but it's still under 5%. Their biggest cost is labor (and that fancy building with the uncomfortable seats).
"File to fit, pound to insert, paint to match" - Aircraft Maintenance 101