Is Hollywood seriously considering simultaneous DVD/Theatrical release?

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Film director M. Night Shyamalan opposes quick DVD releases
LOS ANGELES (AP) — M. Night Shyamalan says a move to eliminate the window between a film’s theatrical release and its debut on video would diminish the artistic integrity of moviemaking.
Part of what makes movies an art form is that they are viewed on a big screen with a big audience, Shyamalan said in an interview in Friday’s editions of the Los Angeles Times.
“If I can’t make movies for theatres, I don’t want to make movies,” the 35-year-old writer-director said. “I hope this is a very bad idea that goes away.”
The proposal to simultaneously release movies in theatres and on DVD is the most pressing issue facing the exhibition industry today, with the discussion focusing on the need to increase studio revenues.
Shyamalan said his speech at the ShowEast convention in Orlando, Fla., on Thursday night, was intended to address “the human factor.”
“When I sit down next to you in a movie theatre, we get to share each other’s point of view. We become part of a collective soul. That’s the magic in the movies,” he was quoted as telling some 800 theatre operators and suppliers.
“Nobody has benefited more from DVD sales than me. I bought my house on DVD sales from The Sixth Sense,” he said. “But take away my house. That’s not why I do what I do.”
He added: “If this thing happens, you know the majority of your theatres are closing. It’s going to crush you guys.”

― Huk-L (Huk-L), Friday, 28 October 2005 19:02 (twenty years ago)

I can't imagine that Hollywood would do this on any kind of a large scale. They might try it with smaller movies where they can market the theatrical release and the DVD in one big push and save some money that way but I can't see it happening with the big blockbusters. Maybe someone told Shyamalan that his next film would be direct to video and he assumed that it applied industry-wide.

― walter kranz (walterkranz), Friday, 28 October 2005 19:11 (twenty years ago)

Maybe it could work in some territories where box office returns are small but pirated DVD sales are large. Releasing the DVD overseas at the same time that the film is in US theaters might curb some piracy (assuming that DVD prices are low enough).

― walter kranz (walterkranz), Friday, 28 October 2005 19:13 (twenty years ago)

Oh, I see. It must be a response to this:
http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117928599?categoryid=13&cs=1
http://www.nivi.com/blog/article/why-is-mark-cuban/

― walter kranz (walterkranz), Friday, 28 October 2005 19:17 (twenty years ago)

But then the ppl who talk and eat noisily would stay the fuck home, yes?

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Friday, 28 October 2005 19:43 (twenty years ago)

Why would you assume that?

― Allyzay knows a little German (allyzay), Friday, 28 October 2005 19:44 (twenty years ago)

it's a terrible idea

soderbergh is doing this for his next 6 or so flicks, apparently

so dumb

― s1ocki (slutsky), Friday, 28 October 2005 19:46 (twenty years ago)

Not necessarily dumb. Smaller, indie movies could drum up good press with limited theatrical release and benefit from people buying the DVD while the buzz is hot, instead of it dying down in the lag time they would have otherwise.

Good for some films, bad for others. Besides, if you'd rather see movies in the theater, go to the effing theater.

― giboyeux (skowly), Friday, 28 October 2005 19:56 (twenty years ago)

i think having the dvd out will totally devalue the movie's theatrical prospects

― s1ocki (slutsky), Friday, 28 October 2005 19:59 (twenty years ago)

Smaller, indie movies could drum up good press with limited theatrical release and benefit from people buying the DVD while the buzz is hot, instead of it dying down in the lag time they would have otherwise.

Also smaller art films that open in NY & LA but never make it to Kansas could be rented while the buzz is still hot.

I guess the concern is probably less over Soderbergh and more over the chairman of Disney's comment:

"Windows [between cinema and DVD release] need to change," said the man who will replace Michael Eisner. "They need to compress. I don't think it's out of the question that a DVD can be released in effect in the same window as a [cinematic] release.

"Although I'm sure we will get a fair amount of push-back on this from the industry, it's not out of the question. I think that all the old rules should be called into question because the rules in terms of consumption have changed dramatically."

That sounds to me not like simultaneous releases but closing the gap a bit so that if the film is #1 at the box office for 2 weeks then it comes out on DVD on the third week. That makes a lot of sense and it might possibly work.

― walter kranz (walterkranz), Friday, 28 October 2005 20:02 (twenty years ago)

How many indie movies make money at the theater anyway? There's plenty of stuff that I'm interested in when the reviews come out, then it either never opens here or I'm too lazy to go, and by the time the dvd comes out I've forgotten all about it (particularly if it has a "striking" one word title).

xpost

― Jordan (Jordan), Friday, 28 October 2005 20:02 (twenty years ago)

M. Night Shyamalan says a move to eliminate the window between a film’s theatrical release and its debut on video would diminish the artistic integrity of moviemaking.

"The identity of the speaker negated the general points being made."

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Friday, 28 October 2005 20:10 (twenty years ago)

Also smaller art films that open in NY & LA but never make it to Kansas could be rented while the buzz is still hot.

This is what I was going for, basically.

Also smaller art films that open in NY & LA but never make it to Kansas could be rented while the buzz is still hot.

Also this. Small films make very little money on distributor deals. It's more for the cred (to make another film). Basically more people seeing your film is almost always better than the alternative.

― giboyeux (skowly), Friday, 28 October 2005 20:12 (twenty years ago)

giboyeux OTM; many smaller art films don't even play very long in NYC anymore. A week, and gone. One called "Loggerheads," just now.

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Friday, 28 October 2005 20:14 (twenty years ago)

Ha ha, yeah I basically just retyped what you said. Sorry. I was thinking of the buy/rent distinction there but it's Friday and my brain is all foggy.
xpost

― walter kranz (walterkranz), Friday, 28 October 2005 20:16 (twenty years ago)

I don't see this as being problematic for the industry, FWIW--I mean, the distance of time between most movies' theatrical release and when the DVD hits the shelves is usually pretty small, it's only a handful that have big lead ups to their DVD release. And in terms of theatres, I am not sure it'd hurt them...Obnoxious people who bring their kids and eat 8 tons of nachos in the theatre, what else are they gonna do? Bring their kids somewhere appropriate? Eat at a restaurant? Hello, no, elsewise they'd be doing it already. And obviously people who value films for films' sake are going to continue seeing movies that interest them in the theatre. You might lose a little audience but not THAT much, I don't think...cos seriously if you were going to lose a huge audience from a move like this, wouldn't you be losing them pretty heavily ANYWAY considering how short the time of theatrical release to DVD and Pay-Per-View release is?

― Allyzay knows a little German (allyzay), Friday, 28 October 2005 20:20 (twenty years ago)

I'm fine with this as long as studios keep spending the same amount of money on marketing but just spend it all at once instead of in two pieces.

― walter kranz (walterkranz), Friday, 28 October 2005 20:29 (twenty years ago)

Also smaller art films that open in NY & LA but never make it to Kansas could be rented while the buzz is still hot.

yo this already happens

― s1ocki (slutsky), Friday, 28 October 2005 20:34 (twenty years ago)

Here's the real question: would DVD extras suffer?!!?!!?! And would it mean that you'd get suckered into buying a Fully Featured DVD later on.

― giboyeux (skowly), Friday, 28 October 2005 20:35 (twenty years ago)

dvd extras suffering is the least of my worries!!

― s1ocki (slutsky), Friday, 28 October 2005 20:53 (twenty years ago)

Cinema attendance would certainly drop. I'd go less, and I know tons of other people who would. It's one thing wanting to see LOTR or Star Wars on a fucking huge screen with sensurround sound and all that, but there are plenty of films where the reason I go to see them in the cinema is that I don't want to wait ages for a different chance to see them. If the lag is a few weeks, I'll wait.

And if I'm right, and I'm very sure I am, it will cut margins and close screens. And the ones that will get closed down, the films that won't get seen? Those with much smaller audiences, those less spectacular and in need of a big screen - and in particular, that's most indie films and foreign films. They don't get to compete for attention with the five other movies getting national releases that week - and therefore get a decent review in all the national papers and on the TV shows (I'm talking UK here - it may not be quite the same in the US) - but instead have to compete with the skipload of new DVDs released that week, so I think they suffer again there.

That's why I'm against this. I think it'll hurt, very badly, the chances of a film like Sideways - and of a director like Payne getting a start in the business, even - and mean even more domination by the blockbusters and the safe bets. I don't have anything against them, but there are enough, and I would prefer the balance not shift farther their way.

― Martin Skidmore (Martin Skidmore), Friday, 28 October 2005 21:43 (twenty years ago)

I would be one person more likely to see Hollywood's offerings if they were released on DVD since I wait for them to come out instead of going to the theater anyway.

― Pleasant Plains /// (Pleasant Plains ///), Friday, 28 October 2005 21:52 (twenty years ago)

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