Comments

1
$24.99 for a one-time view movie?! Who is going to pay that in lieu of a torrent?
2
Perhaps you should ask why people spend that much now in theaters with torrents readily available?
3
There's no comparison between a movie on the big screen and a movie on my laptop screen. I gladly pay to go to the theater but I'm not paying out the ass to watch what I already could for free on my shitty laptop.
4
Some people have TVs.
5
I forget about that.
6
As long as there's second-runs, I'll be a happy camper.
7
This is a welcome change. However I don't think this will take away business from mega-theaters in any meaningful way. The 45 day cap is still pretty generous to get movies through a product distribution life cycle. What this does is add in an additional distribution stage for premium priced VOD. When you take into account modern home theater equipment, average family size, and the price of admission to major theaters – this is going to be a great deal for family films. I think if you were paying for more than 2 tickets, that would be your breakeven point to use this option (assuming 1 drink per and other concessions).

Any movie I see these days in a theater is usually on opening weekend. If it's not good enough for opening weekend, then I’m willing to wait for it to come to Netflix. When I go to see a movie, it’s because I want to leave the house (in these cases I usually go somewhere that I can also get beer).

I'd have to look at ticket sales data, but not knowing anything about the business I'd assume that a purchase for first run movies occurs predominantly in the first two weeks at a theater. I would also assume that movies that see sales increases sustain, or increase, after a 45 day mark are probably: 1) rare and 2) have created a buzz factor which would draw theater goers in regardless of premium priced VOD. I think most movie goers are purchasing the movie going experience, rather than the movie. In fact, I remember looking at % of Americans who actually attend movies in a theater, and the % was actually quite small. To me, theaters are packaging an experience and the movies themselves are an advertisement for their core product: concessions.

Tl;dr: this seems like a new distribution option for tech savvy consumers and it shortens the distribution lifecycle for films, but it does not seem like a game changer for theaters.
8
Good call on the family angle. Again, things I don't have I tend to discount. That's actually a very good argument.
9
LOL--Armed with the new copy-blocking technology (Broken already).

Lets see the majors have just killed the rental profit stream, now they kill the movie houses profit stream, then they ask for corporate welfare from the government in the form of a subsidy from the sale of every tv screen, mp3 player, and computer. In ten years they will be as successful as broadcast radio and landline telephones.

Please wait...

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