Warner Bros., Sony, Universal and 20th Century Fox are the first studios that have agreed to launch Home Premiere as the official brand under which the industry will offer up movies to rent for $30 two months after their theatrical bows for a viewing period of two to three days, depending on the distributor.
Studios contend that offering up films 60 days after their theatrical run won’t hurt the box office since most films generate most of their coin during their first three months.
As a result, some chains have threatened to find out what movies could be up for such service, and may decide not to book those films or have limited engagements for them. In the long run, I don’t really think it will hurt theater chains. I do see the 30 dollar price point for a VOD film even after a few months in the box office- going bust very quickly. It will be the studios who will lose the most money. How do I know that?
Let’s say..you wait another two and a half months, give or take. Four months after a theatrical release. VOD will be a cheaper price. Watching films at home still offers you the same distractions- the dog barks, the phone rings (and you must take the call) and so on. True, you may have access to more beer and wine, and you may not have to fuss about the hi-calorie battle over movie butter and such-and you could watch in your PJs if you want to. But are you ready and willing to pay 30 greens?
I’m not.
In addition, it might give a few jokers out there another (lame) excuse to pirate films. I’m not for that sort of thing, and I discourage it where I can, but Hollywood still refuses to help itself.
I think the only people that would go for this are people who have fairly nice home audio/visual gear and people who are friends of people with fairly nice home a/v gear. Even with prices on such gear dropping there are still a lot of people who do have such setups. I’m still rocking the 27in standard def tv I bought while I was in college almost 10 years ago and I don’t know anyone with a nice setup that would by into this and just split the cost.
If the prices for building a nice home setup would come down some more (thus allowing the home theater to somewhat compete with the quality of the movie theaters you go out to) I can see this catching on.
Dude we got “Hot tub time machine” playin’ at 8pm on saturday.
Kegger! $8.99 a head
(but you gotta bring a female)
:)
That’s seems way expensive for what you’re getting. It would be one thing if you could get it on VOD the same day it releases in theaters (imagine what theater chains would say if they tried that model). But if you’re going to wait 2 months, why not just wait a little more and rent it on NetFlix or buy it. You gotta give me a lot more for $30.
a 2 month old movie for $30? a 2 month old movie is old news, & isn’t this what dollar theaters are for?
i dont know why my first post was deleted, im not promoting the pirating of movies, but this is also a bad idea BECAUSE of pirates.
these movies will just end up online sooner & that could hurt home video sales.
Pirated movies are online days after the film hits theaters. This wont change anything.
Some on-demand offerings DO have (mostly indie) films that are currently at the theatres. they cost around 20 bucks to see.
This is gonna happen, it’s inevitable. and Yes, there are perks to watchung these at home BUT call me old fashioned cause there still is a feeling that comes with going to a cinema/movie house that STILL does’nt measure up to a nice big screen. Only thing that it cant compete with now-a-days is the clarity and vividness of HD on a Plasma/LCD/DLR or whatever comes next. and that’s where these guys(theatres) are dropping the ball BIGTIME. But with this news and dwindling profits causing them to “jack” ya for a box of gummi bears, I dont see them pony’in up a wad of cash updating all those blurry in comparison screens.
just sayin’
I haven’t had a good theater experience in years. Between cell phones, loud people, ignorant people, laser pointer people, ect, I find myself going to the theater less and less and just waiting for DVD or BluRay more and more.
I get pissed paying $10 to see at theater, why in the world would I pay $30 to see at my home?
Another dumb idea from the movie studios.
Its not a dumb idea. People WILLINGLY pay $12-15 average for movie tickets ($10 is actually pretty reasonable all things considered)
And this on demand service is clearly not intended to appeal to one person sitting by themselves watching a movie at home. When you weigh the price of taking your whole family to the theater (in my case – 4 of us) $30 is quite reasonable.
More so if you have a bunch of friends over who are willing to split the cost.
If you take the family of five to see a new release, the ticket prices alone could run you 75 bucks. You add it the snack treats and you’re way over 100 bucks. And lets not even put gas prices into the equation. So if the studio’s market this as an easy alternative to the cost of dragging your whole family to the movies, they could have a winner on their hands. That’s at least how I would market it.
I think this is the way of the future. As for pirated movies, if the studio’s decide to up the vod date sooner than two months, they could bite into that bootleg market a bit. I hate bootlegs, most of them suck in quality and aren’t worth the time to watch a movie you’d really like to see. Most people would rather watch the movie as it was originally meant to be seen. People aren’t buying these HD and 3D tv’s for nothing. I can see people waiting a month or two and paying 30 bucks to view the original version of the movie rather than the bootleg.
I agree Rodney. Where I see this really taking off is with family movies. This could be a real price saver for that family of 4 or 5 when it comes time to see the latest offering from Pixar or Disney, especially considering the current state of the economy. These are the people that will realize $30 minus the cost of movie popcorn, sodas and candy, is a deal for a night at the movies. The last time I bought popcorn and soda at the theater it cost me over $10 and I didn’t even get larges. You can buy enough soda, nachos, popcorn and candy for a whole family at home for $20.
I never thought of it like that. I guess in that respect, $30 DOES make quite a bit of sense and is quite reasonable.
Pay per View Events tend to cost more than this to watch a WWE event, UFC or even concert events.
You get a group to come party at your house and watch the movie in the comfort of your own home instead of the theater. The business model has been proven already – its only a matter of time.
That’s what the theater chains are worried about. This COULD work. It wont come out on the launch date of the film, but the studio takes such a big chunk of the ticket price from the first few weeks a theater runs a movie that they tend to run in it for months after hoping to recoup. If only 2 months later the movie is on PPV for a reasonable price they wont get those straggler couples dropping $50 or more at the theaters.
It is an effective business model for the studios, but also one that proves to hurt theater chains if they do not change how they make their money.
You make valid points Rodney. The only obstacle the studio’s would have to worry about is how the American populace view the 30 dollar fee. If they mentally connect the viewing a movie at home experience with Blockbuster prices, say 3.99 for 3 days then the studio’s might have a problem. I agree that folks usually pay way more for their UFC and WWE PPV’s but alot of times people still see it as a bargin compared to the prices at the gate. These are also one time events between certain fighters who might not fight each other again for sometime.
The movie houses have been hurting for sometime now. Movies end up in stores and at rental locations alot faster than they use to. Most people either wait four month’s and buy the new release for 19.99 at the store or rent it for 3.99. I think theaters will have to rethink their business model to survive. I agree with you, the studio’s are going to go this route. They just have to make the public see the value of paying the 30.00. I also think they may wait 2 month’s at the start but how much you wanna bet they start releasing movies direct to PPV. With the huge HD/3D screens people can have in thier homes, why go to the theater?
But Rodney- you are talking about a live sports event, not a film and as far as PPV sports cost, it is a little higher than PPV movies, but it sure isn’t 30 dollars. The window between theatrical and a VOD is being planned to be two months instead of four (or, depending on a box office result); I don’t could see some advantages to this idea but I think the price point is too high. Why pay 30 when you can play 4 dollars a few months later?
30 is way too high. 15 is a much more decent price that even I wouldn’t mind paying. Sure, it’s still a bit high, but considering that you’re getting the movie early, it’s more then reasonable.
It is certainly something that the customer will have to see value in to buy, but I believe the angle here is to feed a new option into the market, giving access to movies still in theaters. This can also push back the dvd releases therefore building more value in the VOD model instead of just releasing them to Pay Per View a month before the disk release.
I hope they do not do this. Movies are a past time in almost all cultures civilized. This will kill them no doubt.