Theatrical to VOD window shortening | 17-31 Day theatrical window for Uni

[sabrecmc]

I don't actually go to the theater to see that many movies, so would personally be happy to see more streaming options available for first run movies.  Like, I would never go to the theater to see Tenet or Bond.  I might (maybe) pay to rent or watch things like that on streaming or just wait for them to show up on Amazon or something, especially right now.  On the other hand, I love going to see things like Endgame or Star Wars in the theater and might see a big movie like that easily 5 times.  I'm sure my personal movie going tastes are not the norm though. 

 

I want theaters to be viable for those movies I do want to see in theater, and I don't know if that math works if the rest of the clutter moved to streaming, but there is a whole generation growing up very comfortable watching movies on streaming.  I wonder if we will eventually see more home media rooms become the norm and that's just how people get their entertainment. 

[filmlover]

 

 

[Morieris]

4 hours ago, antovolk said:

As expected, Focus about to make the VOD jump on their summer slate:

 

 

 

It makes more sense for a tiny distributor like this, at least outside of big markets that enjoy indies. But then you get the Universal issue again unless you make it 20$ rental - Which is (presumably) more expensive than a single ticket in LA/NYC.

[antovolk]

49 minutes ago, Morieris said:

 

It makes more sense for a tiny distributor like this, at least outside of big markets that enjoy indies. But then you get the Universal issue again unless you make it 20$ rental - Which is (presumably) more expensive than a single ticket in LA/NYC.

Remember that Focus is Universal basically. It will probably, I think, be the $20 rental, as they've already established that with Emma and Never Rarely Sometimes Always

[lorddemaxus]

I guess Promising Young Woman and that Steve Carrell comedy aren't doing a VOD release. I think Focus probably is thinking of giving both those films an award push later this year.

Edited April 30, 2020 by lorddemaxus

[filmlover]

4 minutes ago, lorddemaxus said:

I guess Promising Young Woman and that Steve Carrell comedy aren't doing a VOD release. I think Focus probably is thinking of giving both those films an award push later this year.

Wouldn't rule out Irresistible going to VOD. FWIW Carell's new Netflix sitcom will be landing at the end of May (same day that movie was supposed to open) so maybe they'll decide to put it out that way too.

[antovolk]

11 minutes ago, lorddemaxus said:

I guess Promising Young Woman and that Steve Carrell comedy aren't doing a VOD release. I think Focus probably is thinking of giving both those films an award push later this year.

Promising Young Woman is up for pre order for $19.99 (unclear if rental) on iTunes in New Zealand with no date... 🤔 

 

https://itunes.apple.com/nz/movie/promising-young-woman/id1504164182 

Edited April 30, 2020 by antovolk

[RealLyre]

I'm with the consumer on this one, I think studios should be allowed to release their movies in theaters & VOD at the same time, and they should leave the choice to the audience to decide which format is superior. 

 

instead of gate-keeping most new releases to theaters only. 

Edited April 30, 2020 by RealLyre
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[Barnack]

4 minutes ago, RealLyre said:

I'm with the consumer on this one, I think studios should be allowed to release their movies in theaters & VOD at the same time, and they should leave the choice to the audience to decide which format is superior. 

 

instead of gate-keeping most new releases to theaters only. 

I am ambivalent here because like it was for cable, the people that make movies tend to own (and way more now) the VOD platform, and they could be interested to do what is better for their platform than for the movie if it is not 100% aligned.

 

The first year that it would be put in place, that would just be a net positive for us the consumer, but if it has a negative impact mid-long term on the feature film production, fan of those could loose, we arguably need to protect ourself a little bit of watching stuff in the most conveniant ways and without any shaming involved, numbers show it will end up being cheap cats video and porn.

[RealLyre]

6 minutes ago, Barnack said:

I am ambivalent here because like it was for cable, the people that make movies tend to own (and way more now) the VOD platform, and they could be interested to do what is better for their platform than for the movie if it is not 100% aligned.

 

The first year that it would be put in place, that would just be a net positive for us the consumer, but if it has a negative impact mid-long term on the feature film production, fan of those could loose, we arguably need to protect ourself a little bit of watching stuff in the most conveniant ways and without any shaming involved, numbers show it will end up being cheap cats video and porn.

another issue is that we're not really sure why people even go to the movies, is it for the theater experience on a large screen & better audio? or is it to catch the latest movies asap? 

 

 

I live in a place where we only get wide releases from major studios here, and half the time I used to go to the cinemas was mostly because I wanted to see that movie asap, so not all my cinema visits were for the "theater experience" 

 

 this could change with simultaneous releases.

[Barnack]

Just now, RealLyre said:

I live in a place where we only get wide releases from major studios here, and half the time I used to go to the cinemas was mostly because I wanted to see that movie asap, so not all my cinema visits were for the "theater experience" 

A lot (more and more) is about living the hype at the same time as everyone else (i.e. the industry getting more and more frontloaded) and why theater chain fear this so much.

 

1 minute ago, RealLyre said:

another issue is that we're not really sure why people even go to the movies, is it for the theater experience on a large screen & better audio? or is it to catch the latest movies asap? 

The success of the low budget horror movie in the last 5 year's seem to indicate than the theatrical experience, going out, date, is still even if less than before part of it, so I would say both.

[Krissykins]

4 hours ago, charlie Jatinder said:

BTW, what was expectations from Trolls 2 theatrically. I don't think anyone was expecting $100mn. BOP was seeing it at $80mn, which is roughly $38-40mn of SHARE after spending atleast $10mn on Print and other distribution cost, not accounting marketing.

 

Internationally, may be 65% of the original i.e. $125mn Gross, giving $50mn SHARE after atleast $15mn Print & distribution Cost.

 

Giving Net Theatrical SHARE of $65mn Approx.

 

On VOD it is at $77mn SHARE. So did the move (COVID) worked?

 

Donno how it will be doing on physical units, first Trolls movie did $70mn per The-Numbers and overall $170mn by TV and Home Video worldwide, which seems low from $70mn number by The-Numbers.

There was an article saying they’re set to lose $90m on Trolls 2. They spent their cinema-level marketing budget. 
 

I’m guessing the actual sales will be small considering families already paid $19.99 to rent it. And they won’t get any domestic streaming deals as it’ll most likely be going straight to Peacock in the US. 

[Barnack]

2 minutes ago, Krissykins said:

And they won’t get any domestic streaming deals as it’ll most likely be going straight to Peacock in the US. 

Peakcock would still have to make a deal I would imagine, a major Universal partner like that/residual calculation rules and so on would probably necessitate them to buy the streaming right internally to some reasonable market value:

https://www.dentsu.com/business/japan/contents/entertainment.html

https://www.imdb.com/search/title/?companies=co0169264

 

And it is an old ongoing franchise (i.e. that has streaming deal already in place), https://deadline.com/2020/04/trolls-world-tour-vod-box-office-movie-profits-universal-coronavirus-1202903913/:

Hulu streaming window deal that is valued around $25M.

 

 

[Barnack]

5 hours ago, charlie Jatinder said:

Donno how it will be doing on physical units, first Trolls movie did $70mn per The-Numbers and overall $170mn by TV and Home Video worldwide, which seems low from $70mn number by The-Numbers.

It is a bit low, that exactly what The Smurfs 2 made with the $13M in merchandise and maybe what it was based one, while the box office of both family animated movie were similar, Trolls was much more Domestic heavy and that usually translate to higher revenues, specially for a movie in the domestic Top 5 in sales versus one out of the top 50. It was maybe a bit above that (specially once merchandise/sountrack took into account)

 

But that said, I am pretty sure The-numbers show gross sales of dvds revenues, not the studio share for them.

[WittyUsername]

1 hour ago, RealLyre said:

I'm with the consumer on this one, I think studios should be allowed to release their movies in theaters & VOD at the same time, and they should leave the choice to the audience to decide which format is superior. 

 

instead of gate-keeping most new releases to theaters only. 

The problem is that something like that could seriously hurt the revenue for movie theaters. Theaters have been struggling enough as it is, so it’s not surprising that theater chains would be opposed to this.

[XXR vs XXR]

By the end of this decade, first run VOD of major films (I'm talking Endgame, Avatar level) will be a norm that theaters will have to live with or die from. 

By the end of next decade, theaters will be the equivalent of drive-in theaters today. Some will be able to hold out as nostalgia pieces and purist attractions but 97% of them will be gone. 

[WittyUsername]

Just now, VenomXXR said:

By the end of this decade, first run VOD of major films (I'm talking Endgame, Avatar level) will be a norm that theaters will have to live with or die from. 

By the end of next decade, theaters will be the equivalent of drive-in theaters today. Some will be able to hold out as nostalgia pieces and purist attractions but 97% of them will be gone. 

That would certainly make the RedLetterMedia guys happy. Anyway, I wouldn’t rule out that happening by the end of the 2020s. 

[Barnack]

8 minutes ago, VenomXXR said:

By the end of next decade, theaters will be the equivalent of drive-in theaters today. Some will be able to hold out as nostalgia pieces and purist attractions but 97% of them will be gone. 

More Opera house than Movie theater by the end of the 2030s in the USA ?

[Eric Duncan]

 

[antovolk]

8 minutes ago, Eric Atreides said:

 

Exact same thing as yesterday. The reporting on Regal/Cineworld's statement from a lot of websites has been utter whack and outright misleading.

Edited April 30, 2020 by antovolk