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

[wildphantom]

43 minutes ago, filmlover said:

They won't put it on Disney+ first cause they still wanna make money off of it. They'll either release it for rental for a pretty penny like Trolls is or they'll do what A24 has done with First Cow by pulling it from release and releasing it again another time.

release it in three months when they’ve got other tentpoles scheduled? Let alone another Pixar film in Soul!! I don’t see it. 
 

Will they really make more money putting it up for rent than on Disney Plus? I’m not convinced. I don’t think millions will hand over $20 to rent it for 48 hours, but they would hand over $6 to subscribe to Disney+ to see it. Disney would prefer the latter surely??

It cuts out a huge part of the piracy problem as well. 
 

Onward will be seen as the best carrot they’ve got to get subs for D+ seeing as the movie itself is in no man’s land. It’s exceptional circumstances for an already released major blockbuster. 
 

Trolls is different. If Uni had their own platform and content people would sign up to a service for then they’d be considering their options too. 

Edited March 17, 2020 by wildphantom

[Krissykins]

The only way Disney makes money from putting a film on Disney+ is if that film leads to a direct (Ginormous) increase in subscribers.
 

 

 

[RealLyre]

i'd say money wise putting the film for $20 on rental and then on streaming few weeks (or 2 months) later is the best option.   people who are desperate to watch it early will pay the rental price & it will eventually go into streaming so they still make money from there.

[Eric Duncan]

2 hours ago, wildphantom said:

release it in three months when they’ve got other tentpoles scheduled? Let alone another Pixar film in Soul!! I don’t see it. 
 

Will they really make more money putting it up for rent than on Disney Plus? I’m not convinced. I don’t think millions will hand over $20 to rent it for 48 hours, but they would hand over $6 to subscribe to Disney+ to see it. Disney would prefer the latter surely??

It cuts out a huge part of the piracy problem as well. 

That implies that Soul will not be delayed.

 

The big issue with your theory is the movie's audience. The vast majority of people who were going to see Onward are Disney fans who likely already have Disney+, and this isn't some mega blockbuster or massively hyped release that would make people on the fence about Disney+ want to get it. I'm sure maybe a few people will sign up, but I doubt it would be that much.

 

And again, $20 for a family of 4 really isn't that expensive, especially families in big cities.

[charlie Jatinder]

21 hours ago, grim22 said:

Against theater wishes, this might become the new normal once the crisis passes. Movies hitting streaming within like 6 weeks.

do you have any memory of India? or you were US born?

 

I was reading a trade journal, apparently till 1994, Bollywood was releasing home video within 2-3 weeks of film's release which changed with Hum Aapke Hai Kaun

Spoiler

 

RAKESH ROSHAN, TIME STRIKE A DEAL
Video Cassettes Of ‘Karan Arjun’
Not To Be Released

Looking to the tremendous collections of Karan Arjun at the box-office, Rakesh Roshan and Time (who holds its home-viewing video rights) have mutually decided not to release its video cassettes now. The video cassettes had earlier been planned to be released after four weeks of the film’s theatrical release.

When the collections in the first two weeks were rock-steady and remained so even at the start of the third week, Rakesh Roshan approached Dhirubhai and Pravin Shah of Time to withhold the cassettes for some more weeks. It took a lot of pleading to get the Shah brothers to agree to Rakesh Roshan’s suggestion. According to Pravin, they had already booked the advertisements for inclusion in Karan Arjun cassettes, and not releasing them now would have an adverse effect on their advertisements in cassettes of other forthcoming films as bookings of advertisements were done for several films together. Fearing huge losses on this count as also because of the advertising loss in Karan Arjun cassettes, the Shah brothers were initially reluctant to further postpone the release of the film’s cassettes.

Rakesh Roshan will pay Time a handsome sum of money to compensate for the losses on the above counts. In return, Time will not release the cassettes for as long as Rakesh Roshan desires. This may be six months or more or less. Whenever the video cassettes will be released, they will be released through Time and that will be in Rakesh Roshan’s account.

This will be the second film in recent years, the video cassettes of which will not be released. The first, of course, is Hum Aapke Hain Koun..!.

 

But also

Spoiler

Smart Pirates

As in the case of Hum Aapke Hain Koun..! and Teesra Kaun?, the pirated video cassettes of Rakesh Roshan’s Karan Arjun are also out in the market. The pirates have become smarter now because although Rakesh Roshan had marked each and every print of Karan Arjun, the pirated cassettes do not have any marking. Obviously, the pirates have taken care to edit the marked portions so as not to reveal the identity of the print from which the video copies have been made. Incidentally, although the pirated cassettes are out, the legal cassettes of the film will not be released for another two weeks.

 

Edited March 17, 2020 by charlie Jatinder

[Webslinger]

Honestly, considering that Universal's scrapped plan for making Tower Heist available on VOD over Thanksgiving weekend 2011 was going to run at something like $50 or $60, $20 for recent releases sounds like a steal.

[TigerPaw]

The $19.9 will cause piracy issues. People are finding it too expensive plus only have the movie for 48 hours.

 

Invisible Man and Trolls will appear on Torrent sites as soon as the VOD rental comes online..

unfortunate..

[wildphantom]

1 hour ago, Eric Lightfoot said:

That implies that Soul will not be delayed.

 

The big issue with your theory is the movie's audience. The vast majority of people who were going to see Onward are Disney fans who likely already have Disney+, and this isn't some mega blockbuster or massively hyped release that would make people on the fence about Disney+ want to get it. I'm sure maybe a few people will sign up, but I doubt it would be that much.

 

And again, $20 for a family of 4 really isn't that expensive, especially families in big cities.

I don’t disagree. 
it’s untested to ask for $20 to rent a movie to watch on tv though. It’s a risk. $20 to own it is different, and maybe that’s what they’ll do. Who knows. 
It would be less of a risk putting it out just to rent if it didn’t then get stolen and pirated within minutes, but that’s the reality. 

Money is a massive worry for everybody at the moment. I think it would be an eye-catching huge shot in the arm for potential new subscribers if they put it on D+.  That is their golden goose in terms of products that are still functioning right now. 
 

*on the subject of Soul - it’ll definitely get delayed. 

Edited March 17, 2020 by wildphantom

[BoxOfficeFangrl]

The "You Must Remember This" podcast did a short episode on how the Spanish Flu epidemic affected the film industry and movie attendance back in 1918: theater closures, a shutdown of movie production, industry figures getting sick/dying, snarky coverage, to wear masks or not to wear masks.... The more things change, the more they stay the same. It had a huge impact on the business side of exhibition once the pandemic was over.

 

 

[MovieMan89]

Are people really gonna throw around $20 right now for a vod rental when millions are unemployed with no income? Seems steep. And watching a movie at home is not the same kind of experience as theatrical, shouldn't be priced similarly. And that is essentially theater prices if it's just a couple watching. 

[lilmac]

@baumer It’s been me and you, on these forums for 18 years....long enough to have seen the end of the boxoffice as we know it (for now at least). 

[Krissykins]

3 hours ago, lilmac said:

@baumer It’s been me and you, on these forums for 18 years....long enough to have seen the end of the boxoffice as we know it (for now at least). 

And me! @baumer @lilmac been box office forum-ing since July 2002. 

[filmscholar]

In the weekend thread I called for theaters to temporarily shut down for about 2 weeks.   Now there are reports they are shutting down for 3 months.  I've never seen anything like this in my lifetime people.   I think Blockbusters to VOD might be a new model for the future if fears keep people out of the theater even after this is eventually over.   I knew this day was coming eventually.  Studios will have to adjust and VOD may be a way to recoup some of these dollars.  I do not blame Universal or now WB.   Now I'm not in the "Black Widow Disney Plus" camp.  They spent too much money, they can wait this out but if we get to August and things aren't looking better than I wouldn't fully rule it out. 

 

As for the price, look back in the day, you would spend 20 dollars on a Friday Night at blockbuster or Hollywood video very easy.  Yes you could get several titles but the point is 20 dollars isn't that bad considering the average movie goer pays that easy after concessions going to the movies.  Yes nothing will replace the Theater experience but plenty of people would be fine with watching new Blockbusters in the comfort of their homes.   Also there could be a situation where people have "VOD New Release Parties".  Very similar to Pay Per View Boxing or Wrestling where people chip in and everyone watches it.   

[RealLyre]

 

 

 

[RealLyre]

also technically Bloodshot has ended its theatrical run since theaters are closed so it makes sense it's already going to VOD 

[Barnack]

7 hours ago, filmscholar said:

As for the price, look back in the day, you would spend 20 dollars on a Friday Night at blockbuster or Hollywood video very easy.  Yes you could get several titles but the point is 20 dollars isn't that bad considering the average movie goer pays that easy after concessions going to the movies.  Yes nothing will replace the Theater experience but plenty of people would be fine with watching new Blockbusters in the comfort of their homes.   Also there could be a situation where people have "VOD New Release Parties".  Very similar to Pay Per View Boxing or Wrestling where people chip in and everyone watches it.   

Will be interesting if price modeling by release (movie for which a party make sense like a new MCU/Star wars), family, couple type of movie price differently.

 

Because yes for the people that get concession at the theater this get way less expensive. But piracy and SVOD make giant pressure to keep the price low.

[JGAR4LIFE]

9 minutes ago, RealLyre said:

 

 

 

Jesus Christ 

[Morieris]

12 minutes ago, RealLyre said:

also technically Bloodshot has ended its theatrical run since theaters are closed so it makes sense it's already going to VOD 

 

I'm pretty sure JEM AND THE HOLOGRAMS got a longer run in theaters

[filmlover]

24 minutes ago, RealLyre said:

 

 

 

So that everyone who ignored it during its crazy brief run in theaters can continue to do so from the comfort of their homes.

[lilmac]

People have short memories and I think all will be back to the way it was...eventually. It's natural for people to want to go out and feature films have always been a good pastime. A 6-12 month shock to the way we've always done things won't change decades of behavior overnight (even if it was already trending in that direction). Many of us are still wired to love going out to the movies. We'll see lingering effects for awhile ($100m being the new $200m) but eventually the movie economy will rightsize. This of course depends on the timing of the vaccine and whether in the near term getting over the curve is not merely a preview to the next curve absent a cure. China and SK will be interesting to watch. Factories are reopening but are restaurants, movie theaters, and malls?