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This topic comprises 3 pages: 1 2 3
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Author
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Topic: The Window Closes Some More
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Martin McCaffery
Film God
Posts: 2481
From: Montgomery, AL
Registered: Jun 99
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posted 04-28-2014 06:51 PM
http://variety.com/2014/film/news/jeffrey-katzenberg-predicts-3-week-theatrical-window-in-future-1201166052/?utm_source=sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=breakingnewsalert
Alexandra Cheney
Senior Film Reporter
@alexandracheney
DreamWorks Animation chief Jeffrey Katzenberg thinks the windowing model of feature films will become a “pay by the inch you watch.” During the Entrepreneurial Leadership in the Corporate World panel at the Milken Global Conference in Beverly Hills, Katzenberg explained what he thinks is the future of scheduling and distributing feature films.
“I think the model will change and you won’t pay for the window of availability. A movie will come out and you will have 17 days, that’s exactly three weekends, which is 95% of the revenue for 98% of movies. On the 18th day, these movies will be available everywhere ubiquitously and you will pay for the size. A movie screen will be $15. A 75” TV will be $4.00. A smartphone will be $1.99. That enterprise that will exist thought the world, when that happens, and it will happen, it will reinvent the enterprise of movies,” he told the crowd.
And according to Katzenberg, this will happen 10 years from now.
In the meantime, DreamWorks Animation is hedging its bets and diversifying its interests.
“Movies are not a growth business,” Katzenberg said — which is why he aggressively lobbied for DreamWorks’ new interests, primarily shortform, digital and television content.
Greg Maffei, president and CEO of Liberty Media Corp., a major distributor of programming including Discovery Channel, QVC, Encore, and STARZ, agreed with Katzenberg, first noting that Liberty tried three times and failed three times to launch a movie division.
“Few networks are impacted (by technology) more than the media business,” he said adding that the amount of “clutter” in the entertainment universe, including videogames and social media, directly affects and declines the value of the more traditional channels, i.e. film.
Katzenberg also threw out the idea that young adults today should not follow passion but skill.
“Great leaders and thinkers talk to kids today and say ‘follow your dream.’ I’m not sure that’s a great idea. How about follow your skill? That thing you are really good at, that may become your passion,” he said.
The DreamWorks chief then documented how, in 1984, Michael Eisner pulled Katzenberg into his office on his first day at Disney. Just before Katzenberg was walking out, Eisner called him over to a window and asked if he knew what the building across the way did.
“That’s where they make the animated movies, and it’s your problem,” Eisner said to Kazenberg. “My problem became my passion,” Katzenberg said.
Barry Sternlicht, the chairman and CEO of Starwood Capital Group and Tom Wyatt, CEO of Knowledge Universe U.S. were also on the panel.
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Bobby Henderson
"Ask me about Trajan."
Posts: 10973
From: Lawton, OK, USA
Registered: Apr 2001
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posted 04-29-2014 11:58 AM
We're only going to hear more and more of this crap until the movie studios really try it, letting the proverbial genie out of the bottle, and then living with whatever happens, be it good or bad.
If the movie studios weren't owned by giant media corporations with publicly traded stock they wouldn't be under so much pressure to "grow revenue."
Here's a news flash for those media guys: they've already been pricing gouging the living hell out of Americans for a long time. How much more money do they think they can rape out of everybody's asses for movie tickets, movie discs, cable TV, broadband Internet, etc. in order to "grow revenue?"
The economy still isn't in very good shape. Income levels for the middle class aren't rising all that well. But I do know one thing, I'm paying a hell of a lot more now for things like pay TV, movie tickets, etc. My income level hasn't kept pace with those price hikes.
If these executives want to screw up the theatrical release model and just keep making entertainment more expensive overall they're going to end up with fewer customers.
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Terry Lynn-Stevens
Phenomenal Film Handler
Posts: 1081
From: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Registered: Dec 2012
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posted 04-30-2014 03:28 PM
quote: Mike Blakesley
On a new movie it can be anywhere from 40% to 60% or more. So, a $10 movie ticket would net the studio anywhere from $4 to $6 -- that's PER ticket. Which is a far cry from Jeff's "$4" for a TV screen which could have anywhere from one to a dozen or more sets of eyeballs watching.
I think you put a little too much emphasis on the whole eyeballs watching thing. From the studios POV, most movies are done after the third weekend, if I had no intention of ever seeing the movie in theatres (The Grand Hotel, Captain America, Ride Along, and some others that I do want to see but will not pay for a theatre experience) then what difference does it make if I wait six months or 17 days to rent online? The way I interpret it is that it is the middle man like yourself who's cut they need to remove in order to lower the price to get the guy who is waiting 6 months to pony up to pay for (the studio cut) all the while removing (the Mike B cut).
Right now, I don't rent from iTunes that often as I would rather wait until the movie comes to RedBox, I am sure the studio would rather me not wait for the Redbox window and rent directly from the studio after 17 days as the price per rental will be higher than the low Redbox rental. These are just my thoughts from a consumers perspective.
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Justin Hamaker
Film God
Posts: 2253
From: Lakeport, CA USA
Registered: Jan 2004
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posted 04-30-2014 04:06 PM
The problem with this point of view is it really minimizes the movie theatre experience. By saying a movie should be available everywhere after the third weekend, you're basically giving moviegoers permission to skip the theatre and wait a couple weeks to watch it at home.
Here's the thing about movies: they are a unique property. When people watch a movie, it's usually a specific movie they have picked because of the actors, subject, reviews, or word of mouth. And there isn't a substitution for a specific title. Whether they watch it in theatres, at home, or on a portable device, people are going to watch the specific movie. For example, if someone wants to see The Breakfast Club, they are not going to settle for some other teen angst movie. If someone wants to watch the new Amazing Spider-Man, they aren't going to settle for a Spider-Man cartoon.
If studios can actually enhance demand by maintaining, or lengthening the video window. What I mean is that if any movie is available at any time, it removes demand resulting for scarcity. It gives people permission to put it off until some later date because they know they can watch it at any time. But having a delay before it's available on video creates a sense of urgency where people need to see it while in theatres, or they will have to wait to see it. And then a video release creates a new push where people are reminded of something they wanted to see.
As has been discussed before, minimizing the value of seeing a movie in the theatre will result in the closing of many theatres - especially in small towns where theatres often survive on very small margins to begin with. As much as he may champion the idea of people being able to pay for a movie whenever, I think Katzenberg would hate to create a situation where many people do not have access to movies in the movie theatre.
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Mike Blakesley
Film God
Posts: 12767
From: Forsyth, Montana
Registered: Jun 99
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posted 04-30-2014 07:58 PM
quote: Terry Lynn-Stevens
I think you put a little too much emphasis on the whole eyeballs watching thing. From the studios POV, most movies are done after the third weekend, if I had no intention of ever seeing the movie in theatres (The Grand Hotel, Captain America, Ride Along, and some others that I do want to see but will not pay for a theatre experience) then what difference does it make if I wait six months or 17 days to rent online?
You missed my whole point, and besides you are incorrect: Studios care deeply about how many eyeballs. If they didn't, they wouldn't rent their movies on a percentage-of-tickets-sold basis.
Believe it or not, not everyone is just like you when it comes to moviegoing. There are different types of moviegoers.
Many people who watch movies want the theater experience -- that's why they go to theaters. But not ALL moviegoers are that way; some people simply go to theaters because they want to see the movie right away when it's released. They don't want to wait 3 or 4 or 5 months for the video. In fact they would be fine with watching the movie in 20 minute chunks on their smartphone, but they can't, so they go to the theater.
But if they know the movie is going to be available on video in three WEEKS, rather than three months, it might make it easier to wait (and pay less). Those are the people we would lose with a closed window. Any given movie's boxoffice gross would probably be cut by at least half, maybe more.
Think of your own moviegoing habits. If you knew the theatrical release was your only chance to see a movie in, say a year, wouldn't you make more of a point to see it, especially if you heard it was good from your friends?
When a movie comes out in theaters it has an air of exclusivity about it because that's the only way you can see it. Once they close the window, that feeling will be gone and a movie will be just like any other home video release. The 'wow' factor will disappear and so will a huge amount of the money. (Not to mention thousands and thousands of jobs.)
And of course you're not considering the hundreds of theaters like mine which don't play all movies on the break. Not that I think the studios care at all about us -- I know they don't -- but film people should be a little supportive even if the studios aren't.
If the studios want to increase boxoffice sales they should make the video window LONGER, not shorter.
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Terry Lynn-Stevens
Phenomenal Film Handler
Posts: 1081
From: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Registered: Dec 2012
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posted 05-01-2014 05:24 PM
quote: Justin Hamaker
The problem with this point of view is it really minimizes the movie theatre experience. By saying a movie should be available everywhere after the third weekend, you're basically giving moviegoers permission to skip the theatre and wait a couple weeks to watch it at home.
I respectfully disagree with you Justin, I think more often than not, people are aware of what the big screen experience is, and most people know that there are movies that beg to be seen on the big screen and then there are those that they don't need to see on the big screen but they still go because of word of mouth, good reviews and stuff like that.
Then there are the movies that people will just not see in the theatre, the term "That looks like a rental" comes to mind, where a 17 day window might work is for these movies, we want to watch Draft Day, Grand Hotel, Night Train, Book Thief and a bunch of others but we will not watch them in a theatre. We might pay $4 or $5 for a digital rental at 17 days, if not we will have to wait till RedBox as we won't be waiting 4 months and using iTunes and we sure as hell won't be buying any of these when they are released on home video.
So what happens if the 17 day window works for movies that bomb or do moderately well in the theatre (and movies that get labeled "That looks like a rental") the big hits and movies that show legs get extended past the 17 day window to an indefinite window?
We just recently saw Heaven is for Real, we didn't go to the theatre because we wanted the big screen experience, we also didn't go because we said to ourselves "The theatre experience is special and we need to see it in a theatre", we went because we heard via word of mouth that that the movie was good. The success at the box office also gave us an indication that people were going for this movie. Contrast that to Gravity, we heard it was good, we heard the reviews were good, the box office was there, but we both knew that Gravity was a movie that needs/begs to be seen in a theatre on the largest screen/best sound possible etc etc.
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Martin McCaffery
Film God
Posts: 2481
From: Montgomery, AL
Registered: Jun 99
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posted 05-01-2014 05:55 PM
To play Devil's Advocate, and I would really love to see if there are stats to back this up, I think the studios figure if they release the video as close as possible to the peak of the theatre viewing wave, they get the biggest bang for their buck by capitalizing off of the word of mouth and all of the advertising they threw into promoting the theatrical release. If they were to wait a year, the "heat" will have cooled, people will have forgotten and a newer shinier movie will be eating up all of the oxygen.
Disney, of course, is different, at least with their animated classics. They know their target audience is rebirthed every five or so years. Likewise, whomever distributed Jackass has to know they have to get their money and run.
As I've said before, the studios consider the theatrical release advertising for the DVD. They should pay us to run them;>
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