Went to the movies today to see Deadpool, and was forced to hear constant commentary from the two couples beside us. I politely asked them to hush, but that was futile.
This has happened at the last four movies I’ve gone to see. I’m not talking about a quiet whisper either, I’m talking about conversation that I can clearly understand. I didn’t pay to listen to your chatter!
So, instead of murder (which is my preferred solution), my wife asked me if there is a streaming service offered. I’d pay double or triple to watch a new release in my own home theatre, but I haven’t found anything. Surely I can’t be the only one who would pay for such a service. Anyone in the know?
Nothing legal. It’s been tried for a few films although generally smaller independents. The most recent “major” release would have been the Rogan/Franco “The Interview”. After North Korea threatened “retaliation” for the film, Sony first pulled it, then said it would be available via streaming and then re-added a theater run. Its total take was far lower than the “expected” box office take prior to the whole fiasco although its theater run was more limited than planned so it’s hard to make any real conclusions.
Part of the issue is that a ticket gets one person into the theater whereas you can have a bunch of people watch one stream, especially if it’s a “24hr rental” or similar. My brother-in-law rented The Interview the day it released and there was probably ten of us in his living room who watched it.
Theater owners see this coming and are fighting it with every ounce of energy.
For those films that are released in theaters and on video at the same time, almost always the theater release is nominal: less than 10 maybe even only 1.
There is frequently a contractual/union obligation to “release” a film into theaters even if it’s only a couple. The theater part is just a gesture, the real release is to video.
The best known simul-release was the Veronica Mars movie. Crowd funded, etc. Released in almost 300 theaters. Did quite well for such a small release.
In these situations, the producers rent the screens from the owners.
A large portion of the income from a movie is from theater ticket sales. The studios aren’t going to piss off theater owners by competing with them on the opening.
Deadpool had a weekend gross of $132,750,000. The studio gets around 90% of that. That’s almost $120 million in income the first week. It’s budget was around $60 million. It’s not likely they can get that much from streaming, and lots of people prefer to watch on a big screen.
You might see this sort of thing with films produced by Netflix, Amazon or another streaming service. The Netflix film Beasts of No Nation was, I believe, released simultaneously to Netflix streaming customers and a few theaters. But because of this, most of the big theater chains were unwilling to put the film in their theaters.
