The Release Window is Closing, But Not Fast Enough
According to the L.A. Times, the release window between the time a film is released in theatres and the time it is released has shrunk another 10 days in the past year.
And while that’s enough to make the National Association of Theatre Owners very nervous, that’s still not nearly fast enough. The fact that there is any time at all between the time a film is released in theatres and the time it is available for DVD, pay cable and downloading is swiftly becoming an anachronism.
Of course, others disagree:
But exhibitors fret that moviegoers will shun going to a theater if they know a movie will be available shortly on video. In four years the average period between a film’s theatrical and DVD releases narrowed by an entire month, to four months and eight days.
As someone whose movie-going has steadily declined from once a week to once a year, I totally understand how that can happen. Going to a film used to be a thrill, a high point, something I looked forward to all week, but over the years it has become such an exhausting ordeal — high food prices, noisy neighbors, and zillions of commercials — that the exclusivity is the only thing that they still have going for them. There are very very few films that I can’t wait a few months to see at home.
But while they’ve already lost people like me, there will always be a percentage of people who would rather experience a film in a raucous public setting. So perhaps they won’t lose as many people as they think. Or perhaps a closed window will force them to figure out how to make the experience more about the actual film that they are showing instead of the food and commercials.
In any event, as nearly every other type of entertainment turns to releasing product nearly simultaneously in multiple formats, the window will continue to close. So the exhibitors might start trying to figure out how to make the experience pleasant again.
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3 Comment(s) so far
1. William P. Wend wrote on March 12th, 2007 at 10:19 am
Netflix, and DVD’s in general, brought the chances of me going to the theater for a movie down from very slim to absolutely zero. Being able to add a film to my queue while it is still in the theater allows me to have it at the top of my list by the time it actually comes out on DVD.
This is my first comment here; this is a great site! Thank you for creating it.
2. Jim wrote on March 12th, 2007 at 5:34 pm
Thanks William!
3. The Weekly ‘Loper - March 18, 2007 | Medialoper wrote on March 18th, 2007 at 10:43 am
[...] The Release Window is Closing, But Not Fast Enough - So that’s why we haven’t been to the movies in months. I knew there had to be a reason. Stupid commercials! [...]