Does the fast turnaround to dvd hurt movie sales?

[Just_Hal]

I do not go to movies very much anymore, have my kids a lot and they come to dvd so fast now, do ya think that hurts the box office #'s.

Would go see Serenity again but should be out in dvd in 12/05, will wait and buy it.
Batman Begins was too rough for me to take the kids but is already on dvd tomorrow!!!!

What do ya think?
$8 for a movie ticket or wait 2 months and for $16 get the 2 disc dvd of it?

 

[JoeGKushner]

hard to say but one of the things some Hollywood types are talking about is massive releases all at once where DVD, downloads, and other stuff all comes out on the same day. I believe that they are going to try to do this with King Kong but haven't heard anything official. It was on Fox news about a month or two ago.

 

[Desdichado]

Probably does, but I think the film industry probably realizes that home viewing is the future of entertainment. Home theater systems are pretty reasonable nowadays; there often seems to be no reason to go to the theater except for "the experience" and if I'm really impatient to see a certain movie.

 

[Morrus]

I can't speak for anyone else, but I know that I've certainly chosen not to see movies at the cinema because I knew they would be out on DVD shortly. Depends on the type of movie, though - some I find I have to see at the cinema, others, when I'm not so bothered about them, I'll just wait a few weeks.

 

[Templeton580]

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[BrooklynKnight]

One of the reasons that the industry has evolved to this point is the ease and speed if information transfer.

Previously it was a long and ardous process to transfer movies from analog to other types of analog and mass produce. Especially VHS. You have all that tape to deal with.

Even if movies arent digitally filmed, they ARE digitially Edited (Avid or Final Cut Pro are the current mainstays of the film industry). So the master copy of a movie (and all of the extra's) are already stored in digital form. From this state its very easy, and fast to compile a dvd master copy. It takes seconds to stamp a dvd after the primary mold is made, and days to mass produce millions of copies or so.

A move like this was inevatable. At some point there will be a massive change in the market. People WONT be willing to pay 40$ for 2 people to see a movie on the big screen. Though people will always WANT to see movies on the big screen. Not barring interruptions from other movie goers, seeing movies larger then life really IS an experience. So movie theaters will never be phased out. But in the coming years, there will be lots of decision making, testing, theorizing, focus groups, and more, while the MPAA and other agencies figure out where the balance point is. How they can get the most out of a theatricial release and the most out of a DVD release.

One possible template thats been mentioned is SELLING the DVD AT the movie theater DURING the release (and requiring a ticket stub to purchase the dvd) while pushing back the DVD release of a movie in retail stores to anywhere from 4-12 months from original release.

 

[BrooklynKnight]

Oh, some other methods they'll be using to attract people to the movies is interactivity. While you're at the movie you can download extra material to your cellphone, or PSP/DS/Blackberry/Sidekick (like games, or cut scenes or background information) and experience this content after the movie or during a bathroom break.

 

[Truth Seeker]

The Unseen Double Edge...

If anyone remembers, why the fast turn around for DVD releases all of sudden.

Piracy.

The movie industry is trying to cut away, at the losses of revenue, done by piracy. Hence the turn around of a earlier than expected releases.

Does it hurt the theater industry?

Only time will tell, when the full impact is finally realized. A year or so from now.

Trying to get back that dollar, from unwanted, illegal hands...has or will eventually hurt something else...like the theaters.

And here is something to think about...as some of the views that are expressed here, about not going to a theather to see a film, but will wait for the DVD release.

Piracy is changing our social habits...going to the movies, is a social gathering event. Now, and slowing, we are being caged into our own homes. Oh sure, we can have get togethers at home for movie watching.

But it will not replace that bigger crowd feel, of a charged atmosphere, when watching the same thing. It will be just a little smaller...much smaller.

Piracy is affecting the means to truly enjoy, a large mass human experience. At the movies.

I do not go to movies very much anymore, have my kids a lot and they come to dvd so fast now, do ya think that hurts the box office #'s.

Would go see Serenity again but should be out in dvd in 12/05, will wait and buy it.
Batman Begins was too rough for me to take the kids but is already on dvd tomorrow!!!!

What do ya think?
$8 for a movie ticket or wait 2 months and for $16 get the 2 disc dvd of it?

 

[JoeGKushner]

Now that we live in the Cellphone Age (aka the "Get Out of My Way" Era), I've found that inconsiderate people make movie-going an extremely unpleasant experience for me.

DVDs: The Choice of Misanthropes!

I almost got into a fist fight with a white trash mother of two whose children keept kicking me and she keept answering her cell phone during the Two Towers movie.

Best part was when she was yelling at me and I told her to shut her fing mouth and some dude in the back row was like, "You shouldn't swear at her in front of her kids" and I was like, "Hey dude, where was that attitude when she was cursing on her cell phone in front of the kids?" Shut him up quick.

 

[Captain Tagon]

Most of my friends and I go to the theatre at least once a week.