21st Century Fox Inc., Time Warner Inc.’s Warner Bros. and Comcast Corp.’s Universal Pictures all confirmed over the past week that they are looking to offer high-priced, home-video rentals of new movies shortly after they open in theaters. Some studio executives have been pushing to allow home rentals as early as two weeks after theatrical debuts and are considering a deal with iTunes as one option, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the discussions are private.
One option is a premium-priced online rental for new movies, at prices of $25 to $50, a possibility under consideration at the studios, according to people with knowledge of the matter.
I think this would be great, and I’d be willing to pay a premium to be able to rent movies that are still in theaters. However, $25 is a bit rich for me. I’d wait until they dropped the price to about half of that.
I’d probably pay $20 to see a new movie given that be around the price of two tickets to the theater.
This might be good for people who have difficulty going out to movies for a number of valid reasons.
My assumption would be the high prices are based on multiple people potentially watching at once. Family or friends, etc.
I’d imagine for the first couple of years of such a deal it would be equivalent to the price of a couple of movie tickets. Not cheap – just more convenient.
At the same time I worry this will really hurt my local cinema. Two weeks seems extreme – four would be better for everyone.
Funny how “Apple Blogs” are reporting this as something Apple is trying to do.
Rest of the world is reporting it as the movie studios are trying to combat falling DVD sales and rentals.
I dont think $10-15 is reasonable since that’s the price of a single ticket or so. But given that most people go with a friend/spouse/partner, $25 feels reasonable if it’s close enough to release day. The farther from there, the less reasonable that is.
It’s not the studios’ idea, either. It was called “The Screening Room” by Sean Parker 9 months ago.
https://consumerist.com/2016/03/10/napster-facebooks-sean-parker-thinks-youll-pay-50-to-watch-new-movies-at-home/
$25 isn’t that rich if you have more than one person watching. Prime (Dolby Atmos) tickets are $19.75 each in the Silicon Valley, and that’s not even 3D. I would like to know, however, how long we can “rent” the movie, and if we can watch it more than once.
Once you factor in price/inconvenience of a baby sitter $25+ doesn’t sound too bad. My wife and I have only been to the cinema together once in the 18 months since we had our son.
Renting it on iTunes for $25 seems pricey to me since I can buy it on iTunes for $20 when its out of the theater.