Bloomberg:
Movie studios are considering whether to ignore the objections of cinema chains and forge ahead with a plan to offer digital rentals of films mere weeks after they appear in theaters, according to people familiar with the matter.
Some of the biggest proponents, including Warner Bros. and Universal Pictures, are pressing on in talks with Apple Inc. and Comcast Corp. on ways to push ahead with the project even without theater chains, the people said.
And:
Deals with potential distributors such as Apple and Comcast could be reached as soon as early next year to sell digital downloads of major films as soon as two weeks after they debut in theaters, the people said.
This seems inevitable, part of the evolution of the content consumption model. Apple is easing into this business on several sides, tweaking their iTunes movie and TV streaming business, as they also build their own content creation business.
I see Apple as the irresistible force here, fueled by the deepest pockets in the biz.
For the cost of one ticket, some popcorn, and a large soda, you can buy the Blu Ray version, or a download HD version, and watch it as many times as you like from then on.
What’s hard to understand? Go to a theater, have some jerk, or kid, kick the back of you seat for two hours, have sticky goo on the bottom of your shoes.
Unless it’s a true IMAX theater, and 3D, why pay all that money? I go to fewer and fewer movies now, where I used to go every single weekend there was a watchable move in theaters.
I welcome this inevitability, but am also sad at what the cinema experience has become.
I look forward to a day when VR can recapture the cinema experience, on par with the largest 70mm theaters, where I can see a movie with my family (that live across the country) and have it feel like we are all there together.
And the popcorn, that’s easy to make with Coconut oil and Flavacol.
It will be interesting to see pricing on this. I can’t imagine they’ll price it the same as digital versions now. What I would be they do is tack on a premium that’s basically the equivalent of 2 tickets plus popcorn, etc. So, $29-$39. That’s still not a bad deal if you normally go as a couple and if it’s too much you wait and get it for $10-$20 later.
I’d much rather have a rental count as credit for purchasing a movie. Kinda like how buying a track to a song drops the complete the album price.
But this will be nice.
VR isn’t likely to do that. If anything, VR will allow you to see a movie with your family all living in the same house and have it feel like you’re each and every one of you entirely alone.
This. I find it difficult to rent movies for exactly this reason. If I like it and want to buy it, it’s now an extra-expensive movie.
“Go to a theater, have some jerk, or kid, kick the back of you seat for two hours, have sticky goo on the bottom of your shoes.” The only thing hard to understand about that is why you go to such lousy theaters where this happens. I haven’t had this experience with a theater in a couple of decades (and come to think of it, it was a dollar matinee; paying a dollar brings a bunch of people who all think they can whip out their just-watching-TV manners).