Soderbergh, 2929 See Same-Day Film/DVD Release
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Director Steven Soderbergh and 2929 Entertainment, a media company owned by entrepreneurs Mark Cuban and Todd Wagner, on Friday unveiled a unique pact to make digital movies for simultaneous release in theaters, on television and on DVD.
The same-day distribution challenges long-held practices for Hollywood studios that first place films in theaters, hoping for solid box office revenues, then sell them months later on DVD or videocassette and offer them to TV broadcasters.
Studios and theater owners are concerned that altering the practice would cannibalize theater box office sales, but Wagner told Reuters it is time to explore new ways to get movies to audiences when and where they want them.
“Consumers should have the choice of how they want to consume movies,” he said.
Under the deal between 2929 and Oscar winner Soderbergh — whose work ranges from low-budget features to blockbusters like “Ocean’s Eleven” — the director would make six movies using high-definition digital technology. The first, a murder mystery titled “Bubble,” is currently in production.
2929 would release the movies in its Landmark Theaters cinema chain, which operates 58 houses nationwide geared toward art, foreign-language and independently-made films.
The films also would be available on 2929’s high-definition cable TV channel, HDNet Movies. The Dallas-based company said it is still in talks for home video and DVD distribution.
EMBRACING CHANGE
While HDNet reaches roughly half of all U.S. homes, it has yet to gain strong viewership, and Wagner said much of the reasoning behind the pact is to test simultaneous releasing.
“If you embrace (the tests), you can find new revenue models, but you aren’t going to think of them if you aren’t willing to experiment,” he said.
For instance, he said it may be possible that filmmakers could share video and TV revenues with theater owners if the theater owners do not protest simultaneous releases.
The DVD market has been so strong in recent years that some filmmakers want to tap it faster to recoup the cost of making and marketing films. The studios have narrowed gaps between releases, too, but have not done a simultaneous distribution.
Last year, Atlanta-based Convex Group Inc. released a holiday film, “NOEL,” in 10 cities and on the same day in a disposable DVD via online retailer Amazon.com Inc. .
One week ago, 2929 released a documentary it backed, “Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room,” simultaneously in theaters and on HDNet Movies.
Wagner said it was too soon to know exactly how the strategy panned out for “Smartests Guys,” but he added that the movie’s per screen average was a hefty $25,000.
“That tells me it hasn’t cannibalized any audience yet,” he said.
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