Director M. Night Shyamalan went retro last week by slamming the idea of putting out new movies on DVD at the same time they’re released in theaters. 
Perhaps that’s to be expected from a director who works in old-fashioned, well-crafted films which pay homage to Hitchcock.
Film studios make a huge chunk of their profits on DVD sales and are chafing at having to duplicate marketing campaigns, one for the theaters and another four months later for the DVD. Customers are asking why they can’t buy a movie when and how they want. Directors like Steven Soderbergh (Sex, Lies and Videotape, Ocean’s Eleven, Traffic) and entrepreneurs like Mark Cuban are banding together to experiment with the new biz model:
Soderbergh… announced last spring that he planned to make six high-definition movies for simultaneous release in theaters, on DVD and on pay cable… “The film business in general is using a model that is outdated and, worse than that, inefficient.” [Link]
Manoj don’t play that:
“When I sit down next to you in a movie theater, we get to share each other’s point of view… That’s the magic in the movies… If this thing happens, you know the majority of your theaters are closing. It’s going to crush you guys… If I can’t make movies for theaters, I don’t want to make movies… I hope this is a very bad idea that goes away.” [Link]
Actually, what we share is the top of your big freakin’ head blocking the screen and the Goobers the kid behind me keeps throwing into my lap. Sure, opening night at a blockbuster is fun, but otherwise, not so much. The movies are great, it’s the moviegoers I could do without.
As for DVDs, those who can’t afford to take the entire family out to the movies, wait for the DVD anyway. The main risk is a shift to DVD among those who’d rather own the disc than see it on the big screen. That’s a real biz risk for theaters, but it’s better for customers. There’s no reason, other than an artificial theater subsidy, that you shouldn’t be able to buy and even download a movie on the day of its release. That would give customers finer-grained choices: the theater experience for the movies you’re waiting for, convenience for all the others.
