20th Century Fox, Universal, Warner Bros, And Sony Agree To Premium VOD
Premium video on demand is something that Hollywood has been kicking around for a while, and now despite the protests from theater owners it looks like premium VOD will roll out next month.
According to Variety the movie studios that have signed from the premium VOD services are Universal, 20th Century Fox, Sony, and Warner Bros. The studios will offer their new release movies to consumers to rent for $30, 60 days after their theatrical release date.
Currently Just Go With It and Unknown (Sony and Warner Bros. respectively) will be two of the first films included in the launch.
DirecTV will launch the Home Premiere nationally to 20 million subscribers, with Comcast releasing to certain cities at the end of April.
Needless to say, theater owners are worrying that the fast turn around time for movies direct to consumer’s TVs will hurt box office earnings. A statement from the National Association of Theater Ownsers states: “These plans fundamentally alter the economic relationship between exhibitors, filmmakers and producers, and the studios taking part in this misguided venture. ”
The statement went onto say that studios “risk accelerating the already intense need to maximize revenues on every screen opening weekend and driving out films that need time to develop — like many of the recent Academy Award-nominated pictures. They risk exacerbating the scourge of movie theft by delivering a pristine, high definition, digital copy to pirates months earlier than they had previously been available.”
To me, this makes sense, however studios have stated that they will not offer films that continue to perform strongly at the box office as part of the premiere VOD service.
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