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I'll explain the logic, but its a lengthy answer and I'll go on record now as saying this will fail at a $50 price point
Domestic box office has potentially peaked in terms of audience and while international is making up for it, the margins there arent great and China really cant be relied on to get more than a handful of titles in a year and be really succesful.
So the thought is to go after the customers they've lost - namely the folks that no longer feel its convienent to go to the theater and see the film. These are essentially folks who for one reason or another are getting their entertainment through netflix/amazon/itunes and broadcast episodic television. How can we get them to transact in the first theatrical window without destroying it?
Well, its gonna have to be a high price point. One motivating factor in retail is convenience so the thought is target people willing to pay for the convenience of watching studio films at home while they are in theaters. The logic is if parents go to the theater, they have to pay for a babysitter and parking and tickets and concesions. Easily $50 or more. So they are basically paying parity to what it would cost if they would to go the theater. Studios also will need to compensate theaters for the loss of business (studios still need theaters for tentpoles, which in the last ten years, is all they want to put out), so they need to give theaters (all theaters, from your local chain to amc) a cut.
The problem is the $50 price tag is gonna scare off people who dont do the math in their head (most people) or dont have to worry about dropping $50 or more when they go to the theater. They see the $50 price point as a "ticket price" which averages around $8.50 or almost 6 tickets and while they want to pay for convenience, thats probably too steep a hill for them to climb.
They are going to need a massive amount of marketing to educate and will probably need to roll this out with something like star wars or avengers or jurassic park to get people used to it (unlikely)
Variety: The Screening Room $50 Day and Date Home Video has Steven Spielberg, JJ Abrams, Peter Jackson as backers. Mar 11, 16:18
Brian Grazer and Ron Howard as well, all are shareholders. {nm} Mar 11, 16:19
Napster didn't save the music industry... {nm} Mar 11, 16:39
you have to buy the $150 box first... then it is $50 per movie {nm} Mar 11, 17:21
yeah. nuts. imagine paying 50 bucks for GRMSB :) Mar 11, 17:27
But it only takes one person to pirate the movie and it's out there in blu-ray quality {nm} Mar 11, 17:44
their plan doesn't make sense... Mar 11, 17:45
+100 {nm} Mar 11, 17:46
its not for ones who cant afford a babysitter. {nm} Mar 11, 18:30
In a previous article it said 10% to the screening room company, 20% to distributors and (as much as) $20 to exhibitors. Mar 11, 23:29
It's easily $75 in tickets for a family of 5 to see a movie in Los Angeles on a Friday/Saturday evening and they do that. {nm} Mar 11, 18:24
or for parents who have to pay a babysitter & parking {nm} Mar 11, 18:28
I'll explain the logic, but its a lengthy answer and I'll go on record now as saying this will fail at a $50 price point Mar 11, 18:56
Hmm...Might not have been clear with my comparison. NFL is fighting folks preferring to watch at home, cinema is too. {nm} Mar 12, 01:05
If they can make a deal with Disney, the traditional theatrical window will collapse forever {nm} Mar 11, 17:17
