The studios originally floated the idea of early access video on demand last fall, and I didn’t think much of it at the time — assuming either the theaters would crush it or they’d recognize very few of us are willing to pay for rentals in the double digits. Well, logic hasn’t prevailed…
Warner Bros., Sony, Universal and 20th Century Fox are the first studios that have agreed to launch Home Premiere as the official brand under which the industry will offer up movies to rent for $30 two months after their theatrical bows for a viewing period of two to three days, depending on the distributor.
The service kicks off later this month via the likes of DirecTV and Comast. And I just didn’t see it flying, given the cost and delay, as the studios attempt to squeeze more value out of the artificial, inconsistant, and archaic movie release windows. The only way I could imagine this sort of scheme paying off is if the studios and television providers were to make a movie available the same weekend it’s released into theaters and portray the experience as a pay-per-view event. Perhaps that’s the ultimate goal, but at launch, this initiative will fail (to generate revenue). Agree?