Waiting for the bubble to burst

2929 Entertainment

are an interesting company they are about to release a film shot on HD called Bubble, directed by David Soderbergh simultaneously in Cinemas and by video-on-demand.

This has got Hollywood in a bit of a pickle - and is nothing short of heresy according to Rolling Stone Magazine

Is Bubble the future of movie watching? Some theater owners would like to screw off Soderbergh's head for threatening their business. Others think this triple-release strategy will save millions in marketing costs, serve a wider audience and appeal to a generation that wants what it wants right now, whether it's on a DVD, a computer or an iPod

Whilst Boing boing commented

Some cinema chains in America are refusing to show Steven Soderbergh's new movie Bubble because it's being released in a new way -- in theaters, on DVD, and via pay-per-view all at once.

In fact according to CBC Theatre chains in more than 15 states have refused to show the film, saying Soderbergh's plan will take a big chunk out of their bottom line.

"It's the biggest threat to the viability of the cinema industry today," John Fithian, president of the National Association of Theater Owners, said of the so-called "day and date" release strategy.

The 2929 way

At the center of this shift is 2929 Entertainment, the media company co-founded by Todd Wagner and Mark Cuban-the high profile founders of online radio company Broadcast.com, which they sold to Yahoo! Inc. in 1999 for $5.7billion. Taking advantage of their deep pockets, Wagner and Cuban have used 2929 Entertainment to marry a vertical collection of holdings that includes their two digital cable channels-HDNet and HDNet Movies-along with Rysher Entertainment, 2929 Productions, HDNet Films, Magnolia Pictures Distribution and Landmark Theatres, allowing them to digitalize completely the production and distribution of movies. By doing this, they plan to shift the power of viewing choice from the studios to the consumer.

Despite widespread adoption of VHS, DVDs and more recently video-on-demand, Hollywood has held tight to the series of windows through which it distributes and allows consumers to access its films-a system designed to extract maximum revenues from each medium. Studios actively drum up interest
in a film in the months leading up to its release, and then limit the number of theaters it is initially sent to in an effort to enhance the buzz before it is sent on to smaller screens across the country. Roughly 60 to 90 days after a film's release, it is publicized again and then released to the home video market and video-on-demand. Once revenues from those windows have been exhausted, a film will finally be licensed to cable providers such as HBO and Cinemax, before ultimately making its way onto free TV, where it will generate advertising revenues. The studios have intentionally held to this formula in an effort to keep the rental market from cutting into a film's initial theater sales, but with DVD sales now responsible for the bulk of films' revenues, the new companies believe the model is flawed.

Many think it's time to compress the time horizon. That's exactly what 2929 Entertainment is doing. "We have the ability to make a movie, put it on TV, put it in the theaters and sell a DVD simultaneously; the consumer is now in charge and gets the choice of deciding," says Wagner, 2929 Entertainment's chief executive. "It's about leveraging technology-leveraging the fact that it's a digital world and saying, let's get these products to people and let the consumer decide,' as opposed to some arbitrary window."

The Observer commented on this on Sunday whilst looking at Disneys purchase of Pixar studios

There is an industry-wide realisation that the business model underpinning media companies could become obsolete in the face of new technology.

The release of the new Steven Soderbergh film Bubble this week, the first to be released simultaneously on DVD, in cinemas and over the internet, marks a watershed. American movie-goers have typically seen films first, with additional revenues added through DVD sales to pay-TV operators and, finally, terrestrial broadcasters. Releasing movies at different times in different countries also maximised revenues. The dissemination of information over search engines like Google, which recently launched a 'searchable' online video store, make that model impracticable

Currently, studios control the distribution of films. In the future, they may struggle to maintain that grip as content becomes available on a myriad of new platforms. Every major TV and film studio is examining ways of making their content available over the internet, on mobile phones or on other hand-held devices, including iPods.

The key to all this - does it enable viewers, consumers of content in valuable ways?

If NO - then don't bother - then you have to work out your business model.

But it is the future - so get used to it.

Soderbergh interviewed by Wired said of the benefits of embracing new technologies for film making and distribution

When the changeover from film to digital happens in theaters in five or 10 years, you're going to see name filmmakers self-distributing. Another thing that really excites me: I'd like to do multiple versions of the same film. I often do very radical cuts of my own films just to experiment, shake things up, and see if anything comes of it. I think it would be really interesting to have a movie out in release and then, just a few weeks later say, "Here's version 2.0, recut, rescored." The other version is still out there - people can see either or both. For instance, right now I know I could do two very different versions of The Good German.

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