On Friday, I watched “X-Men 3: The Last Stand.” Today, I wanted to watch it again. However, I don’t feel like going to the theater again to watch the movie. I would like to be able to own it on DVD already. I wish movie studios would release the movie on DVD when the movie is released in theaters. So here’s my plan for a new movie distribution model [I don’t claim these are my exclusive ideas – in fact, my ideas have been influenced by so many tech shows that my plan is probably a mish-mash of those ideas].
As I understand it, the current concern of movie theaters is if the studios release the films as DVDs when the movies first open, then the movie theaters will die because no one will go to the theaters again.
The way to fix this problem – make the movie theater the distributor of the DVDs. Here’s how this would work: the movie studios still release their films to movie theaters. The theaters would also get DVDs of the films that were just released. These DVDs would not be available in stores, but only movie theaters. Thus, the movie theater would not die off – they would adapt.
I have two models of the content of the opening-day DVD (“ODVD”). The first model of the ODVD would be a movie only disc. No extras, no commentaries, nothing except maybe subtitles. That way – the impatient could purchase the movie just as they would see it in the theaters. The movie theater would sell the ODVDs at the price of a regular DVD.
The second model is the ODVD as the regular DVD, complete with extras. After watching a movie, many people want to know what the directors were thinking, or see an extended version of the film and an ODVD could operate in the same way the current DVDs do. Once again, the studios would release these ODVDs only to the theaters. The normal movie retailers would get the staggered release DVD (“SDVD”) about three or four months post release, just as they do now.
The theaters could benefit from adapting to a new model of the movie experience. Theaters can still offer an experience that cannot easily be replicated at home. Certain movies are meant for a sixty-foot screen like “King Kong” or “Braveheart.” Others are can easily be enjoyed at home. Additionally, purchasing a DVD or renting it while it is still out in theaters may cause people to go the theater. I know if I saw “X-Men 3” on my television, I would want to go the theater to see the film on a bigger screen.
Movie studios could also benefit from promoting the release of the DVD and film at the same time. Why promote a movie twice? Just push the movie once. Let the trailers and TV ads promote a film efficiently. I could see the movie studios backing my first model of the ODVD – the stripped down version because it gives them a chance to make money on the movie multiple times. They already release multiple versions of the same movie such as the “Special Edition,” the “Ultimate Edition,” the “Extended Cut,” etc. They could easily release the ODVD and then promote a beefed-up version months later if they so chose.
This is a simple idea. I do not care if the movie industry takes this idea and uses it. I have not patented this process. Feel free to take this and use it as a model.