How Long Do Movie Theaters Have to be Viable?
How long before technological and economic realities kill movie theaters, consigning them to little more than a nostalgic display at the Smithsonian?
Consider how rapidly the brick and mortar business of renting videos retracted.
This is a really interesting interview, anyway.
Charlie Rose: Jeff Bewkes, CEO Time Warner Inc.
I don't have a head for, or an education in, business, but let me try to ask this anyway.
Charlie sort of asks this question of Jeff Bewkes in the above interview.
The conversation about this sort of begins at about 16:00. It warms up at about 17:20. It heats up at about 17:50. At about 19:00 Mr. Bewkes says something to the effect that we are all trying to do this in a way that doesn't undermind the theaters.
But, come on. Why? Is the theater business actually important to Warner and the others in the present and in the future that's now taking shape, or is he really just expressing a sentiment? And how much influence does sentimenality ultimately have in business?
It's smokin' at about 19:08.
Ahhhhhh, allowing a delay for theaters to show films and sell a lot of tickets creates a gap for piracy. Hmmmm.
He says you don't want theaters to disappear, which I'm sure is a very reasonable thing for him to say. But, am I the only one who can't help but suspect that he's speaking a necessary pleasantry or a platitude?
So, it's already happening to a small extent, right? I rented Melancholia streaming when it was just out in first run theaters. More recently, I was tempted to rent Arbitrage, but haven't yet. I hesitate to mention it because I don't know what its state of release really is or was, when, where, or how, but I was willing to pay a rental premium to see Soloman Kane which was supposedly before a release here in the states. Did such a release ever happen? Heh-heh.
Of course, we're talking about Melancholia and Arbitrage, not The Avengers or The Hobbit. But, they're dabbling, it seems?
So, as the phone and cable companies continue to expand their infrastructures for delivery of broadband, as more and more areas and neighborhoods get broadband and wifi and whatever, and more and more of their content streaming, when do the movie theaters become unsustainable dinosaurs?
Hey, I've become an old fogie, myself, who grew up in this era in which movie theaters were a cherished part of life. I don't want them to go. It seems very sad to me. But, I'm wondering if the writing is on the wall. Looking at what happened to brick and mortar video rental stores, can a similar fate be far off for theaters?
Also, I wouldn't hold my breath. But, in a future in which you don't need to get your film in many theaters across the country or across the world to achieve box office success, could that level the playing field for indie filmmakers? I doubt that the Big Boys would actually allow that, but just wondering.
How long before technological and economic realities kill movie theaters, consigning them to little more than a nostalgic display at the Smithsonian?
Consider how rapidly the brick and mortar business of renting videos retracted.
This is a really interesting interview, anyway.
Charlie Rose: Jeff Bewkes, CEO Time Warner Inc.
I don't have a head for, or an education in, business, but let me try to ask this anyway.
Charlie sort of asks this question of Jeff Bewkes in the above interview.
The conversation about this sort of begins at about 16:00. It warms up at about 17:20. It heats up at about 17:50. At about 19:00 Mr. Bewkes says something to the effect that we are all trying to do this in a way that doesn't undermind the theaters.
But, come on. Why? Is the theater business actually important to Warner and the others in the present and in the future that's now taking shape, or is he really just expressing a sentiment? And how much influence does sentimenality ultimately have in business?
It's smokin' at about 19:08.
Ahhhhhh, allowing a delay for theaters to show films and sell a lot of tickets creates a gap for piracy. Hmmmm.
He says you don't want theaters to disappear, which I'm sure is a very reasonable thing for him to say. But, am I the only one who can't help but suspect that he's speaking a necessary pleasantry or a platitude?
So, it's already happening to a small extent, right? I rented Melancholia streaming when it was just out in first run theaters. More recently, I was tempted to rent Arbitrage, but haven't yet. I hesitate to mention it because I don't know what its state of release really is or was, when, where, or how, but I was willing to pay a rental premium to see Soloman Kane which was supposedly before a release here in the states. Did such a release ever happen? Heh-heh.
Of course, we're talking about Melancholia and Arbitrage, not The Avengers or The Hobbit. But, they're dabbling, it seems?
So, as the phone and cable companies continue to expand their infrastructures for delivery of broadband, as more and more areas and neighborhoods get broadband and wifi and whatever, and more and more of their content streaming, when do the movie theaters become unsustainable dinosaurs?
Hey, I've become an old fogie, myself, who grew up in this era in which movie theaters were a cherished part of life. I don't want them to go. It seems very sad to me. But, I'm wondering if the writing is on the wall. Looking at what happened to brick and mortar video rental stores, can a similar fate be far off for theaters?
Also, I wouldn't hold my breath. But, in a future in which you don't need to get your film in many theaters across the country or across the world to achieve box office success, could that level the playing field for indie filmmakers? I doubt that the Big Boys would actually allow that, but just wondering.
