Cinemas will ban big movie if Universal goes ahead with 'too soon' video release
A big American movie chain is refusing to show a major new film on any of its 3800 screens if the film company releases the film as planned on video-on-demand just three weeks after its cinema debut on November 4.
The cinema chain is Cinemark, third-biggest in the country. The film is the upcoming Eddie Murphy-Ben Stiller comedy "Tower Heist" from Universal Pictures .
You can see Cinemark's point. The video-on-demand move is just a test run - but if applied nationally, it would deprive the chain of potentially more than $100 million in takings for "Tower Heist."
The question now is whether Universal will go ahead with its plan and risk losing millions as well.
Calling the plan " audacious", the Los Angeles Times said the move could shake up the way Hollywood has done business for decades.
The proposed test would be offered in just two cities to 500,000 digital cable subscribers of Universal’s corporate parent, Comcast. It would be pretty expensive -- $59.99 --and some observers doubted if customers would be willing to pay this in the current economic slump.
However, it would be the first time a major movie would be available to watch in-home while still playing in thousands of cinemas and " the biggest step forward in the controversial premium video-on-demand business that any Hollywood studio has taken," said the Times.
Apparently Universal had hoped cinemas would decide that their business was not threatened due to the limited nature of the test. No such luck!
Last spring three big cinema chains battled against a test by four studios that made movies available -- for $29.99 -- 60 days after they arrived in cinemas. The cinemas believe that if films are available at home less than 90 days after the premiere, movie fans will not go out and buy tickets.
Cinemark urged Universal to reconsider its market test for "Tower Heist," adding, "If Universal Pictures moves forward as announced, Cinemark has determined, in its best business interests, that it will decline to exhibit this film in its theatres."
A Universal spokeswoman declined to comment.