"Develop a physical release to be ready in tandem with the theatrical date, let people buy them online to be shipped to their door, and only allow shipment to rural postal codes so as to protect the theatrical ecosystem. Whatever’s left can just go to the shelves post-theatrical run, which already happens anyway."
I would support this heavily. It's equally important for television series to be distributed in the same fashion.
People don't understand how much the end of Netflix's red envelope service fucked over rural folks who a) don't have a movie theatre within, like, 100 miles and b) don't have particularly high bandwidth Internet good for streaming. These are millions of people.
It frustrates me because the red envelope service was profitable, "but not enough." It also frustrates me because Netflix chose to close it as a competitor rather than sell it as an asset.
That's exactly right! Very little peeves me as much as this needless kneecapping of distribution. Even when I still lived in a city, I missed a lot of new releases because the cinema would only carry so many at a time. MaXXXine, Queer, Anora, The Book of Clarence; the vacancies were ridiculous!
"I grew up in a minuscule town, an hour-and-change’s drive from the nearest cinema, which itself was tiny and therefore had limited viewing options. You’d be lucky to have a shot at seeing half of the new releases, and if there were box office juggernauts in play, forget it; who needs new indie darlings when you can watch Top Gun: Maverick for six months?"
I live in a medium-sized city in Nebraska and even we don't get many of the new, indie/foreign releases. This is because all 4 of our theaters are owned by the same company (Marcus). Unfortunately, they only play the same top 5 box-office grossing movies at each location. So if it wasn't for streaming, I would never get to see movies like "Anora," "The Brutalist," or "Queer."
I'm a big fan of physical media, so I love your idea of having studios issuing their movies on disc at the same time they're released to theaters for rural areas.
I also love your idea of having a studio that makes 10 20 million dollar movies (or even less). Not having a huge budget means filmmakers need to be more inventive (and need to have a tight, well-written script). Plus, as you say, it allows for filmmakers to make more adventurous films.
Finally, I think making movies about all walks of life is a great (and important) idea too.
Overall, you've compiled a great "to do" list for a studio to implement. If there were any justice in the world, A24 or Warners would put you in charge :)
Love all these ideas. But the problem with the $20 million movies is how much P+A costs for all of them, something that would largely outpace the marketing spend on a single tentpole blockbuster. For the average mid-budget studio movie ($20-$40 million), the ad budget will likely surpass the production budget to get it in 3000 theaters with any real awareness. No one has mentioned it, but because the screens were available, a lot of distributors this year have taken baths trying to send niche movies into immediate wide release without an accompanying advertising budget.
I think the answer to this is to reinvent movie advertising, but that's a bigger issue tied into so many other topics.
My studio had better find a damn fine billboard, then.
Fr, that's a great point too. You could soften that blow by making five $40 million movies, and if you really come out in the green, you could plan/make even more movies next year. The point is more that profit bets aren't being hedged on a single release; rather than having expectations around a single film's massive box office success and subsequently trying to engineer that, you diversify the work and subsequently focus on the work, which opens the door for more organic interest and profit opportunities. Something like Barbenheimer is best-case scenario.
Could even do what Anyone But You did and go full Fortnite by offering additional incentives for seeing the movie. I know my then-local chain had deals and sweepstakes exclusively for Anyone But You ticket-holders.
"Develop a physical release to be ready in tandem with the theatrical date, let people buy them online to be shipped to their door, and only allow shipment to rural postal codes so as to protect the theatrical ecosystem. Whatever’s left can just go to the shelves post-theatrical run, which already happens anyway."
I would support this heavily. It's equally important for television series to be distributed in the same fashion.
Hear hear!
People don't understand how much the end of Netflix's red envelope service fucked over rural folks who a) don't have a movie theatre within, like, 100 miles and b) don't have particularly high bandwidth Internet good for streaming. These are millions of people.
It frustrates me because the red envelope service was profitable, "but not enough." It also frustrates me because Netflix chose to close it as a competitor rather than sell it as an asset.
That's exactly right! Very little peeves me as much as this needless kneecapping of distribution. Even when I still lived in a city, I missed a lot of new releases because the cinema would only carry so many at a time. MaXXXine, Queer, Anora, The Book of Clarence; the vacancies were ridiculous!
"I grew up in a minuscule town, an hour-and-change’s drive from the nearest cinema, which itself was tiny and therefore had limited viewing options. You’d be lucky to have a shot at seeing half of the new releases, and if there were box office juggernauts in play, forget it; who needs new indie darlings when you can watch Top Gun: Maverick for six months?"
I live in a medium-sized city in Nebraska and even we don't get many of the new, indie/foreign releases. This is because all 4 of our theaters are owned by the same company (Marcus). Unfortunately, they only play the same top 5 box-office grossing movies at each location. So if it wasn't for streaming, I would never get to see movies like "Anora," "The Brutalist," or "Queer."
I'm a big fan of physical media, so I love your idea of having studios issuing their movies on disc at the same time they're released to theaters for rural areas.
I also love your idea of having a studio that makes 10 20 million dollar movies (or even less). Not having a huge budget means filmmakers need to be more inventive (and need to have a tight, well-written script). Plus, as you say, it allows for filmmakers to make more adventurous films.
Finally, I think making movies about all walks of life is a great (and important) idea too.
Overall, you've compiled a great "to do" list for a studio to implement. If there were any justice in the world, A24 or Warners would put you in charge :)
'Preciate it, Jim! May the future be rich with DVDs!
Love all these ideas. But the problem with the $20 million movies is how much P+A costs for all of them, something that would largely outpace the marketing spend on a single tentpole blockbuster. For the average mid-budget studio movie ($20-$40 million), the ad budget will likely surpass the production budget to get it in 3000 theaters with any real awareness. No one has mentioned it, but because the screens were available, a lot of distributors this year have taken baths trying to send niche movies into immediate wide release without an accompanying advertising budget.
I think the answer to this is to reinvent movie advertising, but that's a bigger issue tied into so many other topics.
Fromtheyardtothearthouse.substack.com
My studio had better find a damn fine billboard, then.
Fr, that's a great point too. You could soften that blow by making five $40 million movies, and if you really come out in the green, you could plan/make even more movies next year. The point is more that profit bets aren't being hedged on a single release; rather than having expectations around a single film's massive box office success and subsequently trying to engineer that, you diversify the work and subsequently focus on the work, which opens the door for more organic interest and profit opportunities. Something like Barbenheimer is best-case scenario.
Could even do what Anyone But You did and go full Fortnite by offering additional incentives for seeing the movie. I know my then-local chain had deals and sweepstakes exclusively for Anyone But You ticket-holders.
Thanks for accepting the challenge Charlotte. Your answers are inspiring and thought provoking. Please keep doing what you are doing!
Twas my pleasure, Ted! And back at you 🙏