I think eventually, probably not in the near future, but theaters will probably start to loose momentum. Right now, from a business perspective, you/we shouldn't have to worry about that. I say this because, theatres have yet to embark on any impressive/desperate attempt to salvage dwindling business through marketing or advertising. Today, at least in texas over the years, there has been a huge growth in the dining/drinking type movie theaters, i.e. Movie Grill/Tavern and even AMC Dine Ins, which all have added infrastructure they built unto their theaters, meaning, this is an investment and they have the capital to expand kitchens, luxurious seating, staff, bars, etc,etc.
The article's main reference or point, at least what I believed it to be, was the threat that movie theaters themselves would be in physical/monetary jeopardy if online vendors had the rights to release the movies same day, jeopardizing the physical infrastructure of the movie theater business model. To this I would completely agree. I feel it will happen in time (but again not for awhile), because I think what we may be overlooking how complicated things would have to become in order for this to happen for every release, and the impact of movie prodcution as a whole. For instance, someone mentioned seeing Avengers in the theater. When a movie like this is made, a production budget is set based on the market, the business model in which the movie will hopefully payback its return (either straight ticket sales, dvds, rentals, both, etc). Obviously, when making and planning a movie at this caliber, I can't imagine any production and/or distribution team on the side of the movie thinking, "well we better see first what NetFlix will give us for a first day release as well as Itunes and Amazon, because we are expecting to make our 220 million dollars back on opening weekend so we need to make sure they can cover it." Both sides, NetFlix, and the movie industry want to make money. Right now, the movie industry makes their money at the movies, and simply NetFlix does not. That is a new revenue source they want to gain. Right now, I don’t think the industry is looking to completely shift gears away from that main source of theaters exclusively.
NetFlix, Amazon, Hulu, everyone is creating original series and movies, yes, and they are respectable, yes, but they do not compare to the type of movies that can be created by large production studios. If the industry does shift to NetFlix and other online mediums, do you feel this will positively or negatively impact a movie’s production value, as well as the ability for independent movies to made (since there is hardly any monetary return on these types of films). I say this because remember, NetFlix is still a business, they haven’t proven themselves yet to be a vehicle of cinema inspiration or creativity (not impressed with their original content, not enough to say they are the future of the movie industry).
From a consumer perspective, I hope theaters never close. I will admit my attendance has gone down over the years, just based on economy, and really just movie releases, and unfortunately I have to say that not every theater going experience is pleasurable. As a consumer, by having various mediums to see movies, and not solely just online, we still have some market control over pricing. If everything were to go straight online, well don’t you think membership dues would slightly rise along with stand alone purchases? Do we as a cinema-philes want just the internet dictating what entertainment we can and can’t see based on the price of online competitors? I don’t feel so, and the reference about Tower Heist……yeesh…..a movie like that….is it really any wonder why Universal thought about changing their distribution on that “gem,”?
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