'Conversations with Dead People'
A place to talk about movies--old and new, good and bad, high art and high cheese. It's the place to place your kittens on the award winners, gossip about upcoming fims and discuss DVD releases and extras. Spoiler policy: White font all plot-related discussion until a movie's been in wide release two weeks, and keep the major HSQ in white font until two weeks after the video/DVD release.
I thought it made sense. Cleopatra continued to make money in theaters longer than it would now, because there wasn't the quick turnaround from theaters to home media.
Huge blockbusters may stay in theaters for several months, but if something bombs in the first weekend, it's not going to still be around several months later. Movies are out on DVD within months of their release. If Google speaks truth, Transformers 2 was out on DVD the day after it finished its theatrical run.
However, don't some big $$ movies make $$ overseas? There would be a lot more failures if only the US market were considered.
I think whatever happens to Avatar in the US, it is going to make BANK overseas.
Cleopatra continued to make money in theaters longer than it would now, because there wasn't the quick turnaround from theaters to home media.
But home video sales have a higher margin than domestic box office, so if Cleopatra had made money in that market, it would have been even more profitable. It doesn't make sense to say "fortunately, this movie only had one way to make money as opposed to the several options available today!"
However, don't some big $$ movies make $$ overseas?
Hollywood has relied on the overseas markets for profitability since the 1920s, but especially since WWII.
But home video sales have a higher margin than domestic box office, so if Cleopatra had made money in that market, it would have been even more profitable. It doesn't make sense to say "fortunately, this movie only had one way to make money as opposed to the several options available today!"
I think he's saying that if it flopped now, it wouldn't sell in the home market. So it was better that it was released when people didn't have so many other entertainment choices, although that might be a hard argument in the early 60s (I'm not so sure of audience stats then).
DH's review of Avatar is up: [link]
Well, I guess I'll go see that....
Yeah; if home sales could be substituated for a theater release without being dependent upon it, Avatar would be straight to DVD.
if home sales could be substituated for a theater release without being dependent upon it, Avatar would be straight to DVD.
Except for that whole pesky 3D will-only-look-really-good-in-the-cinema thing.
IO9's 20 greatest SF movies of the decade. Avatar and Serenity and Slither and quite a few I'd never heard of on the same list. Geekery indeed.
Nice to see Moon, Sleep Dealer and Primer on there.
Pity about Pitch Black and Donnie Darko (ptui, let us never speak of them again).