I really need to thank ‘Mandy’ for this entry idea in her last comment. Entertainment news has really been dwelling on the idea of films being released in theaters and on DVD at the same time. I would like to post Mandy’s comment for those that have not read it:

There was an article in USA Today today that made me think of you guys. The headline is “Movies as you like them, and on the same day!” and discusses Bubble by “Oscar-winning” director Steven Soderbergh. He believes that the current industry cascading model of releasing films, theater–>hotels/airplanes–>home video–>pay cable–>broadcast TV, is outdated. Instead, Soderbergh plans to release his latest movie on DVD (and TV on-demand services) within days of its release in theaters.

Tom Wagner, co-owner of the company financing and releasing Bubble, says, “…consumers…are ready to hear somebody say, ‘The way it is now doesn’t make sense anymore’…The (old) model…certainly doesn’t align with the way peopole want to consume entertainment today.”

How do you feel about “day and date” releases? Will multi-medium releases be maximizing viewers (who, as the media has been reporting lately, are becoming increasingly disenchanted with the movie theatre experience), or do various formats steal from the same audience? Would it kill theatres? Does the current model for releasing need to change?

I could go on for days about this topic, but I won’t. Here is a fraction of what I have to say:

Wow, the simultaneous movie release idea really has me torn. You are right about the demand for entertainment these days. With the Internet, people are becoming more and more accustomed to getting what they want at the snap of a finger. That is partly why pirating is so popular. Convenient services like NetFlix have really made home entertainment a big thing too.

I think if movies are released in theaters and DVD at the same time, it will yield different results. Lately, it seems almost every movie I see in the theater is butchered because people in the theaters really don’t give a rat’s ass about everyone around them. People are going to the movies for the same reason they go to coffee shops: they want to leave the house and do something social. Unfortunately they are oblivious to the whole courtesy thing. People like this will always go to the theater despite availability on home video. They just want a change of setting. As much as I hate to say it, it will be the cinephiles like you and me that will stay home. It would kill me to miss the dark theater experience, but lately I’ve been asking myself what sacrifices I would be willing to make just to hear dialogue and get into the characters.

The upcoming venture should be interesting. I don’t thing Soderbergh’s Bubble will break new grounds. It is anti-mainstream, and the critics seem to hate it. They tried a similar experiment last year with a bad Christmas movie called Noel that was released in theaters and on cable at the same time. I think it will take a big budget monster to truly test the waters on this idea.