I'll keep this short because, by now, most movie fans have heard the word about Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada, but I just got around to checking it out and I can't help myself — this is a damn good movie. I've been a fan of Guillermo Arriaga's scripts since Amores Perros, and still he seems to be unable to pen a bad screenplay and for a directorial debut, Tommy Lee Jones isn't too shabby either.

Out on DVD in the next two weeks, do not miss this flick!

To further the discussion of releasing DVD and in Theaters simultaneously, I think it comes down to two primary aspects: money and the movie going experience.

From a financial point-of-view, releasing a movie in both markets is an experiment worth trying. With the box-office in a steady free fall,  the benefits of theater distribution are slowly dissipating. It’s an expensive process…the cost of creating 35mm prints of a film reach in the millions alone and adding in distribution deals with theater chains and promotions easily exceeds the amount many films cost to make in the first place.

Then the film actually reaches theaters and can be made or broken by the audience reaction. Stealth is an excellent example. Sure, it was a bad idea in the first place but this sorry excuse for a film was made on a production budget of $135 million. Once released in theaters it went on to fall out of the box office top 10 within two weeks, earning only $32 million in its entire theatrical run.

When released on video, however, Stealth was a completely different story. In it’s opening weekend on video it debuted at #3 on rental charts, renting over 7million copies in one week alone. Nearly 8 weeks later, it still rents over 1 million copies a week, on average.

Taking into consideration the significantly less expensive process of digitizing film and producing DVD’s, this is a much more financially sound process for studios to undertake.

Now, for the movie going experience. In my opinion, simultaneous release still leaves open the possibility of catching your favorite flick in theaters, which can be both a positive and negative experience. My fear is that if the video release of films proves more financially beneficial for studios than the theatrical release, the studios will release fewer and fewer films in theaters to maximize their gains, after all this is almost strictly a business to them. While I do agree that negative theater experiences are becoming more predominant, a positive theater experience remains one of the most enjoyable escapes available and, all in all, I would hate to be refused the opportunity to see great films in theaters.

Who knows what will actually come of this experiment. We’re all painfully aware of how slow Hollywood is to break out of their conservative and antiquated system, so perhaps this will disappear faster than it ever came about. I guess we’ll have to stick around to find out.

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.

Source: JoBlo.com

Those hilarious movie gods over at JoBlo have compiled a list of the best DVD’s this year. Here is how the list breaks down:

10. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

9. Donnie Darko (Director’s Cut)

8. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

7. Airplane (Special Edition)

6. The 40-Year-Old Virgin (Unrated)

5. Star Wars III: Revenge of the Sith

4. Office Space (Special Edition with Flair)

3. The Incredibles

2. Batman Begins

1. Sin City

A lot of the entries here cease to shock me. I think Rob Rodriguez’s souped up Sin City was pretty much a given. They really do not make DVD’s fully loaded like that anymore. Batman Begins is an excellent choice thanks to its comic book navigation menu that is almost as enigmatic to navigate as Nolan’s other DVD Memento. As for The Incredibles, I am not sure about the other features, but the mini-cartoon of Baby Jack terrorizing his babisitter is mint.

I am sure there are plenty of DVD’s out there with more goods on them than some entries on this list, but I give props to JoBlo for honoring those DVD’s that do not settle for photo galleries and cast bios as their “extras”.

Any thoughts on DVD picks this year?