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 But Hollywood is not quite ready to give that to viewers,
experts say. Even so, Sony Pictures' initial success streaming
its controversial comedy will add momentum to the industry's
slow adoption of same-day theater and video-on-demand (VOD)
release.
The experiment, a last-ditch effort by the unit of Sony Corp to
keep "The Interview" alive despite a cyberattack on the studio
and threats to movie theaters, has shown the technology works
and people like it.
That outcome could embolden studios to shorten wait times
between theatrical release and VOD and put more small films on
same-day distribution. New platforms could muscle their way into
movie streaming after seeing a relative VOD novice such as
Google Inc.'s YouTube Movies score with "The Interview."
Two big obstacles stand in the way of a rush to emulate
distribution of "The Interview": close ties that have developed
over the years between movie theaters and Hollywood studios, and
the fact that movies still make a lot of money in theaters.
"The vast majority of revenues will still be generated three or
five years from now at the theater," said Hal Vogel, the chief
executive of Vogel Capital Management.
Analysts are uneasy about reading too much into the online
success of a comedy that is now in a class of its own because
the movie triggered a cyberattack that the U.S. government
blames on North Korea.
But studios have experimented with shortening the so-called
"theatrical window", which now averages three months and 14 days
compared with nearly six months back in 1997.
"You look over the next five, 10 years you're going to see a lot
of change," said Daniel Ernst, an analyst at Hudson Square
Research. "You're already seeing the windows change and a lot of
the windows that exist don't make sense to consumers, let alone
digital natives."
BIGGER CUT FROM STREAMING
Studios do normally take a bigger cut from online purchases,
about 70 percent of the revenue, compared with 50 percent when
they show in a movie theater. Sony has not disclosed the terms
for "The Interview."
But it is hard to know how good of a business VOD could be
because studios do not typically say how much they earn from
streaming over sites or on cable.
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"There's not transparency in the same way there is on box office,"
said Phil Contrino, chief analyst at Boxoffice.com. "Normally, we
don’t even hear about what VOD releases do... I’m sure that will
change, hopefully soon."
Aside from "The Interview," studios have stuck to small-budget
movies for same-day releases in theaters and on-demand. They include
dramas such as "Snowpiercer" from The Weinstein Company's Radius-TWC
division, and "Margin Call" and "Arbitrage" from Lions Gate
Entertainment Corp's Roadside Attractions.
The low-budget "Arbitrage" grossed about $8 million at U.S. theaters
but took in $14 million over VOD.
Theater chains objected in 2011 when Comcast Corp's Universal
Pictures planned to sell comedy "Tower Heist" through video
on-demand just three weeks after its debut in theaters. Universal
dropped the idea.
But the idea keeps hovering, especially as teens and young adults go
to the movies less, according to recent studies from Nielsen and the
Motion Picture Association of America.
"In March will be CinemaCon, the theater owners' convention where
the studios and the theaters will be and you bet this will be a big
topic," said Paul Degarabedian, senior media analyst at tracking
firm Rentrak.
Fortunately for the industry, 2015 is expected to be a great year
for the movie theater experience, with big films such as the new
"Star Wars" installment, "Avengers: Age of Ultron" and the seventh
"Fast & Furious" movie all targeting young viewers.
But projections may begin to change after the consumer experience
with "The Interview".
"It all goes back to consumer expectations, and what are you
creating if you start telling people you can't get them (movies) in
your home quicker?" Contrino said.
(Editing by Mary Milliken and Ken Wills)
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