A UK gala screening of"The Woman King" last October. Sony's film took a more traditional path through theatrical and home entertainment windows at a time of industry flux.Chuckle all you want about the last Blockbuster and its “be kind, rewind” smiley-face stickers.
Reckoning with the streaming frenzy on top of the pandemic has brought the industry to a crossroads, even if its not the kind that tends to grab headlines. Drastic moves like WarnerMedia’s call to put the 2021 Warner Bros slate on HBO Max at the same time films opened in theaters or Disney’s late, un-lamented Premier Access window, are safely in the rear-view mirror.
The billions hanging in the balance, Rouhana went on, are “not a small amount of money, for studios or for participants. That’s real money. If you’re talking about a window, which is traditionally four to six weeks – deferring for four to six weeks the arrival of a film on your SVOD, you’re really giving up $6 billion for that? Does that seem like a reasonable trade to you? If I were a participant, I’d be furious about that.
One distribution veteran who has been a combatant in the streaming wars says the notion of consumers choosing to rent a movie as opposed to “giving blood” by agreeing to a recurring monthly payment could help keep the transactional window viable. “With more and more SVOD services, the value of VOD still comes into play,” the exec says. “It is already difficult to find what you want to watch – there’s a sense of relief when you find something and it’s a six-dollar, one-time commitment.