I am perplexed by your comment about overseas release dates. There has been an absolutely massive compression in release dates in the past 5 years. Most obvious blockbusters are now globally released, and the spread for smaller films has also been contracting.
Avengers was released overseas prior to the US release. A film like The Descendants was released 4 weeks early in NY/LA, and then foreign releases were only 6 weeks after the US release. That is insanely fast for a movie that could potentially have never made it out of NY/LA.
This only involves the top blockbusters. For most other US produced movies the waiting time for releases can easily be well over 6 months.
Besides, 6 weeks is still a long time in the age of instant global communication. Basically, all the hype and buzz surrounding a film starts well before the release and dramatically drops a week after. After a month, people have pretty much forgotten about it.
This hurts sales even without piracy, because the artificially created urgency (why do you thing so many people go see a movie in the opening week?) has gone.
There is no alternative for simultaneous release that doesn't hurt sales, piracy or not.
I agree that simultaneous releases are best for sales, but that ignores reality. Lets assume 400 movies are screened per year in NY/LA, 200 widely in the US, and 125 in foreign theaters. It is simply not possible for all 400 movies to have a simultaneous global release. Theater owners must take a "wait and see" approach for many films.
I also don't agree with your 6 month figure, but I'd be happy to be proven wrong. Release dates are widely published. Comedies tend to have the slowest rollout because it takes time to prove that the humor translates well. Even with comedies, I can't find anything where the wide US release is 6 months before foreign releases.
It is simply not possible for all 400 movies to have a simultaneous global release. Theater owners must take a "wait and see" approach for many films.
Who cares about theaters?
I haven't been in a movie theater in 5 years - it just doesn't appeal to me at all. And I know for a fact that many of my friends who used to be cinema-buffs don't care much anymore either.
We prefer to watch films in our home-cinemas now, on a big flatscreen or beamer.
Consequently we use the first release in watchable quality that we can get. And often that's from PirateBay. Not because we'd be unwilling to pay $9.99 for a HD movie on iTunes, but simply because most movies appear 6 months earlier on the torrents.
If iTunes launched in parallel with the theaters we would buy all movies.
You're right. I'm from germany and haven't been in a theater for years but I own a beamer. Additionally going to a theater would involve driving about 50 km just to get there as I live in a rural area. Furthermore I prefer to watch movies in their original language (well, as long as it is english).
I wish movie distribution was up to the standards we expect when buying music these days. Ditch DRM, just offer me the files and let me re-download them at any time via my account. Streaming is an option but for me bandwith is limited (speed, not volume) while harddisk space is cheap. Plus XBMC + Apple TV + NAS lets me build up my own film archive.
unfortunately and in contrast to the process of buying music we aren't there yet with movies.
> I haven't been in a movie theater in 5 years - it just doesn't appeal to me at all. And I know for a fact that many of my friends who used to be cinema-buffs don't care much anymore either.
I have a decent home-cinema system too (projector and all) but I still go and watch movies. The screen is so much bigger and brighter in theaters, it's not really the same experience. However, sound-wise, I agree a good home cinema system is unbeatable. You can sit right in the center, at the sweet spot to get all the effects right, something you cannot achieve often in theaters.
> I haven't been in a movie theater in 5 years - it just doesn't appeal to me at all.
Luxury theatres are appearing. My small hometown (population something like 90,000) has one - big comfy seats, nice screens, good sound, lack of idiot customers, to-the-seat food and drink service.
> If iTunes launched in parallel with the theaters we would buy all movies.
If iTunes launched in parallel with the theaters, the PirateBay would have a pristine copy of all movies in the theaters. If you were a movie maker or a distributor, is something that you would do given the current marketplace? That strikes me as bat-shit crazy.
That being said, I think it would be best if the top 100 films had a global release, and were all available on iTunes globally 10-14 weeks later. Hollywood is forced to compete with the PirateBay. At some point, they are going to have to start selling on iTunes as soon as the pirates get a quality copy.
I personally love going to the movies, and frankly I think it is a bargain. I spend about $200/year on movie tickets and enjoy it most of the time, and I spend about $1000/year on broadway shows and fucking hate it the majority of the time. There is nothing that gives me the creeps more than when someone breaks into song for no apparent reason. I do love comedy clubs, and $5 admission plus two overpriced drinks is the best deal around.
When I have kids and move to the suburbs, my perspective will likely be identical to yours. I fully understand your perspective, and a I think hollywood would be well served to cater to the future myself.
Movies like the saw series seemed to do this fine, opened pretty much everywhere one the same day. Sure not every movie can get the same limited screen space, but the big movies that are getting the most online downloads probably can.
Japan still lags behind the US for most big-ticket films. Avengers won't open here until 2012/08/17, more than three months after the US release date. [1] That's a month ahead of the projected blu-ray release of the film though.
It's really hit and miss, but most of the more major films lag by two to three months.
Japan probably has one of the lowest piracy rates, so they don't seem to be forced to release earlier there. Japan's own media is even more backwards, most of their media never gets international releases although there is a big fansub scene. They don't seem to need the money.
Oh no, they DO need the money, believe me. Most of their productions take years to just break even, and some never do. The reason why they are not actively pursuing international releases is linked to the way Japanese do business. Most of these media companies are very traditional and do not understand the opportunities outside of Japan. And even if they did, they'd need to get the approval of an old 社長 to proceed with such plans. This happens very rarely. They are missing a huge market.
I know. That sentence was of course sarcastic ;). It's a shame too, because a lot of their media has that special charm and its artistic value is sometimes quite high IMO (especially in the anime department).
Fansubs (japanese subtitles) of foreign movie releases? Where is this scene? I can't watch an english language movie with Japanese friends until the J release without J subtitles.
I meant the other way around: Japanese media with english subtitles. For tv series / animes have a look at dramacrazy.net; If you want western movies with Japanese subs I recommend iTunes with a Japanese account or Tsutaya if you are staying in Japan (maybe Hulu has also some stuff by now).
Wow, that is crazy. I am really shocked that I got to watch it sooner in China than you did in Japan. I wonder why there is such a difference between the two countries...
> Most obvious blockbusters are now globally released
Not true. Avengers is not even out in Japan yet. It wont be out until later summer (August). I can't believe they are delaying it for so long. And Japan is a BIG market for movies.
Japan is a unique market for movies. No good dubbing studios, a flaky box office, and weird taste in movies. Since you live there, and seem to have a good handle on English, I suggest you just pirate the movies and watch them in English. Japan is the exception to all my comments.
GOD you are damn right on this one. Dubbing studios in Japan are just horrible. Honestly i dont understand how Japan can both have excellent voice over studios for animation and extremely bad ones for western movies. There s something deeply wrong going on there.
For some movies i dont mind doing what you recommend, but for avengers theres no way i will settle with watching it at home. The same thing happened with Drive last year (its only out NOW in Japan) and that really pisses me off.
I'd also add that the language barrier and the fact that torrenting isn't as popular as other countries makes it easier for Hollywood to rely on traditional box office and DVD sales in Japan. That and the fact that they probably have a lot of binding distribution deals with the big dubbing/distribution houses.
This is true. I was in the Philippines when Avatar was released, and it was the same day as the US release. It used to be that you could see a new movie in the US and travel to SE Asia the next day and by the time you got there nobody would have seen it for weeks or months after.
Avengers was released overseas prior to the US release. A film like The Descendants was released 4 weeks early in NY/LA, and then foreign releases were only 6 weeks after the US release. That is insanely fast for a movie that could potentially have never made it out of NY/LA.