First simultaneous multiplatform film release – why did it take so long?

Intellectual Property, Internet
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mumanddad_005.jpgI’ve never fully understood the reasons that film studios always release movies to the cinemas first, then rental, then DVD, then finally video-on-demand services and TV. It baffles me why they’d want to make it harder for consumers to enjoy their products, especially now that digital distribution means that there’s no reason why film studios can’t just let people buy a film as soon as it’s ready.

Well, perhaps there’s hope. Independent film distributor Revolver Entertainment have seen the light, and will be releasing their new movie – “Mum & Dad” – simultaneously in Cinemas, on DVD, on Video on Demand, and through electronic stores, and rental shops.

Hopefully this will help the studio to combat piracy. People who want to see the film but can’t find a cinema showing it, or want to consume it at their leisure, will now have a legal option, rather than just turning to piracy. They’ll still be able to enjoy the full cinema experience if they want to – it’s by far the best way to watch a film – but consumers love choice, and giving them that choice would seem to me to be the smartest thing to do.

“Mum and Dad” itself, if you’re wondering, is billed as a “Heathrow Chainsaw Massacre” and follows a psychotic family who live at the end of Heathrow’s runway. They prey on airport workers, and scavenge from cargo holds and hotels. A young polish office cleaner, Lena, is befriended by them, and imprisoned in their suburban house, but has to choose between joining their hellish family, or dying. The trailer is here.

Revolver Entertainment

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Duncan Geere
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5 comments

  • If most people would stay at home that tells you that they want to stay at home doesn’t it?
    Nowadays people want options and they should be able to choose how they watch films. If this film is good enough to warrant going to see it at the cinema then people will.

    • Hear hear! That’s exactly how I feel. It should be up to me how I want to consume the film, not up to the studio.

  • I assume the reasoning is that lots of people will watch it at the cinema AND buy it, while if they were all available options to begin with, most people would just buy it (which offers far better value, of course).

    Interesting idea – shame the film really doesn’t look like my thing…

  • I disagree, I think that they SHOULD be released in cinemas first. This is really all that keeps cinemas alive – big screen releases… If it went straight to DVD most people would stay at home I think!

    • But the cinema experience is so much better – I’d happily go see my favourite films in the Cinema, even if I could watch them on my home PC. It’s a completely different experience… Do you not think that there’s something in that?

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