Yesterday we brought you news that Sony’s hit animated movie, “Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs” would hit home theater via streaming video download in early December.
As news broke, exhibitors expressed their displeasure, citing the home-theater release of the film would be less than three months after “Cloudy” debuted on the big-screen. Exhibitors were upset at Paramount earlier this year for the studio’s decision to rush “G.I. Joe” to DVD and Blu-Ray in a shorter than usual time.
Exhibitors contend that having the films released so quickly to home theater diminishes their profit margin. They contend that audiences will just wait for the home theater release to see the film if the release window is so small.
Owners of Sony-branded Bravia TVs and the latest generation of networked Sony Blu-ray players will be able to rent the title almost a month earlier than the Jan. 4 street date for the DVD and Blu-ray discs.
This marks the second time Sony has tried to exploit inter-divisional synergies between Sony Pictures and Sony Electronics on a home-entertainment release. Summer 2008 actioner “Hancock” also got a month’s digital jump on its packaged media release when released for Bravia and Sony Blu-ray households the following October.
That tightened its theatrical window to about 3 1/2 months. But the “Hancock” move but drew less discernible reaction from exhibs, who object to any disc released sooner than four months after a pic’s theatrical opening. Exhibition sources said Tuesday that at least four major theater chains were poised to pull “Meatballs” from theaters: Regal Entertainment, AMC Entertainment, Cinemark and Marcus Theatres.
Distributed in both 2D and 3D versions theatrically, “Meatballs,” which bowed Sept. 18 in theaters, played last weekend in a total 1,126 venues and was expected to shed at least a few hundred engagements starting Friday. As a result of the exhib protest, “Meatballs” could play in as few as 300 theaters beginning this weekend.
I hope they shoot themselves in the foot over this. This is ridiculous. I go to a theater to see movies that demand a reall big screen and/or for the social gathering. If I do not see it in the theater the I do not care how long it takes. I would prefer it sooner rather than later.