Hollywood Considering $20-$30 Release Window Shortcut → $20-$30 per movie?!?!?

The idea will be dead on arrival.

Why would it be DOA?

Consider this:

1. The movie has already been produced and paid for, and has made money in theaters

2. The only cost to get the movie to cable companies is bandwidth to transfer the movie ONCE, and a few gigs of storage space on a hard disk array at the cable company, something that the cable company already has. And they already have the investment in the equipment that delivers VOD.

3. Even if only 1 person buys this, that is $20 - $30 that wouldn't have been made before that can be split between the cable company and the movie studio.

It will be DOA as far as the consumer is concerned. Who is going to pay $20-30 to watch a movie at home, when they can use that same $20-30 at a theater and get 2 tickets, sodas, and popcorn? It's a serious rip-off.

You can take family of 4 to a movie for $20 or $30? And if it's just a mom and dad then you're talking about paying a babysitter which will cost you that much.

If people will pay $40 for stupid MMA or wrestling or boxing matches then I'm not sure what is so crazy about $20.

BAD IDEA !!! Yet another way for the studios to close stores like the retail store i have worked at for the last 16 years now.Stores like mine do not need to go under so studios can start setting up their own "stores" of new releases.Then Ingram Distributors,Amazon, and slews of others can go belly up.
Think of it you will buy your movies form
The Fox Store
The Disnery Store
The Warners Store
etc etc etc
And you know you are buying into even more DRM krap.

On a Tuesday, yes. In Montreal, ticket prices for a regular movie on a Tuesday are, I believe $6 per person. It was $5 until recently.

If I can pay $6 to see it in theatres, or $30 to see it at home, which do you think I'm going to pick?

MMA or wrestling or boxing is a special event that is more or less live and you don't know the outcome. Do they charge $40 for replays of sports events (I really don't know the answer to that).

Will you get some people willing to pay $20-$30 to watch a 90 minute movie in their house a month after the theatrical release once (or maybe if you lucky multiple times within a short period)? Probably. Will an overwhelmingly majority of people prefer to wait and buy a DVD or BluRay copy a few months later for the same price? Or a couple of bucks to Redbox? Definitely.

Part of the reason they go to the movies is to get out of the house and away from their kids for a few hours. If a mom and dad wanted a family night then they would likely just rent whatever movie from Redbox for a $1. Theater to media releases tend to be so short these days (three to four months) that I think most people would rather just wait it out and pay $1 to watch it on their TVs than pay $30 to watch it four months sooner.

I can see this as being an alternative for some people, but I don't expect it to really take off, but hey more options is always a good thing.

Here it's $6 before noon, $8.50 between noon and 4PM and after 4PM it's $10.50.

We usually go on the weekend in the morning or early afternoon. Rarely at night. And then Popcorn and sodas are $14 or more.

I don't, and would never, have a family of 4. But that's just me.

Also, why would I want to rob my children of the experience of going out to the theater? This is just another way to make us more sedentary and anti-social.

"Why go out to a movie when you and your children can sit on your couch EVEN MORE!"

Unless it's high quality 1080p in full 7.1 audio, there's no way I'd even consider paying $20-$30 to watch a movie at home, I'll just go to the theater, or wait for the Blu-Ray release (at least this way I can watch the movie more than once with my $30).

Plus when I go to the movies I only have one person to pay for (yes I'm a lonely person), so it's cheaper anyways.

I try not to drag my baby mama along to the movies with me.

I'm no fan of overpriced PPV, but in LA, I've encountered more than a couple theatres getting $17 a ticket for sold-out shows where we still have commune with thugs and hooligans, and pay for parking.

$20 to stay home and watch on your own big screen, with your own kitchen (and bar), doesn't sound too bad after all. And it won't be too long, before we have 4K screens.

Maybe - depends. I would be game if it was same day release to TV, or maybe even a week. But if I am waiting a month already, I sure the hell expect less than $20.

Although last time I went to the theatre, it was $57 for 3 tickets (2 kids), 2 pop, large popcorn and a bag of chocolate. (M&M's)

Thing is, kids want to go to the theatre - not necessarily stay at home to watch same movie. Kids still have an appreciation for the 'big' screen (even though I do have a 10 foot screen - projector) because they are ' out of the house and in a real theatre '.

Should be interesting to see how this goes,

A better option: $9.99-$14.99 iTunes current release movies. That, I would be game for.

Being around the LA area I totally agree, not to mention if its you and one other person the almost $40 you spend in the theater and the 30$ you spend on junk and soda (or eating before you go in) plus the annoyance of people talking, texting, etc in the theater. Get a couple of friends to come over and its a night... I have a HD projector at home and while it's not 3D HD and all that, it's more than sufficient (16'x9') for a few friends and a movie. As long as it's 1080p bluray quality, I think it's a good deal at $20 US