The politics of the streaming landscape continue to be bizarre, but a frequently debated practice is how long studios wait between releasing their movies in theaters and then sending them to paid VOD afterward.
Now? There were recently reports that Superman would hit streaming around 45 days after release, a tight window. But it turns out the real date is even tighter. James Gunn has just announced that Superman will be able to be streamed this Friday, August 15. For reference, Superman was released on July 11, so we’re talking just a 35 day gap here.
The argument here, especially from the executives, no doubt, is that box office receipts taper off relatively quickly, and now that we’re a month out, Superman is now clocking in at sixth place in the weekend box office. It made $8 million last weekend behind Weapons, Freakier Friday, The Fantastic Four: First Steps, The Bad Guys 2 and The Naked Gun.
While the movie isn’t being instantly removed from theaters for this, it should end its run around $600 million, a number James Gunn himself has said is not some sort of failure the way loud critics have implied. So, now they just pivot to printing money on PVOD, right?
Well, about that.
The problem with doing this is that it trains audiences that they can just stay home from the already hard-to-sell, expensive, often-inconvenient theater experience and just wait until something is on demand. Even if we’re talking about pricey $20 rentals or $25 digital purchases, that’s probably a third of what you’d be spending at a theater for a couple people plus concessions. Chill with your family in peace, eat your own food, etc.
Moves like this also upset theater distributors who do not want to see ticket sales cut because the company wants to make more money on PVOD, which does nothing but hurt them. Theaters are already struggling and this only makes things worse. As we know, many didn’t survive COVID and others only just hung on.
There is certainly something to be said about the increasingly poor theatrical experience, but conversely, it does feel like it’s still a 500% better place to see some movies, especially blockbusters, given the filming or experience of those. Even a non-superhero movie like Weapons was worth seeing in theaters due to collaborative reactions from (hopefully non-annoying) audiences.
Superman did well enough at the box office, and it will probably be the top paid streaming movie soon, but it’s still a questionable, surprising move. But I wonder if Fantastic Four is about to do the same thing over at Marvel.
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