ShoWest: Theatrical window wider
By Marcy Magiera -- Video Business, 3/12/2008
MARCH 12 | The theatrical window widened for the first time in a decade in 2007, according to the National Assn. of Theatre Owners, to an average of four months and 15 days between theatrical release and video release.
NATO data runs through March 3, leaving out about a dozen 2007 theatricals that had not been announced at that time.
The average window between theatrical release and video announce also grew for the first time in 10 years, to two months and 12 days.
“Theatrical remains the locomotive that drives the movie train,” NATO president and CEO John Fithian said in his opening remarks to theater owners at the ShoWest convention in Las Vegas this week. “The big screen will always be the best way to experience movies. You can check out Michelangelo’s artistry on the Internet—but who would prefer a computer screen if you could visit the Sistine Chapel itself for 10 bucks?”
Theater owners have long waged a campaign against truncated windows and object to films even being announced for DVD while they are still drawing audiences in theaters, in the belief that a certain percentage of people will forego the theatrical experience and wait for DVD once they know it is scheduled. In isolated cases in the last couple of years, studios have given retailers extremely short solicitation periods, or even asked retailers to place orders without giving them the street date for a film, in an effort to move ahead with DVD sales without alienating theaters.
Five years ago, the average theatrical window was five months and eight days, and a decade ago, it was close to six months.
NATO analysis shows a large discrepancy in theatrical windows between studios. Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment had the longest average theatrical window in 2007, of five months, seven days, up from four months, 24 days in 2006. That’s due in part to Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End, which opened theatrically early in the summer but did not hit DVD until December, for a window of six months, 13 days, and Meet the Robinsons, a spring release that the studio held for DVD until the fourth quarter, for a window of six months, 27 days.
Universal Studios Home Entertainment had the shortest average window, at just three months and 17 days, down from four months, four days in 2006. The studio’s American Gangster, I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry and Evan Almighty each hit DVD three months, 19 days after theatrical.
The window for Knocked Up was just one week longer, and Atonement’s window was one week shorter.
