The wait between a film’s release in theaters and via streaming services like Netflix and Hulu can seem excruciatingly long. Paramount Pictures announced this week that it intends to change all that.
According to the Verge via The Wall Street Journal, the movie studio announced that “Paramount hopes to begin making all of its movies available to watch at home only two weeks after they leave most theaters.”
That’s a big change from the existing model in which films take at least three months — if not longer — to hit the small screen.
Paramount made the announcement to the WSJ that it intends to start the two-week window experiment this fall with two smallish films, Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension and Scout’s Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse (those both sound like they were heading “straight to video” anyway), eventually moving to that two-week release plan for all films later this year.
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“What other product creates its most attention at launch and then creates a significant period of time where the consumer can’t acquire that product?” Rob Moore, Paramount’s vice chairman, told the Journal.
There are multiple advantages to this new release period, according the Verge, including reducing ad spends (not having to promote a film’s release twice — theatrical and on-demand); raising online revenues, and cutting down on piracy stealing the film’s thunder.
What’s helping spur the change? People aren’t going to the movies like they used to. According to the Hollywood Reporter, last year marked a 20-year low in theater attendance. Increased streaming options and the high cost of theater tickets contributing to the downswing.
Oh, and as Dustin Hoffman told the Independent, “Modern movies are terrible.”
