Entertainment: Industry Article | Reuters.com

Entertainment: Industry Article | Reuters.com

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A little known Atlanta company hopes to change Hollywood's thinking about movie distribution with a novel marketing plan that includes using relatively new disposable DVDs, the company, The Convex Group Inc., said on Monday.
At the center is a low budget Christmas movie called NOEL, directed by Chazz Palminteri, that will debut in as many as 10 U.S. cities on Nov. 12. On the same day, the disposable DVD can be bought for $4.99 through online retailer Amazon.com.

A little over two weeks later, the movie will air once on cable television network TNT, which Convex hopes will only spur greater ticket sales and higher revenues from the DVDs, which become unplayable 48 hours after their air-tight package is opened.

The idea represents a major change to the normal release schedule for a film, which generally calls for a debut in theaters followed about six months later by the home video or DVD and more months, perhaps even years, before it hits TV.

The reason for the long release schedule is to earn maximum profits in each market, and conventional wisdom is that rushing a movie into any one arena cannibalizes sales in the others.