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.

Film Article | Reuters.com

Film Article | Reuters.com

Not something I necessarily agree with, but here's what the MPAA thinks.

By Jesse Hiestand
LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Movie piracy could sap the industry of $15 billion over the next four years if bold measures are not taken immediately, the Motion Picture Assn. of America's anti-piracy chief said Thursday.

MPAA senior vp John Malcolm told a luncheon panel at the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce that the film business could suffer the same losses that the music business has unless civil and criminal actions, coupled with aggressive public outreach, do not stem the growth of illegal file trading and worldwide DVD bootlegging.

"If that happens, it means there are a lot of people in the film industry that will be out of work and out of luck," Malcolm told the crowd of about 150 at the Roosevelt Hotel.

Ronald Wheeler, senior vp content protection at Fox Entertainment Group, said the studios are trying to harness emerging technologies like peer-to-peer file trading, the legitimacy of which could be enhanced by using filtering software to block infringement.

"The good news is that at the end of the day, this can be done -- it's not an intractable problem," Wheeler said. "Technology can be our friend, not just a foe."

Citing industry figures, Los Angeles Mayor James Hahn said that 92% of the movies made available for illegal downloading originate from camcording in a theater. As a result, Hahn noted the city's effort to criminalize such videotaping as well as arrest people for street-level sales of bootleg DVDs.

"To have all this work just ripped off by someone is not only aggravating, but if it continues, we won't have an industry -- it will suck the life out of it," Hahn said, noting that entertainment represents a $30 billion slice of the Los Angeles economy, employing about 200,000 people.

Reuters/Hollywood Reporter

International Internet Seat Reservations

http://english.chosun.com/w21data/html/news/200410/200410250018.html

How to Get Good Seats at the Movie Theater
Why Do I Get Back Row Seats Even Though I Made Reservations?

Even with the staggering economy, movie theaters are bustling with moviegoers. The total number of moviegoers as of September is 110 million, a 25 percent rise over last year. The growth rate of the number of moviegoers for multiplex theaters, such as CGV, is over 30 percent and as a result many people fail to get good seats at the theater.
Where are all the good seats? And what can we do to get them? For those of you who’ve suffered the pain of having to sit all the way at the back, we will disclose the secrets to getting good seats.
Most theaters have incorporated a system that enables customers to choose their own seats when buying tickets at the booth. However, buying tickets at the theater costs both time and money. On weekends and holidays, the waiting time is almost 6 or 7 hours. So many people turn to Internet or telephone reservations.
Nowadays, theaters tend to provide preferential treatment to those who buy their tickets in advance. However, the key lies in the fact that each of the theaters has a different way of distributing tickets. CGV and Megabox have both allotted their best seats to their reserved sectors. However, one moviegoer who frequently visits the Megabox theater in Coex Mall complains that she used to buy tickets on the Internet in advance, but her seats were always in the back row. She says that now she just goes in the morning to buy the tickets.
Why do these cases happen? It’s because of the time of the reservation. Megabox assigns the seats the moment you make your reservation. So the earlier you reserve, the better seats you’ll get. In the case of our disgruntled moviegoer, she always made reservations on the morning of the movie, which means that she got the last tickets in the reservation sector.
CGV, on the other hand, makes reservations beforehand, but assigns seating once the customer picks up his or her ticket at the theater. So the moment of reservation is less important than the time the tickets are claimed at the theater. This system has its ups and downs. For those who make early reservations, this system may not prove to be so effective in ensuring good seats. However, one thing is for sure. If you want good seats, you must hurry!
Theaters like Megabox and Coex have reservation rates of almost 40 percent. So, it is advised that you make reservations at least a week ahead of time. Seoul Theater and Joongang Theater have similar systems.
Many people point out that most concert halls provide information on seating when reservations are made on the Internet, calling for movie theaters to provide similar services for its customers.

Wired 12.10: The Long Tail

Wired 12.10: The Long Tail: "The first is the need to find local audiences. An average movie theater will not show a film unless it can attract at least 1,500 people over a two-week run; that's essentially the rent for a screen. An average record store needs to sell at least two copies of a CD per year to make it worth carrying; that's the rent for a half inch of shelf space. And so on for DVD rental shops, videogame stores, booksellers, and newsstands. "