Fluctuations based on movie is begrudgingly the only sensible approach: some movies are wildly more expensive to make and/or those studios take a bigger cut, while smaller non-IP ones get snuffed out due to a number of factors (lack of desire/urgency to see it in theaters, not enough screens to play on, etc.). If you needed a night out and wanted to see a movie, and all that was playing was the next Jurassic World or The Little Indie That Could, these situations are likely:
- "No way in hell am I going to see Jurassic World, but come on, $18 also for [whatever little movie was playing at the time]
- You might consider seeing the indie if it were less expensive a ticket.
I understand budget/take size should be on us as we don't have a say in those negotiations. But the argument is still there that the "everything else" category doesn't have room to catch an audience in the current landscape, so how do you address that?
Regarding release windows, nope, no extensions. They want to have their cake and eat it. "We're going to lock you in to a 60-90 day theatrically-exclusive window, but we're also going to drop you in three weeks if you can't compete with Disney's holiday lineup. I consider Violent Night's Christmas week PVOD release payback for Last Christmas. We were looking to go out to a movie one night, and having seen all the other big releases, set our sights on Last Christmas. You couldn't find a single showing anywhere in Atlanta in week leading up to Christmas. Couldn't stream it anywhere either. Glad there was one thing COVID fixed.
Ultimately, this is an industry that has refused to get with the times by not playing nice with content providers or upholding the sanctity of the movie going experience, a term I think is apt considering Denis Villeneuve's stance on theaters.
