XPost: rec.arts.movies.past-films, alt.fan.starwars, rec.arts.sf.movies   
   XPost: rec.arts.sf.written   
   From: dakidd@sonic.net   
      
   In article <1179699578.073514.88080@z24g2000prd.googlegroups.com>,   
    markr1000@earthlink.net wrote:   
      
   > On May 20, 9:51 am, Sea Wasp  wrote:   
      
      
   > >         The transformation in entertainment since has been almost   
   impossible   
   > > to grasp; one of the more subtle indications of the change, to me, is   
   > > that nowadays -- with DVD releases and home theaters of high quality   
   > > -- a movie doesn't stay in the theaters, even if it's very popular,   
   > > for more than a couple months.   
   >   
   > It's those 3000 print runs.   
      
   I'd say that these days, it's more likely that it's the thoughts of DVD   
   sales than the number of available prints. At anywhere from 10-40   
   dollars a pop, depending on the title, with most of that money (likely   
   in the neighborhood of 80+ percent) going directly to the studio (versus   
   a smaller percentage - at one point, it was around 27%, though that's   
   likely changed in the nearly 15 years since I worked in a theater - of   
   the 8-12 bucks that a movie ticket pulls in) there's a goodly chunk of   
   $$$ to be made by getting it out of theaters and into DVD release ASAP.   
      
   The current model seems to be "push it out to the theaters and do an ad   
   blitz and action-figure tie-in (See also "Shrek III" for a current   
   example) - drag in the "huge box office gross" that gets buzzed about in   
   the entertainment rags, then pull it out of theaters as soon as it   
   starts to slow down, and punch it out to DVD to start collecting the   
   TRULY big bucks."   
      
   Back in the days of the original release of Star Wars, it was definitely   
   "If it's still putting butts in theater seats, leave it there!", if only   
   because of the "there's (practically speaking) no such thing as video   
   tapes, DVD players, and similar" factor. If I recall rightly, the whole   
   "You can rent/buy a movie to play on your (mucho expensive) video   
   cassette player or laserdisc system" was *JUST* getting started then - I   
   think the "Selectavision" player - the LP-sized silver disc player -   
   whose disc had to be flipped over halfway through a two hour movie - was   
   available that summer, with a whopping dozen or so titles available. I   
   also seem to recall the neighbor across the street crowing about his   
   brand new, state of the art "Video Tape Player" that was as big as the   
   freakin' TV set he had it hooked to, and cost as much as a car - and he   
   had a phenomenal *SIXTEEN* different movies he could play on it, each of   
   them costing about 90 bucks!   
      
   --   
   Don Bruder - dakidd@sonic.net - If your "From:" address isn't on my whitelist,   
   or the subject of the message doesn't contain the exact text "PopperAndShadow"   
   somewhere, any message sent to this address will go in the garbage without my   
   ever knowing it arrived. Sorry...  for more info   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)