Last week, Screen Crush reported that in-home screenings are going to become a possibility in the near future thanks to Napster founder Sean Parker’s new service called Screening Room.
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James Cameron and Jon Landau have declared early opposition against the Screening Room proposal that would allow day-and-date showings at home when studio films are released in theaters.
Perhaps it’s a way to secure cinema against piracy – or maybe it’s just a fresh way to make those in Hollywood even richer.
“Our exhibition sector has always welcomed innovation, disruption and forward-thinking ideas, most especially onscreen through independent film; however, we do not see Screening Room as innovative or forward-thinking in our favor, rather we see it as inviting piracy and significantly decreasing the overall profitability of film releases”, the chain concludes.
Peter Jackson, who is best known for directing The Lord of the Rings trilogy, is now backing the controversial steaming site Screening Room.
“Screening Room will expand the audience for a movie – not shift it from cinema to living room”, Jackson said in a statement.
Jackson is joined as a shareholder by Steven Spielberg, Ron Howard, Brian Grazer, Martin Scorsese, Taylor Hackford, Frank Marshall, and J.J. Abrams. Theater companies, like Cinemark, are wary of the service.
For a not unreasonable $150, Parker and his associates want to supply a set-top box with the ability to show brand new films for $50 per shot to be viewed once during a 48 hour period.
This means that if you can’t be bothered to go down to the cinema, watching a new release at home would cost you six times more in the USA and over five times more in the UK.
“Screening Room… is very carefully created to capture an audience that does not now go to the cinema”.
The statement from North Atlantic Treaty Organisation comes only a month before the nations theater owners will convene in Las Vegas for their annual convention, Cinema-Con.
But the most important question is – will a solution like the Screening Room really stop online piracy? “Instead it respects both and is structured to support the long-term health of both exhibitors and distributors – resulting in greater sustainability for the wider film industry itself”.
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But they face an uphill battle; so far, AMC Entertainment is the only circuit considering doing business with the Screening Room, according to insiders. In fact, Regal is said to be skeptical of the plan. The start-up is challenging established business practices. His latest venture, Screening Room, would charge customers $50 to buy a film on the day of its theatrical release, letting them catch the latest blockbusters without getting off the couch. Akkaraju has ties to the entertainment industry from stints as a partner at the electronic music company SFX Entertainment and as global head of operations at Sanctuary Music Group.
