Curiouser And Curiouser

Distribution experts Mick Southworth and Martin McCabe investigate the case of the shrinking theatrical release window.

Disney’s recent announcement that it was to release its blockbuster 3D feature Alice In Wonderland to Blu-ray and DVD just 12 weeks after theatrical release-down from the established 17 weeks-has set off a veritable tumult of discontent and opprobrium from the theatrical exhibition community on both sides of the Atlantic, but particularly in Europe and the UK. With dire warnings from parties both inside and outside the business, forecasting the imminent demise of filmgoing as we know it, is this really the case?The reality of the theatrical window is that it has been steadily shrinking from six months to four over the course of the past decade, with no measurable impact on theatrical receipts. On the contrary, exhibition has boomed in most territories over the same period. It’s not even as if Disney is the first studio to look to contract the window; last year Paramount quietly came to an accommodation with US exhibitors in order to release its summer hit G.I. Joe to retailers in time for the Thanksgiving holiday period, a little more than three months after its successful theatrical run.

Both studios have stressed that these proposed new windows will only affect a selected number of releases from their annual schedules, perhaps no more than four titles a year. We also know that, after some brinkmanship, the issue was resolved amicably between rival parties (with a 13-week window and, presumably, improved exhibition terms mollifying cinema owners) and a threatened boycott of the film was

abandoned. Disney’s Alice went on to have the highest grossing non-sequel opening weekend in film history and, at the time of writing, is the highest grossing film of the year. The film was no doubt helped, like its 3D brethren, by the increased ticket prices that cinema owners are able to charge for this ‘unique’ experience.
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This article continues in movieScope Magazine, Issue 17 (May/ June 2010)