How Much Are You Willing To Pay For PPV?

Originally Posted by Brian Conrad

Magnet is part of Magnolia Films which is Mark Cuban's studio. The price is probably high because it isn't in theaters yet. And I'm not sure it will play anything other than art house theaters. Since many of those kinds of theaters seem to be disappearing starting a couple years ago IFC and few other distributors started making them available VOD. And yes the prices were often around $10 but if you are film buff that was often less than the cost of driving several miles to a art house (if you even have one in your area), snacks, etc. Plus you get a pause button with VOD.

I have been renting some of the Tribeca winners on Vudu but I think there $7.99 was the most I paid. Sometimes these films don't even make it to the Cinearts in my area.

VOD set to help indie scene

Yet for a growing number of indie films, VOD has become a crucial revenue source, accounting for as much as 60% of revs for some movies and returning seven-figure checks for the highest-profile indies.

"VOD does make up for some of the DVD sell-through decline for smaller indie movies," says Oscilloscope's David Fenkel, who sent "Wendy and Lucy" out on VOD in May via the company's deal with Warner Bros. Digital. But he's also quick to note that sell-through for some indie titles was never brisk previously.

One of the breakout stars is Magnolia Pictures' "Two Lovers," which debuted in theaters and on VOD simultaneously. The film is on track to gross well into seven figures, says Magnolia president Eamonn Bowles.

Unlike the theatrical and DVD business, where revenue estimates are touted in a matter of hours after a film's release, VOD sales figures are still guarded like state secrets. Often, even the distrib doesn't know the numbers until several months after releases, when the payments start rolling in.

Debuting a film on VOD can potentially put it in more than 50 million living rooms where viewers can watch not just through Comcast and other cable and satellite outlets, but through iPods and Xbox 360 game consoles.

VOD has become a new source of income for virtually no additional cost. There are no theatrical prints to deliver or discs to press. And it comes with free advertising, thanks to the trailers cable operators run to promo available VOD titles.

VOD providers, eager to lure customers with content they can't get in many other places, heavily promote VOD debuts through TV ads and callouts on the main VOD channel.

Key to broad VOD distribution, and bigger revenues, is timing the VOD rollout with or before the DVD release. Films released day and date with DVD tend to sell 50% better on VOD than films released afterward, says David Asch, executive VP of VOD distributor In Demand. They also generate higher profits because companies can charge more -- Magnolia charges $9.99 and up, IFC $7.99 -- both premiums over the typical $3.99 for VOD films released in the DVD window. "It's a significant source of revenue. Probably more significant are the economics of it," says Sehring.

Originally Posted by bt12483

Survival of the Dead isn't out in theaters until 5/28.
http://www.magnetreleasing.com/survivalofthedead/

Right now on Verizon FiOS On Demand it is $10.99.

Of course it isn't released by one of the big 6 studios.

Why can Magnet charge $10.99 before the movie even hits theaters but WB wants $20-30 after the movie hits theaters.

Originally Posted by moviegeek

So far nobody has chosen $20-30, just as I suspected.

Originally Posted by moviegeek

So far nobody has chosen $20-30, just as I suspected.

Originally Posted by mproper

Anything over $20 would be questionable, but I'd definitely consider it. The cost of me going to see a family movie costs me ~$30 for three of us to go just for tickets.

Originally Posted by mproper

Both Survival of the Dead and Ondine (with Colin Farrel) are available on Zune Marketplace (1080p and 5.1) for $15. Neither hit theaters until late May/early June and have been available on Zune for a few weeks.

I think $15 is perfectly fair for movies that aren't even in theaters yet. I'd be willing to pay $20 if it was something still in theaters that I'd like to see, especially if it was something that I'd also want to take the wife and/or kids to (since at that point it would be quite a bit cheaper than the theater).

Anything over $20 would be questionable, but I'd definitely consider it. The cost of me going to see a family movie costs me ~$30 for three of us to go just for tickets.

Add in the benefits of not dealing with your average theater crowd, improperly calibrated theater setups, additional costs related to gas, food, and possibly a babysitter, plus being able to pause/rewind/FF, and I think it's perfectly reasonable.

Originally Posted by aaronwt

I'm watching Survival of the Dead on HDNet movies right now. Caertainly a great deal since it doesn't cost me anything over my normal cable bill.

Originally Posted by undecided

Thanks for the heads up - just set it to record. So is it worth watching - it is probably not a movie for me - I am recording it more for my college age sons so they and their mates have something movies they can watch when they are back for the summer. That is the great thing about a 1TB drive in a Directv DVR. Much better than PPV's that expire 24 hours after you start watching them.

Originally Posted by Brian Conrad

"Survival of the Dead" opened in theaters yesterday and in the Bay Area it was at all of two, one in San Francisco and the other Berkeley. However checking Vudu the price had dropped to $7.99 regardless of the format so I opted for viewing it in HDX. There were some noticeable artifacts on the slow pans in the forest scenes but nowhere near the pixelation one my have with an MPEG-2 stream on cable.

Originally Posted by StevenFromTexas

Nice to see that the majority is of my opinion: I won't pay one cent for pay-per-view for anything.