Day-and-date VOD, theatrical bow for Rainbow pics
Rainbow heading day-and-date for theatrical, VOD
Oct 25, 2005
Rainbow Media Holdings is moving toward the first day-and-date releases of independent films in U.S. theaters and video-on-demand.
The Cablevision-owned company is working to acquire independent films at such international film festivals as Cannes and Toronto in order to simultaneously launch them theatrically at the newly renovated three-screen IFC Center in New York's Greenwich Village and via a new VOD service it currently is pitching to cable operators. Rainbow hopes to release 18-24 films per year through the new strategy.
Joshua Sapan, president and CEO of Rainbow Media, believes VOD is the key to the future of film distribution.
"I have for a long time held the view that art houses as we know them are disappearing," he said. "We have the opportunity to use technological content and new platforms to recreate an electronic art house for a discreet, defined, limited audience in every village, town and city."
Jonathan Sehring, president of specialty film distributor IFC Films, will be booking the films, including in all likelihood IFC's already-acquired digital film "Sorry, Haters," a post-9/11 drama starring Robin Wright Penn, into independent theaters around the country.
The major exhibition chains have rejected day-and-date releases from pioneers like Mark Cuban and Todd Wagner's Magnolia Pictures, which booked "Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room" mostly on Cuban and Wagner's Landmark Theatre screens.
Landmark's approach also is invested in selling DVDs on a day-and-date basis; it will open Steven Soderbergh's "The Bubble" day-and-date in January on Landmark screens, HDNet Movies and DVD.
"They all won't play our films," said Sehring, who is counting on Landmark to play IFC Center product. "We're recreating an art house on a national basis electronically. We are uniquely positioned to do this."
Rather than try to sell individual titles, Rainbow/IFC will sign up movie lovers around the country, who might not have access to a local art cinema, for the planned VOD package, called IFC Center Presents. Rainbow is aiming to have a few new films accessible on a la carte basis or a subscription VOD package, with price to be determined.
"People are comfortable paying a monthly fee for services like HBO, Playboy and Netflix," Sapan said.
A limited theatrical release could beef up the value of a VOD title. A New York theater opening brings national media exposure like reviews, Sehring pointed out, that can have immediate impact, rather than waiting for weeks for a film to reach far-flung markets around the country.
"People can see films at the same time as their reviews in the New York Times," he said. "If they subscribe to this service, they get to see indie films day-and-date with their New York opening, movies that ordinarily wouldn't get theatrical release at all. There are a lot of great movies for a discerning audience which could work in certain areas."
Sehring also believes that VOD distribution will boost a film's ultimate DVD value; timing of the home-video window hasn't been finalized for the new day-and-date strategy. "Our feeling is that watching 'Touching the Void' on PBS made them want to buy it," he said. "Lions Gate was thrilled that 'Grizzly Man' aired on A&E before it went to DVD."
If this new distribution paradigm is successful, Sehring said, IFC Films will be able to not only acquire more inexpensive product for the IFC Center service, but also create more low-cost digital films through IFC's digital production house, InDigEnt, which then could be distributed via IFC Center. "If IFC Center works even moderately, it could have a genuine effect on getting exposure for films that would otherwise remain unseen and on the number of films that get made," Sapan said.
Before IFC Center becomes a reality, though, Sapan still has to sell the concept to cable operators around the country in time for its planned launch in January. "We need to talk to cable operators about it," he said. "I'm positive there's pent-up demand. We will tell consumers via the IFC Channel. We'll invite them to see the movie on an earlier window."
Rainbow also boasts the cable networks AMC, Fuse and WE: Women's Entertainment. It also has a robust portfolio of VOD products including Mag Rack, from which consumers choose video magazines on such subjects as bird-watching and vegetarian cooking, as well as the interactive educator Sportskool.
The availability of Rainbow's VOD products have grown in three years, Sapan said, from fewer than 1 million to 18 million homes. "We make new material for new technology," Sapan said.
Sapan believes the strategy could be a breakthrough for the entire industry. "This is the first step to making 'Spider-Man 3' available day-and-date," he said. "We're taking small steps."
The Cablevision-owned company is working to acquire independent films at such international film festivals as Cannes and Toronto in order to simultaneously launch them theatrically at the newly renovated three-screen IFC Center in New York's Greenwich Village and via a new VOD service it currently is pitching to cable operators. Rainbow hopes to release 18-24 films per year through the new strategy.
Joshua Sapan, president and CEO of Rainbow Media, believes VOD is the key to the future of film distribution.
"I have for a long time held the view that art houses as we know them are disappearing," he said. "We have the opportunity to use technological content and new platforms to recreate an electronic art house for a discreet, defined, limited audience in every village, town and city."
Jonathan Sehring, president of specialty film distributor IFC Films, will be booking the films, including in all likelihood IFC's already-acquired digital film "Sorry, Haters," a post-9/11 drama starring Robin Wright Penn, into independent theaters around the country.
The major exhibition chains have rejected day-and-date releases from pioneers like Mark Cuban and Todd Wagner's Magnolia Pictures, which booked "Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room" mostly on Cuban and Wagner's Landmark Theatre screens.
Landmark's approach also is invested in selling DVDs on a day-and-date basis; it will open Steven Soderbergh's "The Bubble" day-and-date in January on Landmark screens, HDNet Movies and DVD.
"They all won't play our films," said Sehring, who is counting on Landmark to play IFC Center product. "We're recreating an art house on a national basis electronically. We are uniquely positioned to do this."
Rather than try to sell individual titles, Rainbow/IFC will sign up movie lovers around the country, who might not have access to a local art cinema, for the planned VOD package, called IFC Center Presents. Rainbow is aiming to have a few new films accessible on a la carte basis or a subscription VOD package, with price to be determined.
"People are comfortable paying a monthly fee for services like HBO, Playboy and Netflix," Sapan said.
A limited theatrical release could beef up the value of a VOD title. A New York theater opening brings national media exposure like reviews, Sehring pointed out, that can have immediate impact, rather than waiting for weeks for a film to reach far-flung markets around the country.
"People can see films at the same time as their reviews in the New York Times," he said. "If they subscribe to this service, they get to see indie films day-and-date with their New York opening, movies that ordinarily wouldn't get theatrical release at all. There are a lot of great movies for a discerning audience which could work in certain areas."
Sehring also believes that VOD distribution will boost a film's ultimate DVD value; timing of the home-video window hasn't been finalized for the new day-and-date strategy. "Our feeling is that watching 'Touching the Void' on PBS made them want to buy it," he said. "Lions Gate was thrilled that 'Grizzly Man' aired on A&E before it went to DVD."
If this new distribution paradigm is successful, Sehring said, IFC Films will be able to not only acquire more inexpensive product for the IFC Center service, but also create more low-cost digital films through IFC's digital production house, InDigEnt, which then could be distributed via IFC Center. "If IFC Center works even moderately, it could have a genuine effect on getting exposure for films that would otherwise remain unseen and on the number of films that get made," Sapan said.
Before IFC Center becomes a reality, though, Sapan still has to sell the concept to cable operators around the country in time for its planned launch in January. "We need to talk to cable operators about it," he said. "I'm positive there's pent-up demand. We will tell consumers via the IFC Channel. We'll invite them to see the movie on an earlier window."
Rainbow also boasts the cable networks AMC, Fuse and WE: Women's Entertainment. It also has a robust portfolio of VOD products including Mag Rack, from which consumers choose video magazines on such subjects as bird-watching and vegetarian cooking, as well as the interactive educator Sportskool.
The availability of Rainbow's VOD products have grown in three years, Sapan said, from fewer than 1 million to 18 million homes. "We make new material for new technology," Sapan said.
Sapan believes the strategy could be a breakthrough for the entire industry. "This is the first step to making 'Spider-Man 3' available day-and-date," he said. "We're taking small steps."
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