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On Thursday March 5th Slumdog was the number one grossing film in the US.

Despite the fact that the picture just widened to nearly 3,000 runs Fox announced earlier this week that Slumdog would be released on video March 31st.

And where the hell is NATO - silent as usual. (Of course the real function of NATO is to act as peacemaker and keep the theatre owners in line so they do not riot when things like this happen - so dont expect them to do anything).

Do we have any statistics that show early video release hurts boxoffice receipts or is it just a fear? It has been my observation that there are a growing number of people who prefer the "theatre experience" to sitting home a watching anything on the tube.

I dont care if its on video.It use to drive me crazy....When it happens its rare and it does not change our gross...

muviebuf wrote:
In an sudden and dynamic early morning raid, NATO troops stormed the Fox Searchlight executive headquarters, taking anyone seen in a suit as prisoner. Over the next several days, bitch-slapping and water-boarding techniques were executed, until the message was made clear not to release movies to DVD until theatre owners have given their consent.

In all seriousness, if you are displeased with the DVD window for Slumdog Millionaire, as a theatre owner, you should take your displeasure up with Fox Searchlight, and make sure you tell them they are flushing millions in boxoffice grosses down the toilet by announcing a DVD window while their movie is still performing well in theatres.

I am sure people at NATO have already made similar conversations. As an organization, NATO cannot tell their membership to "boycott" Fox Searchlight. They can, however, communicate with Fox Searchlight and other studios their overall displeasure. The action needs to come from individual owners on an individual basis.

Talking down about NATO is like a hobby for some people, as though NATO has some divine power to intercede in corporate business affairs, yet they "do nothing." NATO does everything it can to track window statistics and point out instances where they believe the windows are being poorly implemented.

NATO is not going to alienate studio executives by telling them how to manage their assets, as that would not serve the interests of its membership. What is it exactly that NATO is expected to do? Picket the studio? Take them off the Christmas card list?

Rick

Good answer Rick. You're right about many exhibitors doing nothing not even researching ALL available films or promoting what they book. They leave it up to "Hollywood" to make films, promote them and put them in their theatres. When exhibitors give "Hollywood" this much control over their theatres little wonder distributors pretty much do what they want.

Is it just me - or has this board devolved into a combination 'personal blog' and 'bitch-slapping contest' ?

Hey - that beats consistantly spouting NATO conspiracy theories.

The only problems I've ever had with prints that are still in theatres when they come out on dvd/video, is that said print is in very poor quality after being run for X number of showings (not all projectionists can keep a clean print).

I'd much rather watch it on my big screen in Bluray, than to go to a theatre and sit through emultion/base scratches and a torn up soundtrack in mono/stereo.

We have been trying to get slumdog since November..still haven't got it..I guess if its out on vid then we probably won't bother!

Most distributors have divisions where you can book films that have been on DVD and VHS for years. So I don't think you'll have any trouble getting this one.