Wagner admits doubts about simultaneous release
Filed under: Tech Stuff, Distribution, Exhibition, Home Entertainment, Mark Cuban
Laura M. Holson
contributed a piece to the New York Times yesterday about the changing face of distribution and, fittingly,
she saved Mark Cuban and Todd Wagner's revolutionary alliance with Steven Soderbergh for last. The moguls and the
director are working together to simultaneously launch a series of films, starting with Bubble, on DVD, in
theaters, and on cable; as Holson writes, "What the three men are proposing is a radical - and, to theater owners
and existing distributors, not particularly welcome - model of how movies could be distributed one day." It's not
at all surprising that Cuban and Wagner's competitors would alternately find the proposal foolhardy and terrifying
– the kicker is that Holson gets Wagner to agree. "I know if I went to [a non-Landmark] theater and said,
'Let's sell the movie at the same time on DVD and in the theater,' they would say 'no'. I don't think there is a right
answer yet. We are experimenting. If we are just dead wrong, we are not going to do it anymore." This seems like a
radical change in faith for Wagner – what's causing the drop in confidence? Has the home office finally faced the
fact that whilst Bubble is a very interesting film, it's not a very commercial film – and thus, is
probably not the best subject for a simultaneous release experiment?
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