'Hancock' Gets an Experimental Release
Filed under: Action, Comedy, New Releases, Sony, Celebrities and Controversy, Box Office, Fandom, Distribution, Exhibition, Home Entertainment
It seems fairly certain that Hancock will do decent business when it hits theaters this week, if only because Will Smith rarely stars in a dud these days -- especially when it's his face selling the movie before all else. Whether or not the film has staying power after opening weekend, however, remains to be seen, but Sony Pictures clearly has a lot of faith in its potential: Last week, the studio revealed its intentions of releasing the film online sometime after its theatrical run and before its DVD release, but only to users with Sony Bravia TV sets. It's a bold maneuver, one that assumes its core base of consumers actually have an interest in Hancock -- but the movie will make a profit either way, so it's a reasonable choice for this intriguing experiment.
Left in the dust by Apple's iPod, Sony continues to struggle in its search for a piece of the digital revolution. Company head Howard Stringer recently told the New York Times that the strategy for releasing Hancock "vanishes the memory of the failures of the Sony Walkman." Well, maybe. While on-demand technology has changed the way audiences consume their media, they don't like paying more money than necessary. Asking your audiences to buy a special device in order to access what, at this point, amounts to one movie -- well, that's asking a lot. But it's still a step in the right direction.
What do you think?
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
6-30-2008 @ 4:27PM
Peter Hall said...
I think it is an experiment with a forgone conclusion; failure.
The movie's presentation, both in look and sound, is inevitably going to be severally downgraded, to the point of being unappealing for someone to pay for (which is what this whole venture is out to prove, right? That they can somehow make money off of this). Bravia's may have an internet jack (though who connects it is beyond me), but they lack any built in storage capacity, be it harddrive or solid state.
So the film cannot be stored anywhere on the television, which means that it must be streamed from somewhere. Any high definition video, which one should assume this whole experiment is going to be partaking in, considering their HDTV line is the whole hook, for a feature length, action heavy film is going to push several gigs minimum (for real HD). Since there is no storage, there will be no reliable buffer, which means that the whole movie is going to be streaming, so if a viewer's net connection takes a dip (say if some kids load up MySpace) or just isn't slow to begin with, the stream will look like crap.
What Sony is going to have to do to make this work is stream out a visually and audibly handicapped signal, which is going to be noticeably inadequate on their very own TV sets designed and sold for superiority.
I don't know who they're hoping this is for, but between this and Sony's current inability to get any other studios to sign onto their proposed PS3 VOD service, it is clear the giant is getting restless.
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6-30-2008 @ 4:49PM
dar said...
GO WILL!
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6-30-2008 @ 5:16PM
Jordan M. said...
love it. first guy writes this really intelligent and well thought out comment, then the very next comment...
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7-01-2008 @ 2:48AM
YouFaceTheTick said...
People think Hancock will fail? After dreck like Ali and I Am Legend, Smith is finally appearing in a film with a brain at its core - Peter Berg. Hell, we're going this weekend for two reasons: Berg and Bateman. I could not care less about Smith.
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7-01-2008 @ 5:09AM
TonyS said...
I was writing about this yesterday on my humble little blog.
http://tony-noneoftheabove.blogspot.com/
I think it's a really blod move, but opens the door wide to Pirates... what is there to stop one videoing the film, copying it to DVD - or even digitising it, and distributing it themselves?
I would have thought a broad distribution footprint would be essential for this type of move to work safely...
Good on them though. Its a move in the right direction.
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7-01-2008 @ 10:27AM
Peter Hall said...
Gotta disagree with you there, Tony, don't see how this is a move in the right direction at all. What Sony is implementing here is an extra device you pay a premium for ($300 for the internet dongle), a flick you'll pay a premium for (though the price is undisclosed), a flick you'll have no proprietary ownership/control over, and downgraded quality?
How is that a step in the right direction? You pay more for less quality and less control, the only benefit is one of time saved, which is hardly worth the cost.
7-15-2008 @ 4:03PM
Olivia said...
My husband and I were so very disappointed. The trailers made it seem funny and we love Will Smith.
It was one of the worst movies we have ever seen!!
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