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Direct to
Video Too: Bursting the Bubble on Film
Distribution (January, 24 2006) Steven
Soderbergh, the man who’s hit it big with “Out of Sight” and “Ocean’s Eleven,”
has a reputation for quietly pushing the envelope. His career was launched
with the quirky indie gem “Sex, Lies and Videotape” and he won an
Oscar for “Traffic,” but there’s been a few rough patches too”—remember
“Schizopolis” and “Full Frontal?” “Bubble,” Soderbergh’s latest isn’t so much
about pushing the boundaries of creativity but more challenging the way the
movie industry does business. The film, a sleepy crime drama set in economically
depressed West Virginia, will be simultaneously released in theaters, and on
DVD and pay TV. The concept is a radical departure from the tried-and-true,
theater to DVD, to pay TV, to cable TV and finally free TV model that has
been constructed in such a way to maximize profits at each stage before
stepping down to the next, higher-volume and lower-margin market. It’s causing a ruckus in
Hollywood and many in the big studios are not so secretly hoping the
experiment will fail. The man behind the venture, Todd Wagner, is betting
that getting the product out there sooner to a wider potential audience will
mean greater revenue prospects. Only about 10 % of Americans go to the
Cineplex each year, the rest take their viewing pleasure at home, so by
making a film accessible to more while it’s still “fresh,” Wagner and company
are hoping those receptive will be willing to pay a premium to bring “Bubble”
into their living room on opening night (think of it like a Main Event fight
on pay TV). Wagner is just the man to
make it happen too, he owns (along with Dallas Mavericks owner, Mark Cuban)
2929 Entertainment, two cable channels and the art house movie chain,
Landmark Cinemas. And “Bubble”’s a low cost risk too. Employing
nonprofessional actors and using HD digital technology, it cost less than two
million dollars to put together. And the brouhaha over the releasing strategy
has essentially amounted to a free marketing campaign. But will it work? Cuban and Wagner are so
committed to the concept that they’ve inked Soderbergh to make five more such
films. It will be of peculiar interest to all in the movie industry to see
how the process evolves or implodes. It could be the cornerstone of sweeping
change, which is exactly what has studio and distribution execs cringing. If
it ain’t broke, why fix it? Yet the
Hollywood movie machine has been floundering for years. Innovation is down
and the system has become lethargic, relying on a marketing formulas and an
assembly line approach to render its products. Big has been bad for the car
industry and it may just be the cholesterol that ails the movie biz. A film
like “Bubble,” normally destine for the art house venue or a Sundance or IFC
cable pick up, is ideal to test Wagner’s theory. Big extravaganzas like “Star
Wars” and “King Kong” still feel ripe for the traditional model of
distribution (seeing “Kong” on anything but the big screen is unimaginable),
but as iPods and On Demand TV change the way cable and broadcast TV do
business, who knows? Next up, the opening of “Men in Black 3” and the new
James Bond on your hand held. - TBM |
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