Page 8 The Skanner March 23, 2016
News
Now Playing in Hollywood: A Battle Over the Future of Movies
New startup seeks to upend the traditional theatrical model, bringing first-run films into the home
By Jake Coyle
AP Film Writer
NEW YORK — Now playing in Hol-
lywood: A battle over the future of the
movie business, starring some of its
most famous filmmakers.
The Screening Room, a startup
backed by Napster co-founder Sean
Parker and music executive Prem Ak-
karaju, has sent tremors through the
movie industry since word of its am-
“
ed set-box, directly into the home for
$50 a pop.
The service has the support of some
major filmmakers, including Ste-
ven Spielberg, Peter Jackson and J.J.
Abrams, but its existence depends on
the cooperation of studios and exhibi-
tors and that appears unlikely.
Yet the Screening Room has thrown
Hollywood into something resembling
an existential crisis, with round-the-
clock debate about its prospects that
It frightens me. What I’m afraid of is that chas-
ing short-term additional revenue might open
up a situation where piracy really hurts the
entire industry
bitions were first reported Saturday.
Parker and company are seeking to
upend the theatrical model and bring
first-run films, through a $150 encrypt-
has pitted some of the movies’ biggest
names against each other. Is this the me-
teor headed straight for the big screen,
or is it like previous efforts nothing but
a storm of hype that will sail past?
“It frightens me,” Tim League, chief
executive of Alamo Drafthouse Cin-
ema, the Texas-based theater chain,
said of the Screening Room. “What I’m
afraid of is that chasing short-term ad-
ditional revenue might open up a situ-
ation where piracy really hurts the en-
tire industry.”
And the industry, he says, is thriving.
“We’re in the business of getting out of
the house,” says League.
Whether the Screening Room suc-
ceeds or not, it has added to a grow-
ing sense that the traditional the-
atrical model will one day fall, a
casualty-in-waiting of an increasingly
digital and instantaneous media world.
But such prophecy doesn’t account
for some economic realities: Box office
in North America, alone, was a record
$11 billion last year. Despite a growing
horde of barbarians at the gate–Net-
flix among them–the theatrical release
window has held so far. The marketing
splash of a theatrical release continues
to drive the industry’s revenues -- and
not just at the box office, but through
merchandising and subsequent win-
dows of release.
Yet some see a chance to profit more
from those who prefer to stay home. Ac-
cording to the Motion Picture Associa-
tion, 11 percent of the U.S. population
qualifies as regular moviegoers (going
18 times a year), and they make up half
of box-office receipts. The Screening
Room is aimed at the couches of the oth-
er 89 percent.
Jackson said the Screening Room --
which is proposing to split revenues
between studios, theater operators and
itself -- is “designed to capture an audi-
ence that does not currently go to the
See HOLLYWOOD on page 12
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The Vanport multi-media project
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