Cinema’s punk era?
May 30, 2008 – 8:08 amIn Göteborg for the launch of Crossover Nordic at Lindholmen Science Park, my presentation was preceded by a talk from Michael Gubbins, Editor of Screen International. His theme was the inevitable shift from theatres and DVD to digital download as the primary means of distribution of feature films. To date, Hollywood’s solution to the bottleneck caused by too many movies competing for space on a limited number of screens has been to make fewer, bigger films. But this is a short-term fix which will inevitably give way to more profitable distribution models based, in part, on less costly product reaching smaller audiences. Gubbins didn’t see the move to sales direct to the home as a threat to cinema ticket sales, citing the example of football where the live, social experience still beats the more comfortable and, in many ways, superior experience of viewing a match on TV. He suggested that an economic ...
