Physical & Digital EST: The Future of Home Video Discussion Thread

[crutzulee]

Originally Posted by bhampton

My local theater sucks. All the ones near me do. They don’t have a sloped floor for a start.

Also - learn to churn guide from C Net
https://www.cnet.com/tech/services-a...subscriptions/

Living in Toronto, there are no shortages of venues to suit all needs from multi plexes with all the latest formats to single repertory screens for festival circuit fair to VIP screens where they bring food to you including alcohol... but I still prefer watching in cave...

I should churn my subs but, in a family of four adults, the timing would be chaos...

[bhampton]

Yeah. Have a family of five here.
If I lived alone I would certainly be able to just use one service at a time.

[alchav21]

As you guys know I was not impressed with my Local Movie Theater. It's the Megaplex Theaters here in Utah, established in 1999 and probably have not been upgraded that much since then. There is a list of 44 Exhibitors on Tribute Movies.com: https://www.tributemovies.com/exhibitors/ There is also a Top 10 List of Exhibitors, and Megaplex Theaters did not make it. I'll just have to wait to add Top Gun: Maverick to my Digital Collection and watch it on my Sony UHD HT!

[JohnAV]

Box Office: ‘Jurassic World Dominion’ Roars Ahead of ‘Lightyear’ in Surprise Upset - Hollywood Report 6/19

The dinosaurs devoured $58.7 million in their second outing, while 'Lightyear' came in behind expectations with a $51 million debut.

In a surprise twist, Pixar and Disney’s new movie Lightyear lost Father’s Day weekend to holdover Jurassic World Dominion at the domestic box office.

This is the first time in the pandemic that there’s been three major Hollywood tentpoles doing solid-to-great business (Top Gun: Maverick is the third). As a result, overall domestic revenue hit an estimated $166 million, which is down only 18 percent from 2019 (usually, that gap has been much bigger). However, it isn’t clear whether the box office chart has recovered enough to support so much product.

Lightyear was expected to top the chart with a $70 million to $85 million opening. Instead, the Toy Story spinoff buzzed to a disappointing $51 million from 4,255 theaters. While that’s a solid number for the COVID-19 era — as well as the biggest opening of the pandemic for an animated family film — Lightyear‘s start is nevertheless a disappointment considering it carries the storied Pixar logo.

Overseas, Lightyear took in $34.6 million from its first 43 markets for a global launch of $85.6 million.

The movie isn’t expected to be released in China, and was banned in parts of the Middle East, including Saudi Arabia, over a same-gender kiss. The scene, involving the female character Hawthorne (voiced by Uzo Aduba) and her partner, was originally cut from the film but reinstated following the uproar surrounding a statement from Pixar employees claiming that Disney had been censoring “overtly gay affection” and Disney CEO Bob Chapek’s handling of Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” bill.

Chris Evans voices the iconic Space Ranger in the origin tale, a role previously voiced by Tim Allen. Lightyear marks Pixar’s return to the big screen after seeing several of its animated family films head straight for Disney+ due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Lightyear serves as a test for the strength of the family market as the box office continues to recover.

The animated film currently has a Rotten Tomatoes score of 78 percent, which is definitely on the lower end for a Pixar offering, particularly for the Toy Story franchise. Audiences, however, gave it an A- CinemaScore.

Universal and Amblin’s Jurassic World Dominion stayed at No. 1 with $58.7 million from 4,679 locations for a 10-day domestic tally of $247.8 million and $622.2 million globally (it’s only the seventh Hollywood title to cross $600 million in the pandemic era). Internationally, it earned another $76.1 million from 72 markets for foreign tally of $372.4 million. China’s total is now $92.8 million, making the movie one of the top-grossing Hollywood releases of the pandemic.

One sobering note: Dominion tumbled 60 percent domestically, a bigger fall than the last two dino films.

Monday is a federal holiday honoring Juneteenth, so Monday could look more like a Saturday and Sunday in terms of traffic at the box office. Universal insiders believe Jurassic World 3‘s domestic total could climb as high as $68 million for the four days.

Lightyear should also see a boost on Monday.

Paramount and Skydance’s Top Gun: Maverick remained a formidable force in its fourth weekend. The water-cooler sensation dropped a mere 15 percent to $44 million for a domestic total of $466.2 million as it flies for the $500 million mark. Overseas, it earned $39.7 million from 64 markets for a global cume of nearly $900 million, or $885.2 million.

Marvel and Disney’s Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness came in No. 4 with $4.2 million for a domestic total of $405.1 million and $942.5 million worldwide. It is now ranks No. 10 on the list of top-grossing Marvel Cinematic Universe titles.

Disney and 20th Century’s The Bob’s Burgers Movie rounded out the top five with $1.1 million for a domestic total of $29.8 million.

At the specialty box office, British comedy Brian and Charles opened to $830,000 from 279 theaters for a tepid per location average of $711 despite winning the audience award at the Sundance Film Festival earlier this year. Focus Features acquired the film out of Sundance for a reasonable price, according to insiders.

June 19, 8:35 a.m. This story has been updated with revised weekend estimates.

[JohnAV]

China Box Office: ‘Jurassic World Dominion’ Slips 56 Percent in Second Weekend With $23M - Hollywood Reporter 6/19

The Universal film is expected to finish its run with about $124 million in China

Universal’s Jurassic World Dominion scored another win at China’s theatrical box office over the weekend, taking $23.3 million for a running total of $92.4 million.

Facing modest competition from Chinese youth drama One Week Friends, produced by Alibaba Pictures, Dominion slipped 56 percent in its second frame, data from Artisan Gateway shows. One Week Friends was hit with tepid word of mouth and performed below expectations, earning just $5.8 million. Leading local ticketing app Maoyan currently projects Dominion to finish its China run with $124 million — which will be the biggest haul by a Hollywood title since the start of the pandemic — and One Week Friends to top out at $19 million.

Directed by Taiwanese talent Gavin Lin (More Than Blue), One Week Friends is an adaptation of the Japanese manga Isshuukan Friends by Hazuki Matcha. The story follows a smart but lonely transfer student — who finds that her memory can only last one week — and the high school kids who band around her. The film has earned a user score of 8.2 on Maoyan, tying Dominion, which similarly has been hit by relatively low ratings regardless of its respectable sales performance.

Overall, China’s box office continues to ail, with sizable pockets of cinemas across the country still closed as a COVID precaution and consumer activity suppressed by mass testing and a prevailing sense of caution. Total box office revenue for the year currently sits at $2.45 billion, down 39 percent from the equivalent period in 2021. The coming weeks will see a string of midsize Chinese titles but no new Hollywood films have received official release dates from Beijing regulators.

Note the struggling marketplace in China with all the closures.

[Steedeel]

Originally Posted by alchav21

As you guys know I was not impressed with my Local Movie Theater. It's the Megaplex Theaters here in Utah, established in 1999 and probably have not been upgraded that much since then. There is a list of 44 Exhibitors on Tribute Movies.com: https://www.tributemovies.com/exhibitors/ There is also a Top 10 List of Exhibitors, and Megaplex Theaters did not make it. I'll just have to wait to add Top Gun: Maverick to my Digital Collection and watch it on my Sony UHD HT!

In other words, watch it on your telly!

[alchav21]

Originally Posted by Steedeel

In other words, watch it on your telly!

Well I know they want us to support the Theaters, but the experience was poor. The Megaplex is setup properly with nice seating staircased, with no heads in front. Sound was good, but the Picture Quality looked washed out. That's why I said the PQ is better on my Sony UHDTV. I hope your Projector has a nice bright Picture!

[Steedeel]

Originally Posted by alchav21

Well I know they want us to support the Theaters, but the experience was poor. The Megaplex is setup properly with nice seating staircased, with no heads in front. Sound was good, but the Picture Quality looked washed out. That's why I said the PQ is better on my Sony UHDTV. I hope your Projector has a nice bright Picture!

It’s a lovely 4K projector but I watch just as much content on a OLED. This is because I reserve the home cinema for Blu-ray and 4K discs and specific movie nights.
On tv, I watch Sky tv, broadcast channels, streaming services and use it for all my gaming via PS5, PS4 and Switch.

Both are pleasurable but nothing beats an event movie on the big screen. Order some pizza, buy a bottle of Sasp and I’m in heaven.

[crutzulee]

I have a cheapie 65" 4K non HDR TV in the living room with a soundbar. It's attached to a cable box and an NVIDIA SHIELD. It's used strictly for TV. I watch news on it, the family watches their various programs and we binge watch TV series from the various streaming services. The only "movie" watching done on that set are documentaries. If I decide to go up in size someday, or if/when it gives up the ghost, I'll look into the best available tech at that time (OLED,DV etc). For our use case, I see no need to upgrade what we have. When we do, I know that, no matter the technology, or how big the screen is, no one in the family will ever watch a movie on a TV.

I've spent time at a local retailer which allowed me to mess with the settings of the various high end TVs and I agree that they can be made to put out unbelievable images once many of the garbage "features" are turned off. If a sizeable chunk of my viewing were extreme close-ups of bumble bees on brightly coloured flowers or extreme slow -mos of water drops hitting larger bowls of water against inky black backgrounds, I'd invest in this tech today...but to watch the local weatherman or catch the latest episode of THE WILDS....I'll wait until someone in the family looks at me and says "you know what could make this better? ....if it we were watching this at 85" or better yet....100"....Then, I too would be all in for an upgrade

I still wouldn't watch a movie on anything backlit as it still would just seem like TV...only bigger. For all it's flaws and shortcomings, a movie in my dadcave, PROJECTED onto a white screen with a pretty decent ATMOS sound system is as close to the cinematic ideal as I want to get given the drawbacks of hauling my cookies out to the local theater....but we've all been through this discussion before...LOL..

More relevant to the thread, I opted out of the stream of the latest DR STRANGE installment last night having endured AQUAMAN the night before. AQUAMAN was worth it to test out the stellar DOLBY VISION capabilities of the ZIDOO and I learned how useful the masking system on my new JVC can be at ameliorating the atrocity of multiple aspect ratio IMAX discs.

With respect to DR STRANGE, my son had ventured out to actually see this in a premium VIP theater here in Toronto with some friends. At the time, he came home and expressed a desire to see it again in our home "with some real bass". This morning, he is reporting that the stream did not disappoint! Both of my kids enjoyed the Disney+ presentation. Even gimped down to regular HDR and ATMOUSE on the NVIDIA SHIELD, my son felt that it was a superior presentation to the VIP cinema! I can only imagine what the eventual UHD release will be like....I might be ready to see it by then...LOL

[Lee A Stewart]

PwC: Packaged Media Revenue to Decline 55% Through 2026

Consumer migration from packaged media movies to digital distribution continues, with new data from consulting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) projecting that the U.S. home entertainment retail market will generate about $1.1 billion in revenue from the sales of DVD, Blu-ray Disc and 4K UHD Blu-ray titles in 2026 — down almost 55% (or 17.5% annually) from revenue of $2.5 billion in 2022.

Sales of digital movies and TV shows will increase half of 1% annually to $6.3 billion in 2026 from $5.6 billion this year. That includes $576 million from pay-TV operators and $5.7 billion from digital platforms, including Vudu, iTunes, Microsoft Movies, and Redbox Digital, among others.

Digital rentals will remain flat at $1.7 billion, with $621 million originating from pay-TV operators and more than $1 billion from digital platforms.

Meanwhile, the U.S. subscription streaming video market will continue to flourish, as revenue grows exponentially. PwC contends the SVOD market will grow 8.5% annually to $33.6 billion in 2026, up from $25.3 billion in 2022.

https://www.mediaplaynews.com/pwc-pa...-through-2026/

[crutzulee]

The new ELVIS movie might actually get me out to the cinema....

[alchav21]

Originally Posted by crutzulee

The new ELVIS movie might actually get me out to the cinema....

So Top Gun didn't do it for you, but the Elvis Movie might. Let's see if Toronto has some good Cinemas, to give you the experience you want. I think as HT Displays get bigger, and Sound Systems to match. That puts a strain on the Exhibitors to match or surpass the newest Technologies!

[crutzulee]

Originally Posted by alchav21

So Top Gun didn't do it for you, but the Elvis Movie might. Let's see if Toronto has some good Cinemas, to give you the experience you want. I think as HT Displays get bigger, and Sound Systems to match. That puts a strain on the Exhibitors to match or surpass the newest Technologies!

As I've said, Toronto has no shortage of excellent venues. My son's take aside, I'm not going to argue that my dadcave is going to match a venue that was designed to display a movie the way most creator's intended their films to be screened. I will argue, that I've done, and continue to build upon, a foundation where the difference is more than compensated for by avoiding many of the drawbacks of attending the cinema.

I probably saw the original TOP GUN at least 10 times in the theater on it's original run...Anyone from that era probably has a silly smile on their face whenever that BERLIN song plays as it was THE makeout song at the time..lol...

I can wait for the sequel on 4K UHD at home.... I had assumed that an ELVIS movie would be mishandled and that I'd have little to no interest in it. But early revues are quite positive...For me ELVIS >Tom Cruise...

[Steedeel]

Originally Posted by Lee A Stewart

PwC: Packaged Media Revenue to Decline 55% Through 2026



https://www.mediaplaynews.com/pwc-pa...-through-2026/

Ah, projections! Gotta love em!

[Lee A Stewart]

Originally Posted by Steedeel

Ah, projections! Gotta love em!

Not very hard to make:

[Steedeel]

Yeah, and Netflix subscriptions are dropping like flies but those projections not taking the current climate into consideration. I will pass thanks.

[Lee A Stewart]

Originally Posted by Steedeel

Yeah, and Netflix subscriptions are dropping like flies but those projections not taking the current climate into consideration. I will pass thanks.

Projections are all about the future - not the present.

Inflation is sky high. People are hurting for disposable cash. For $20 they can buy a single movie or they can have a couple of months on a streamer. It's a no-brainer decision.

[bhampton]

Originally Posted by Lee A Stewart

Projections are all about the future - not the present.

Inflation is sky high. People are hurting for disposable cash. For $20 they can buy a single movie or they can have a couple of months on a streamer. It's a no-brainer decision.

Completely agree. Streaming is for the no-brainers.

Also for the folks who never watch something twice. I know some folks like that. Nothing wrong with that.

I like to own movies and I'm thrilled with all the new releases. I'm glad to still have the option to buy movies.

With subscriptions you pay by the minute - by definition.
With Ad based junk you pay with your time and possibly with exposure to the ads (if you can't find the mute button).
With physical media pay once and enjoy forever more.

[Steedeel]

Originally Posted by Lee A Stewart

Projections are all about the future - not the present.

Inflation is sky high. People are hurting for disposable cash. For $20 they can buy a single movie or they can have a couple of months on a streamer. It's a no-brainer decision.

How convenient.

[Wendell R. Breland]

Originally Posted by crutzulee

More relevant to the thread, I opted out of the stream of the latest DR STRANGE installment last night having endured AQUAMAN the night before.

We watched Doctor Strange last night via Disney+ and thought it much better than the first with Sam Raimi at the helm for this one. Wish Raimi could have made the last Spider-Man. Had a fairly good sound track but like other Marvel-Disney movies the use of Atmos was not as effective as it could have been. Will add this one to the collection.