Google Groups no longer supports new Usenet posts or subscriptions. Historical content remains viewable.
Dismiss
THE IRISHMAN Theater Ban Shows Hollywood's Stupid & Counterproductive Disdain for Netflix
17 views
Skip to first unread message
BTR1701
Oct 16, 2019, 10:41:43 AM10/16/19
to
For years Hollywood has seen Netflix as a mortal enemy because of the
company's interest in disrupting the entertainment industry. Hollywood
has been particularly vocal about how Netflix is "destroying" the
traditional, sticky-floor, brick-and-mortar theater business because it
wants to modernize antiquated release window rules from a bygone era.
For example, Netflix content was banned from Cannes last year largely
because the company wouldn't adhere to France's absurd cultural
exception law that requires a 36-month delay between theatrical release
and streaming availability.
Hollywood theater chains' disdain for Netflix bubbled up again this
month, with the news that Netflix's latest exclusive, the new Martin
Scorsese film THE IRISHMAN, would be banned from being shown at a number
of major theater chains. Apparently this was intended as some kind of
"punishment" for Netflix, though the company quickly spun the narrative
on its head. Like ROMA, THE IRISHMAN needs at least some major theater
time to be considered for Oscar contention, so Netflix has decided to
screen the film at the Shubert Organization's historic Belasco Theatre
on Broadway.
It's the first time a traditional film has been shown there in the
theater's 112 year history, drawing more public attention to the film's
release:
"The unusual arrangement-- hailed by the preservation-minded
Scorsese as a way to showcase his film in the type of ornate
theater in which New Yorkers could once routinely view films--
will be the first film screening ever in the Belasco's 112-year
history (the theater was an NBC studio for several years in the
early 1950s). Netflix will provide what it describes as
state-of-the-art equipment for the screenings."
The film (featuring Joe Pesci, Robert DeNiro, and Al Pacino in a
purported return to bygone efforts) will be shown at the theater through
the month of November, before it arrives on Netflix November 27.
Brick-and-mortar theaters apparently think they're somehow stopping
Netflix from disrupting the industry, but it's hard to see how that's
actually going to be successful. Netflix simply turned the snub into a
new way to promote the film, and the industry loses any revenue from
airing a film that many fans of older Scorsese mob films are going to
want to see. It's all a sort of incompetent seppuku.
The biggest issue? The brick-and-mortar theater worry that Netflix will
"kill theaters" has never been proven by any substantive data. Last year
a study indicated that Netflix certainly isn't killing movie theaters.
In fact, EY's Quantitative Economics and Statistics group (funded by the
National Association of Theater Owners) found that consumers who visited
theaters nine times or more in the last 12 months consumed more
streaming content than consumers who visited a movie theater only once
or twice over the past year:
"The message here is that there's not a war between streaming
and theatrical," said Phil Contrino, director of media and
research at NATO. "People who love content are watching it
across platforms and all platforms have a place in consumers'
minds."
In other words, the claims that Netflix keeps people at home and out of
theaters isn't true, yet it's the cornerstone of all of these efforts.
Much in the way that pirates buy more programming on all platforms than
other users, users who stream a lot still like to go to the theater
because they really enjoy movies. Streaming and theaters can have a
synergistic relationship where everybody benefits, yet instead we get
whatever this is.
https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20191009/08242143161/irishman-ban-once-
again-shows-hollywoods-disdain-netflix-is-stupid-counterproductive.shtml
company's interest in disrupting the entertainment industry. Hollywood
has been particularly vocal about how Netflix is "destroying" the
traditional, sticky-floor, brick-and-mortar theater business because it
wants to modernize antiquated release window rules from a bygone era.
For example, Netflix content was banned from Cannes last year largely
because the company wouldn't adhere to France's absurd cultural
exception law that requires a 36-month delay between theatrical release
and streaming availability.
Hollywood theater chains' disdain for Netflix bubbled up again this
month, with the news that Netflix's latest exclusive, the new Martin
Scorsese film THE IRISHMAN, would be banned from being shown at a number
of major theater chains. Apparently this was intended as some kind of
"punishment" for Netflix, though the company quickly spun the narrative
on its head. Like ROMA, THE IRISHMAN needs at least some major theater
time to be considered for Oscar contention, so Netflix has decided to
screen the film at the Shubert Organization's historic Belasco Theatre
on Broadway.
It's the first time a traditional film has been shown there in the
theater's 112 year history, drawing more public attention to the film's
release:
"The unusual arrangement-- hailed by the preservation-minded
Scorsese as a way to showcase his film in the type of ornate
theater in which New Yorkers could once routinely view films--
will be the first film screening ever in the Belasco's 112-year
history (the theater was an NBC studio for several years in the
early 1950s). Netflix will provide what it describes as
state-of-the-art equipment for the screenings."
The film (featuring Joe Pesci, Robert DeNiro, and Al Pacino in a
purported return to bygone efforts) will be shown at the theater through
the month of November, before it arrives on Netflix November 27.
Brick-and-mortar theaters apparently think they're somehow stopping
Netflix from disrupting the industry, but it's hard to see how that's
actually going to be successful. Netflix simply turned the snub into a
new way to promote the film, and the industry loses any revenue from
airing a film that many fans of older Scorsese mob films are going to
want to see. It's all a sort of incompetent seppuku.
The biggest issue? The brick-and-mortar theater worry that Netflix will
"kill theaters" has never been proven by any substantive data. Last year
a study indicated that Netflix certainly isn't killing movie theaters.
In fact, EY's Quantitative Economics and Statistics group (funded by the
National Association of Theater Owners) found that consumers who visited
theaters nine times or more in the last 12 months consumed more
streaming content than consumers who visited a movie theater only once
or twice over the past year:
"The message here is that there's not a war between streaming
and theatrical," said Phil Contrino, director of media and
research at NATO. "People who love content are watching it
across platforms and all platforms have a place in consumers'
minds."
In other words, the claims that Netflix keeps people at home and out of
theaters isn't true, yet it's the cornerstone of all of these efforts.
Much in the way that pirates buy more programming on all platforms than
other users, users who stream a lot still like to go to the theater
because they really enjoy movies. Streaming and theaters can have a
synergistic relationship where everybody benefits, yet instead we get
whatever this is.
https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20191009/08242143161/irishman-ban-once-
again-shows-hollywoods-disdain-netflix-is-stupid-counterproductive.shtml
Message has been deleted
Lewis
Oct 16, 2019, 7:32:04 PM10/16/19
to
In message <atropos-C32D44...@news.giganews.com> BTR1701 <atr...@mac.com> wrote:
> Hollywood theater chains' disdain for Netflix bubbled up again this
> month, with the news that Netflix's latest exclusive, the new Martin
> Scorsese film THE IRISHMAN, would be banned from being shown
No. That is not at all true or accurate in any way. There is no ban, and
> Hollywood theater chains' disdain for Netflix bubbled up again this
> month, with the news that Netflix's latest exclusive, the new Martin
> Scorsese film THE IRISHMAN, would be banned from being shown
saying there is is nothing less than a lie.
> THE IRISHMAN needs at least some major theater time to be considered
in a single theatre in LA and a single theatre in New York.
--
National Socialism is not Socialism, any more than the Black Panthers
were actually cats. @jearl
Adam H. Kerman
Oct 17, 2019, 1:21:09 AM10/17/19
to
BTR1701 <atr...@mac.com> wrote:
https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20191009/08242143161/irishman-ban-once-again-shows-hollywoods-disdain-netflix-is-stupid-counterproductive.shtml
>For years Hollywood has seen Netflix as a mortal enemy because of the
>company's interest in disrupting the entertainment industry. Hollywood
>has been particularly vocal about how Netflix is "destroying" the
>traditional, sticky-floor, brick-and-mortar theater business because it
>wants to modernize antiquated release window rules from a bygone era.
>For example, Netflix content was banned from Cannes last year largely
>because the company wouldn't adhere to France's absurd cultural
>exception law that requires a 36-month delay between theatrical release
>and streaming availability.
>Hollywood theater chains' disdain for Netflix bubbled up again this
>month, with the news that Netflix's latest exclusive, the new Martin
>Scorsese film THE IRISHMAN, would be banned from being shown at a number
>of major theater chains. Apparently this was intended as some kind of
>"punishment" for Netflix, though the company quickly spun the narrative
>on its head.
The Netflix model is to distribute its original content directly to its
subscribers, including movies. They are trying to eliminate distribution
to exhibitors.
I'm not seeing why it's in exhibitors' interests to cooperate with
Netflix.
>Like ROMA, THE IRISHMAN needs at least some major theater time to be
>considered for Oscar contention, so Netflix has decided to screen the
>film at the Shubert Organization's historic Belasco Theatre on Broadway.
The writer got this very wrong. A movie that lacks a distributor and
hasn't yet been booked can still be eligible to compete. All it needs to
do is rent some theater in Los Angeles County for a week, paying to have
the movie shown, before it goes to home video.
The major exhibitor chains do not cotnrol Oscar eligibility and never have.
It's pathetic that the writer misstated this.
But if the movie is screened in New York and not Los Angeles, duh, it's
not eligible to compete. What has this gotten Netflix?
>. . .
https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20191009/08242143161/irishman-ban-once-again-shows-hollywoods-disdain-netflix-is-stupid-counterproductive.shtml
>For years Hollywood has seen Netflix as a mortal enemy because of the
>company's interest in disrupting the entertainment industry. Hollywood
>has been particularly vocal about how Netflix is "destroying" the
>traditional, sticky-floor, brick-and-mortar theater business because it
>wants to modernize antiquated release window rules from a bygone era.
>For example, Netflix content was banned from Cannes last year largely
>because the company wouldn't adhere to France's absurd cultural
>exception law that requires a 36-month delay between theatrical release
>and streaming availability.
>Hollywood theater chains' disdain for Netflix bubbled up again this
>month, with the news that Netflix's latest exclusive, the new Martin
>Scorsese film THE IRISHMAN, would be banned from being shown at a number
>of major theater chains. Apparently this was intended as some kind of
>"punishment" for Netflix, though the company quickly spun the narrative
>on its head.
subscribers, including movies. They are trying to eliminate distribution
to exhibitors.
I'm not seeing why it's in exhibitors' interests to cooperate with
Netflix.
>Like ROMA, THE IRISHMAN needs at least some major theater time to be
>considered for Oscar contention, so Netflix has decided to screen the
>film at the Shubert Organization's historic Belasco Theatre on Broadway.
hasn't yet been booked can still be eligible to compete. All it needs to
do is rent some theater in Los Angeles County for a week, paying to have
the movie shown, before it goes to home video.
The major exhibitor chains do not cotnrol Oscar eligibility and never have.
It's pathetic that the writer misstated this.
But if the movie is screened in New York and not Los Angeles, duh, it's
not eligible to compete. What has this gotten Netflix?
>. . .
0 new messages