Prima Cinema, a new start-up, wants to bring movies to your home movie theater the day that movie launches in theaters, but it won’t be cheap.
The company will charge a one-time $20,000 fee to install the digital-delivery system, and each new movie will cost $500.
Prima says it has $5 million in venture capital from Universal and Best Buy and hopes to begin delivering movies to customers in the Q4 2011.
The company has high expectations, as well. Prima wants to install the delivery system in 250,000 homes by 2015, however, executives in Hollywood seem to see that number as a lot lower.
Other execs see it differently: “While this is a niche market, there is a chance for significant upside,” says Adam Fogelson, chairman of Universal Pictures (via WSJ). “And precisely because it is a niche market, that upside should come without harming any of our existing partners or revenue streams.”
Prima CEO Jason Pang adds: “We’re not here to replace anything. We are trying to create new revenue streams for studios and new viewing opportunities for moviegoers.”
The movie delivery company has not yet signed on with any studios, but is actively in talks with all the majors and major independents.
Result for: movie theater
Yesterday, we reported that four popular movie theaters in New York City had announced the ticket prices for the upcoming Shrek Forever After and for the first time ever, the IMAX 3D prices had reached the $20 threshold.
The theaters reported were the AMC Kips Bay, AMC Loews 34th street, AMC Loews Lincoln Square, and the AMC Empire 42nd street.
AMC now says the prices were incorrect, however, and the any online buyers who purchased for $20 can “visit guest services for a refund.”
Reads the company’s statement: “Unfortunately, a limited number of theaters posted incorrect pricing for ‘Shrek Forever After,’ which we immediately corrected. Any guest who purchased a ticket at the incorrect price can visit guest services for a refund.”
I can confirm the price retraction, as checking the Lincoln Square theater, I was told the price was $19 for the showing.
While we may have not hit the $20 price point yet, at $19 now and rising, it is only a matter of time.
Result for: movie theater
India, one of the world’s biggest film markets, also has one of the bigger piracy rates in the world and the Hollywood and Bollywood studios want to try to put an end to it.
The MPAA and seven Indian companies have signed a coalition intended to fight piracy, with the group working with movie theaters to try to shutdown camcorder recordings, as well as working with ISPs to shut down the ease of Internet piracy.
The industry group would not reveal the budget but did say it would come from its members, the major studios. The MPAA has anti-piracy coalitions in the U.S., the EU and Hong Kong.
“People are becoming more of the same mind,” adds Dan Glickman, the chairman of the Motion Picture Association of America. “The Indian film industry now understands their product is getting stolen at significant rates.”
According to an Ernst & Young study, piracy cost the Indian economy $959 million and 571,000 jobs in 2008.
