Ebert, Soderbergh, and the future of distribution

In his introduction to his 2007 collection of movie reviews, Roger Ebert makes a case for the Soderbergh system - that is, simultaneous release and distribution of films on all platforms: DVD, cable, and the silver screen. It’s a very trendy, very free society, very “long tail” sentiment, but here’s the problem.

Often, students, like me, will go see movies in big groups. Let’s say eight people go see Borat. Under the current system, our only option is to go see it in theaters, so we go and pay our $10 each and the theater gets $80.

Now what if this new model is actually implemented? Suddenly, we’ve got the option of simply buying the Borat DVD for $20, which, split eight ways, is $2.50 each. Not only that, but we can watch this over and over again.

Ebert says that this isn’t a problem, because people will still pay top dollar for the moviegoing experience. I think he needs to reevaluate how much an average person cares about actually sitting in a theater, especially in this emerging age of the home theater. If I’ve got a comfy couch, a big screen HDTV, and a $1 microwave popcorn pouch, it’s awfully hard to justify sponsoring the “moviegoing experience.”

Of course, let me play a quick devil’s advocate: it’s not uncommon for a student much like myself to just step outside the current distribution model and download a pirated version of a movie, for exactly $0. So in that case, might as well try to make a buck off of us somehow.