$30 to see films fresh out of the cinema

[Troy]

WOULD you pay $30 to rent a movie?

FOUR big Hollywood studios think many people will, and they are rolling out a premium video on demand offering.

Renters at home can pay extra to see films that were just in cinemas but are not yet out on DVD, Variety reported Thursday.

Time Warner, Sony, Comcast and News Corp's movie studios are all in. The films have already started rolling out on DirectTV and will soon be available in some US cable markets.

The new offering is targeted at a certain segment of the population that wanted to see something in cinemas but could not get there in time.

For them, $30 could be a bargain. Average ticket prices in the US hit $7.89 last year, and in some urban centres, tickets and parking can quickly see the price of a night at the movies climb well past the premium rental price.

First of all ticket prices are so cheap in the US compared to Australia. In Australia it is close to double that.

Second who in their right mind would pay $30 for a new release movie unless they had their own home theatre and were planning to watch it with half a dozen people? That is a lot of money to ask. I can see the benefits of watching it at home and I agree that there needs to be a substantial premium but $30 is asking a lot.

Your thoughts on this? Would you do it? Do you think that the price is right?

 

[Prodigy]

Buy for that price? Yes. Rent for that price? No. Sure I would pay a bit if I could to own a DVD at the time of release in the cinema or just after. But to rent? No I would not pay to own it for a short amount of time whatsoever, rather viewing in the cinema. I don't see the point in this anyway, most DVD's are released after the movies done in cinema anyway :S