Disney CEO says there’s no ‘going back’ to old way of movie watching:
Disney Chief Executive Bob Chapek said the pandemic has likely permanently narrowed the window for movies to play only in theaters.
Pre-pandemic, cinemas depended on an exclusive 90-day window to screen films before they were made available to home distribution channels, such as pay TV and streaming services. But now, studios are tinkering with that timeframe, either shortening it or doing away with it altogether.
“The consumer is probably more impatient than they’ve ever been before, particularly since now they’ve had the luxury of an entire year of getting titles at home pretty much when they want them,” Chapek said late Monday at a virtual conference hosted by Morgan Stanley.
Also, major media corporations are tired of having to split the ticket price with movie theaters and of selling movies on physical media which users can watch over and over again with no recurring revenue to the major media corporation.
C’mon, man. We know that the consumer isn’t jumping; he’s being pushed.
Full disclosure: I own some Disney stock, so I’m benefitting in some small way from modern day robbery barony. But I’m also going to have to start hitting yard sales this year for backup DVD players to store with my backup VHS players.
