Paramount tries bringing movies home faster than ever
Despite attempts by Mark Cuban, Comcast, Netflix and others over the years, movie studios and big theater chains have combined to keep the "release window" in place -- until now. That window is the period of time between when a movie premieres in the theaters until you can actually buy or rent it to watch at home, and since the dawn of VHS it's usually remained at about 90 days or so. Now the Wall Street Journal says Paramount is testing out a plan with AMC and Cineplex to release a couple of movies in theaters just six weeks after they premiere instead of three months.
The only two movies it's announced plans for are Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension and Scouts Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse, but there could be more movies and theaters in the works. Paramount convinced the theaters to play ball by promising a split of the revenue from VOD outlets like iTunes, an interesting hedge against the possibility people will skip theaters to wait for the home release. While exec Rob Moore tells THR the industry is no longer "sticking their heads in the sand" release windows extend to more than just flicks, and hopefully this is just the first step to bring things closer.
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