I was reading Nikki Finke’s article about IFC’s new offering of HD Video on Demand. She ponders whether VOD will kill art house theatres. Interesting, I would think the lack of diverse products have eaten away at the indie film market and art house cinema, not just VOD.
For those with an IFC deal, day-and-date seems like a sweet deal. Knowing that your films play a little theatrical run (which make indie directors happy) and simultaneously playing in towns where there isn’t an art house theatre (or would never screen your films anyway) makes sense to me….
I totally advocate day-and-date, and if you could have DVDs available as well, even sweeter. I had a non-film industry friend tweet after watching The Hangover that he would have bought the DVD immediately had it been on sale in the lobby. It’s time to start thinking about alternative ways to get your films to an audience, and letting go that theatrical is the only venue…because the audiences aren’t buying it (only).
