‘Margin Call’ premium VOD experiment gains more than marginal success
Michelle Clancy ©RapidTVNews | 11-11-2011Lionsgate’s experiment in the “same day as theatres” VOD release for its mainstream film ‘Margin Call’ appears to be working out well for everyone.
The film has been rented online and through cable VOD a full 250,000 times, while grossing more than $2.5 million in 178 theatres.
"This will be a very profitable movie for us due to the low marketing expenses and multiple day-and-date revenue sources," said Lionsgate CEO Jon Feltheimer on a conference call with media analysts, adding that he expected the film to draw in the bucks equally from the box office and digital distribution through outlets like Apple iTunes, where the film costs $7 to rent.
While indie films often are released on VOD the same day as theatres for a slight premium, the idea is to widen the addressable audience for films that would likely be missed by the majority of the population without access to an art-house theatre. Margin Call, on the other hand, while not considered to have blockbuster potential, is nonetheless being rolled out in wide release.
Ordinarily that move would have angered theatre chains fearing that their revenue would be cannibalized. However, the distribution company for Margin Call, Roadside, said that its research indicated that viewers that went to the movies to watch didn’t know that they could have stayed home to see it, nor would it have made a difference.
That suggests that premium VOD and movie-going population represent entirely different demographics—good news for studios that have been considering more tandem releases for mainstream films.
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