(Via BoingBoing) Last week, National Association of Theater Owners head John Fithian announced that some member theaters would block Steven Soderbergh's "Bubble"
for fear that the simultaneous release on DVD, pay per view, and in
theaters would be bad for the theater biz. Mark Cuban, co-founder of
the company distributing the movie (2929 Entertainment), responds on his blog:
With the release of Bubble on January 27th in theaters, on DVD and for 2 showings on HDNet Movies, there has been a ton of press and discussion
about the future of the movie industry. The most extreme has come
from John Fithian, who wins the award for the best ever imitation of
Jack Valenti’s famous comparison of the VCR to the Boston Strangler
when he was quoted in FastCompany as saying
[Fithian] called Iger’s suggestion this summer a “death threat”
against his members. Fithian says that “if [release] windows were
eliminated, what you would have would be fewer movies, fewer total
dollars for the industry, and less choice for the consumer.” He thinks
movies would become little more than commodities and that hundreds or
thousands of theaters would close. But he wasn't done there. He said the same thing to USA Today: It’s
the biggest threat to the viability of the cinema industry today,” John
Fithian, president of the National Association of Theater Owners, said
of the so-called “day and date” release strategy. How sad is it when the President of the National Assoc of Theater
Owners doesnt think his members can create a better movie going
experience than what we can see in our houses and apartments? Guess
what John, I can whip up a mean steak, but I still like to go to
restaurants. Because I enjoy it. I enjoy getting out of the house with
family, friends, who ever. Link to full text of Mark Cuban's blog entry.