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  • Hey all, just changed over the backend after 15 years I figured time to give it a bit of an update, its probably gonna be a bit weird for most of you and i am sure there is a few bugs to work out but it should kinda work the same as before... hopefully :)

Small town cinemas...out of business. How RED/we can help!

That revenue split may be somewhat simplified, because many cinemas operate on a house 'nut' system and also unfortunately have to have virtual print fees. In my experience though, cinemas rarely consider the revenue splits when programming, even though the split often varies from release to release.
 
Paul S. said:
In my experience though, cinemas rarely consider the revenue splits when programming, even though the split often varies from release to release.
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Most don't precisely because they tend to end up around 50/50 at the end of the year and that is the baseline assumption from which most cinemas operate. Switching to a baseline of a 30/70 split makes it difficult for the numbers to line up.
 
You don't have to use ODEMAX do you. You could simply send them the compressed red file on a HDD or your own FTP right? 30% is pretty steep for simply uploading a 1TB file once.
 
With current 35mm or DCI DCP distribution, the costs fall on the content owner. With ODEMAX, the cost of distribution is effectively moving to the theater as the content owners keep their typical 50% cut. I have been talking to other theater owners about this since the announcement and none of us can square these numbers and remain profitable. Looking at the major circuits, they don't have enough margin to eat such a large drop in revenue from ticket sales. I think ODEMAX is going to have a tough time penetrating the current model because it simply costs exhibitors too much. I could see Redray content on HDD/SD/Thumb drives as a viable means of distributing indie content.

Will wait for the Subdance announcement to decide more firmly.
 
AndrewThomas said:
With current 35mm or DCI DCP distribution, the costs fall on the content owner. With ODEMAX, the cost of distribution is effectively moving to the theater as the content owners keep their typical 50% cut. I have been talking to other theater owners about this since the announcement and none of us can square these numbers and remain profitable. Looking at the major circuits, they don't have enough margin to eat such a large drop in revenue from ticket sales. I think ODEMAX is going to have a tough time penetrating the current model because it simply costs exhibitors too much. I could see Redray content on HDD/SD/Thumb drives as a viable means of distributing indie content.

Will wait for the Subdance announcement to decide more firmly.
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I think the advantage to a small theater utilizing ODEMAX is that they can float like a butterfly... sting like a bee. That is, they can dance with their customers. I'm presuming that when a theater deals with a distributor they have to set aside a certain number of dates to show the movie. ITBT, then many of their usual customers are no longer customers until they change the playbill. With the ODEMAX model a small venue can show a movie as long as the seats are filled and when that drops off they can quickly change to a new movie. If a movie doesn't live up to its billing, they can cut ties with that movie and download another. The problem I see with a content provider going around the ODEMAX service to show a movie from a USB drive is that there is no trust-but-verify sentry in place to insure the number of movie-goers was the true count the movie house said it was. Locally though, it could certainly be an option. For me personally, I don't want the job of actually distributing a movie... I'm a content provider first and foremost.
 
On tickets sold: There is no way for ODEMAX to know that other than by what the theater reports. Jon mentioned that it hooks in to industry standard POS systems (RTS, NCM, etc.), but those numbers can be easily manipulated by an unscrupulous operator. But that is the case with DCPs or 35mm as well, and the unscrupulous operator hasn't been an issue over the course of the history of the industry so I don't know why so many indies here on Reduser keep questioning that part of the equation.
 
Elsie N said:
I think the advantage to a small theater utilizing ODEMAX is that they can float like a butterfly... sting like a bee. That is, they can dance with their customers. I'm presuming that when a theater deals with a distributor they have to set aside a certain number of dates to show the movie. ITBT, then many of their usual customers are no longer customers until they change the playbill. With the ODEMAX model a small venue can show a movie as long as the seats are filled and when that drops off they can quickly change to a new movie. If a movie doesn't live up to its billing, they can cut ties with that movie and download another. The problem I see with a content provider going around the ODEMAX service to show a movie from a USB drive is that there is no trust-but-verify sentry in place to insure the number of movie-goers was the true count the movie house said it was. Locally though, it could certainly be an option. For me personally, I don't want the job of actually distributing a movie... I'm a content provider first and foremost.
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This ability is already there to a certain extent. It's true that with the really big releases the distributor can call the shots, but with everything else it's down to the dropoff and the distributor's pleading as to whether the programmer will keep it showing. The programmer calls the shots. In fact, I'd say the two things that really restrict the 'dance' are traditional print media deadlines for advance showtimes, and congestion in release schedules.

The main advantage to theaters is in turnaround times, meaning that you can theoretically have a greater breadth of movies on show on a single screen, chopping and changing after each showing. But this advantage comes from digital systems (having a digital projector), not from using over-the-internet distribution instead of drives.
 
Paul, most distribs have a clause requiring exclusivity on the assigned screen of the picture for the first couple of weeks. After that, you can get more creative.
 
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