

In March 2006, The Road to Guantánamo premiered on the British television network Channel 4 (who commissioned the film), and was released in selected theaters and on home media the following day.Due to resistance over the model, major chains declined to screen Bubble.

2929 offered a 1% cut of revenue from DVD sales to cinemas who wanted to screen the film. The film was also given airings on Cuban's HDNet and HDNet Movies cable networks. Bubble was financed by Mark Cuban and Todd Wagner through their studio 2929 Productions, which screened the film via their art house chain Landmark Theatres, and distributed the film on DVD.
#Good date movies in theaters now windows
In the late-1980's, the average length of time between theatrical and home video releases was usually six months, but some blockbuster films enjoyed windows of nine to twelve months. In 2005, Disney CEO Bob Iger suggested that simultaneous releases of films at theaters and on DVD could help to counter piracy, going as far as suggesting that DVDs could be sold directly at the theater (providing an additional source of revenue to their owners). īy the 2000s, improving home cinema technology such as DVD, and the growth of piracy, gave studios an incentive to release films on home video sooner. There is usually a 90-day window between the theatrical and home video releases. Release windows are enforced primarily by major cinema chains, which usually requires distributors to agree to a 74-day window before a film is offered via electronic sell-through. Typically, the release of a film is governed by staggered exclusivity "windows" of specific lengths, to prevent releases of a film at different outlets from having to compete directly with each other. The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in the re-evaluation of alternate release models due to mass, temporary closures of cinemas worldwide. Until 2020, the only film that had been released in such a manner by a major film studio was The Interview, which resorted to simultaneous releases via cinemas and digital rentals due to unforeseen circumstances inhibiting a wide theatrical release.

Most major cinema chains require films to have an exclusive theatrical window of a minimum length (which in some countries is also enforced by law), so films that pursue a simultaneous release or shorter window are typically screened at independent and art house cinemas only. Advocates have considered them a means of catering to consumer choice and improving the accessibility of film, and critics arguing that they dilute box office revenue by requiring cinemas to compete with premature availability of a film on home video, and are detrimental to the traditional movie-going experience. As of Roma in 2018, Netflix began a practice of giving its films a three-week limited release before they become available on the service, which is still shorter than standard.ĭue to their disruptive nature, simultaneous releases have faced mixed reactions from the industry. In the mid-2010s, the subscription streaming service Netflix began to perform simultaneous releases of its feature films, by means of a limited theatrical release, accompanied by international availability on the Netflix service. The concept was used by several independent films released in the 2000s. This is in contrast to the industry standard of having a window of exclusivity (usually 90 days) between the theatrical and home video releases. Film release on multiple platforms at the same timeĪ simultaneous release, also known as a day-and-date release, is the release of a film on multiple platforms-most commonly theatrical and home video-on the exact same day, or in very close proximity to each other.
