NATO could boycott The Deathly Hallows, Part 2 (UPDATED)
WB is set to release Part 2 of David Yates’ Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows on July 15th, but some theaters may not be showing the film, and the same could be for many others. According to Movieweb, NATO (National Association of Theater Owners) is threatening to boycott films from certain studios such as WB, Twentieth Century Fox, Universal and Sony are planning to use the new VOD (Video-On-Demand) service that will have films available just weeks after the release date for $30 rental. This has got NATO worried this will hurt the money theaters make off of ticket sells.
The time between a film’s theatrical release and home video release has lessened as of recently, and this will hurt the amount a money a studio can make off the film a lot. NATO has now threaten to boycott those studio’s upcoming films starting with Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows, Part 2, a film that’s surely going to be a big money maker for WB. Some theaters have even begun pulling down promotional material for those studios. However, the studios feel that four months is too long of a wait, and they feel it’s hurting DVD/Blu-ray sales. Of course, it makes sense for the studios to want to rush them to home release as $25-$30 gives them more money than a $8-$12 dollar movie ticket. They also feel this new VOD service will help reduce piracy, but this still requires you to pay money for a rental, and that’s the main reason people pirate movies.
Not all studios are using this new service. Paramount Pictures has yet to use this service, and they will likely be the studio to gross the most this year. The studio already has Michael Bay’s Transformers: Dark of the Moon, Kenneth Branagh’s Thor, Joe Johnston’s Captain America: The First Avenger, Kung Fu Panda 2, and J.J. Abrams’ Super 8 set to be released between May and August. Walt Disney Pictures is another studio that has yet to adopt this new service, but they haven’t ruled out the possibility of switching over in the future.
Update: NATO issued a press release (via Collider) that denies claims to boycott studios.
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