Entertainment

Is This the Future Of Movie Theater Runs?

by Alanna Bennett

Theres no doubt that there's been seismic change to a number of industries over the past twenty years. One of those — thanks in large part to new avenues and mediums like the Internet — has definitely been the movie business. Which is why, according to DreamWorks Animation chief Jeff Katzenberg, movies might only be in theaters for three weeks within a decade from now.

Katezenberg, as a big Hollywood honcho, spoke Monday at the Milken Institute's Global Conference, and what he said about the possible future of how we watch movies is pretty interesting:

I think the model will change and you won’t pay for the window of availability. A movie will come out and you will have 17 days, that’s exactly three weekends, which is 95 percent of the revenue for 98 percent of movies. On the 18th day, these movies will be available everywhere ubiquitously and you will pay for the size. A movie screen will be $15. A 75” TV will be $4.00. A smartphone will be $1.99. That enterprise that will exist throughout the world, when that happens, and it will happen, it will reinvent the enterprise of movies.

He's helped prepare DreamWorks for this shift, too, by pushing for more shortform, digital, and television projects. As he noted in his talk, "Few networks are impacted [by technology] more than the media business.” Preach.

His proposition for what's to come in the film business certainly sounds plausible: Except in cases of films doing spectacularly well in the box office (Frozen, The Avengers, etc.) we rarely talk about how a film's eighth box office weekend did — it's all about those first few. Besides, we've all got the Internet to tell us what to rush out and see opening night.