Theaters dig in heels, refuse to show Netflix’s Beasts of No Nation Cinema chains very upset over simultaneous theatrical and streaming releases.
by Lee Hutchinson - Mar 4, 2015 7:05 pm UTC
Variety is reporting that four of the country’s largest theater chains are refusing to show Beasts of No Nation, an independently produced movie for which Netflix purchased the streaming and theatrical release rights for $12 million last week. Netflix is reportedly planning "a strong Oscar push" for the film, which stars Idris Elba. The company plans to make the movie available for streaming, but in order to be eligible for an Oscar, it must also have some form of theatrical release.
The theaters, though, aren’t interested. AMC, Carmike, Cinemark, and Regal all informed Variety that they won’t be screening the movie because the chains do not wish to show any movies that don’t conform to the traditional 90-day delay between a movie’s theatrical presentation and its availability in homes via disc or streaming.
Instead, quoting "insiders," Variety indicates that the movie will see a much more limited release in a few hundred smaller theaters, including the Alamo Draft House. Draft House CEO Tim League is quoted as saying he doesn’t mind the idea of showing movies in cinemas even if they’re available to people at home via streaming. "I think that argument is a little bit of a red herring," he said.
The film's producer doesn’t appear worried about the limited theatrical release, either, pointing out that distribution via Netflix will allow the film to reach a much larger potential audience than a theatrical release. And Netflix will be doing more of this thing in the future as well—as both Variety and The Guardian mention, Netflix is ramping up its plans for streaming first-run theatrical films with several titles in work for release this year.
arstechnica.com |
