The sequel to the martial arts hit of 2000, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, is the center of a big dispute with theaters refusing to show the picture. The Weinstein Company plans on releasing the film simultaneously on both IMAX in theaters and streaming on Netflix. Naturally, this is pissing off a lot chain theaters who fear there will be no audience for a film they can already watch on Netflix. Thus, some of them are refusing to run the film. The list includes Cinemark, Regal, Carmike, Cineplex and Cineworld.
Here is what Regal spokesman Russ Nunley had to say about this issue:
While a home video release may be simultaneously performing in certain IMAX locations, at Regal we will not participate in an experiment where you can see the same product on screens varying from three stories tall to 3-inch wide on a smart phone.
And then Cinemark spokesman James Meredeith gave his two cents:
Cinemark does not play day-and-date movie releases on any of our screens including the IMAX screens that we operate.
I’m not too sure how I feel about this. While the most common method has been that the big theatrical movies run in the theaters for three months before a home video release, the tides are changing as more smaller films are premiering on VOD before the theatrical release date. However, placing in tandem with Netflix so soon may be a terrible idea seeing as how it undermines the theaters especially if they have to use up their IMAX screens. Why would audiences go out and pay IMAX prices when they could stay home and watch the same movie on a subscription service they already pay for?
We’ll just have to see if the IMAX screenings are still a sure thing when Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: The Green Legend will make it’s debut on August 28, 2015.
Source: Variety