Double Bubble *** Theater, TV, DVD Release All in One Day

By GARY GENTILE

Double Bubble *** Theater, TV, DVD release all in one day

LOS ANGELES Those who live in Louisiana, New Jersey, or Nevada who want to see the new Steven Soderbergh film Bubble in a theater, pack your bags. It wont be showing in those or more than a dozen other states.

The countrys largest theater chains are snubbing the film because they object to it being sold on DVD and shown on cable TV the day it debuts in a handful of theaters owned by the same company that produced the movie.

Bubble isnt the first film to be released this way. But the combination of a high-profile director and the backing of maverick billionaires Todd Wagner and Mark Cuban have studios and theater owners paying close attention this time.

Its the biggest threat to the viability of the cinema industry today, John Fithian, president of the National Association of Theater Owners, said of the so-called day and date release strategy.

The move comes as new technology is giving consumers faster access to music, movies, TV shows and other content via multiple devices, including laptop computers, portable video screens, even cell phones. Theater owners have faced challenges from technology before, most notably television and the VCR.

But this is the first time major studios have contemplated releasing films in competing formats at the same time.

The low-budget Bubble, a murder mystery set in a doll factory, opens Jan. 27 and is the first of six films to be produced under a partnership between Soderbergh and 2929 Entertainment.

Founded by Wagner and Cuban, the company owns Magnolia Pictures, which will distribute Bubble in partnership with Landmark Theaters and HDNet Movies, the cable TV channel that will air it.

All six films produced by the partnership will be released simultaneously on DVD, television and in theaters.

Bubble will appear on DVD a few days after its theater and cable release.

Currently, studios carefully control the release of major motion pictures to maximize profits. Films are first released in theaters, then on pay-per-view, home video, pay cable networks such as HBO, and finally on broadcast TV.

But the time between those windows has been shrinking.

In 1994, the average time between a movies opening in theaters and its debut on home video was about six months. In 2004, that span fell to four months, with some studios releasing films on DVD even sooner.

A typical film now earns about half of its revenue from home video and only about 25 percent from theaters.

The remainder comes from selling the film to cable and broadcast TV and other sources.

Releasing DVDs sooner would also let studios get more mileage from the millions of dollars spent marketing new movies.

Theater owners argue that people are already staying away from theaters because they dont have to wait long for the DVD. Releasing disks the day a movie debuts in megaplexes will shave theaters already thin profit margins, even if consumers have to pay a premium for the simultaneously-released DVD.

Profit margins for theater chains generally run in the mid-to- low teens, according to Matthew Harrigan, an analyst with Janco Partners Inc. If studios began releasing films on DVD the day of the theatrical release an unlikely scenario, in his opinion it would completely collapse the domestic theatrical industry and you would have a spate of bankruptcies, Harrigan said.

Media companies say they have to adapt to the changing demands of consumers, who have shown a desire to download entertainment from iTunes and other online services.

Some TV shows, for instance, are being sold online the day after they air. Some shows on the FX channel are available even before broadcast.

Two weeks ago, News Corp. President and Chief Operating Officer Peter Chernin said his company would soon start releasing films in high-definition formats 60 days after theatrical release.

Speaking at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Chernin said News Corp.s Twentieth Century Fox had not determined whether the high-def releases will be via cable, satellite or on a disk.

Last week, Tom Staggs, chief financial officer of The Walt Disney Co., reiterated that companys position that all options are on the table when it comes to the traditional window release strategy. But Staggs did say Disney still respects the role of theaters.