Sceneclips

Blockbuster Kiosks: Interview With NCR Corp.

John Dugan — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 23:53:54 +0000

Blockbuster announced Tuesday, September 15th in an SEC filing that it would be closing around 960 ( 22%) of its stores by the end of 2010. That is double Blockbuster’s previous projection of 425 store closings. Many of these locations will be replaced by Blockbuster Express movie rental kiosks manufactured and operated by NCR Corp. As I stated in an earlier post, Blockbuster’s entrance in to the kiosk market seems to completely contradict their business model. With Redbox projecting 22,000 units by year-end, it appears Blockbuster is operating under the business strategy of “if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em”. Blockbuster, clearly a late entrant to the market, plans to open 10,000 kiosks by the middle of next year. I recently spoke to NCR Corp.’s Manager of PR Jeff Dudash to hear their side of the story.

Sceneclips Interviews NCR on Blockbuster Kiosks

About 15 minutes

Although I still have a hard time understanding how kiosks compliment Blockbuster’s retail stores, current opportunities in the market should not be blinded by the anticipation of future opportunities. While streaming video on demand is certainly the distribution means of the future, the kiosk market is by far the fastest growing movie rental distribution channel. Last year, kiosks grew from 2% of the movie rental market to 19% this year, and according to NPD Group the kiosk market will grow to 30% in 2010. That being said, Blockbuster’s entrance is no doubt an act of desperation to maintain its dwindling market share. The problem with the initiative and with Blockbuster as a whole is that they are:

Late to the market – Redbox has already established itself as the dominant player and has nearly 10 times the number of kiosks that Blockbuster has.
In a poor financial situation – They nearly went bankrupt before issuing $675 million in senior bonds.
Still lacking a streaming media strategy – Netflix takes the crown here, just like they did in the DVD by mail market.

Please note: I am not a Netflix, Blockbuster nor NCR shareholder. My thoughts and analysis bear no interest of personal gain. I express them simply because I care about film distribution.

Strong Figures For The 2009 Summer Box Office

John Dugan — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 21:30:37 +0000

The Summer is make or break time for the studios. The period between May 1st and Labor Day typically accounts for 40% of the year’s total box office revenues. With the U.S. coming out of an economic recession, the premise of film as a recessionary resistant industry has been tested yet again. According to Paul Dergarabedian of Hollywood.com, 2009 summer box office ticket sales totaled a record $4.25 billion, beating the previous record of $4.2 billion set in 2008.

Does box office revenue measure the health of the film industry?

While domestic revenue from ticket sales climbed about 2% at the Summer box office, attendance dropped 2%. Over the past decade, movie theater admissions have been relatively flat, hovering around 1.4 billion. Increasing ticket prices to achieve revenue growth has been an ongoing trend. Looking forward, 3D and Imax will comprise a larger portion of box office admissions and ticket prices will continue to increase. However, box office revenues and theater attendance are just indicators. Profit is the only measurement of health. Paul Dergarabedian makes some points on the subject below in an interview with KCRW’s The Business.

Does lower theater attendance matter?

Because movies are so much cheaper than their entertainment alternatives, tickets have a high degree of price elasticity (click image to enlarge). As better theater experiences from 4K digital screens, to 3D and Imax proliferate, ticket prices will continue to increase. And unlike television, the film industry is not solely predicated on viewership. The degree to which attendance is a factor hinges on production costs. Bottom line, all that matters is profit – how much did the film cost and how much did it make.

Network Television’s Declining Health

John Dugan — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 21:17:42 +0000

How do the Networks address the rapid surge in consumption when advertising is not keeping up? With a multitude of viewing options and increasing competition, the years when networks could rely on ad revenues from a broad reach to justify high production costs are now gone. The ultimate solution will no doubt fundamentally change the current business model. KCRW’s The Business had an interesting segment on last weeks program with Producer Neal Baer about “the end of an era”. Neal Baer was one of the original writers and producers of ER and is currently an executive producer of Law & Order SVU – have a listen.

Neal Baer on The Business (13:05)

Shooting On The Red

John Dugan — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 02:41:58 +0000

“If you tried to do this show five years ago, you’d go bankrupt.”

This quote was taken from an interview between KCRW’s The Business and producer Dean Devlin. Devlin’s new show Leverage is the first show to be shot solely on the Red camera. Listen to Devlin talk about his experience with the Red and how it is helping Leverage to streamline and lower the costs of production.

Part One: How Leverage Uses Red (78 seconds)

Part Two: The Look of Red (40 seconds)

Coming To Grips With Digital?

John Dugan — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 06:22:38 +0000

In the past, Hollywood has overlooked the importance of technological innovation. However, tough economic times and increasing industry recognition (Benjamin Button was the first film shot digitally to receive a best cinematography nod) have cemented digital production into the Hollywood landscape. Producer Dean Devlin is pioneering the art of digital production with his high-tech TNT thriller, Leverage. Leverage is the first show to be shot entirely on the Red camera and it is the only show to complete editing, special effects, color, and sound all under one roof. Last week, Devlin spoke about shooting in digital and streamlining production to KCRW’s The Business. Listen to a few clips below, for the entire interview click here.

Part One: The Tipping Point (40 seconds)

Part Two: Studios vs. Indies (48 seconds)

Part Three: The Benefit of Digital (65 seconds)

Christian Bale’s Broken Image

John Dugan — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 21:32:59 +0000

Christian Bale’s blowup at D.P. Shane Hurlbut on the set of Terminator Salvation is completely unacceptable and shameful. I understand that Bale was in the middle of an intense scene that put him in a different frame of mind, but filmmaking is a team project and everyone on the team deserves respect. Being an actor is no more important than painting a set or lighting a scene. Hurlbut was not trying to sabotage the film. On the contrary, he was trying to do his job. Though Shane Hurlbut may have made a mistake by interrupting the scene, Bale’s response was childish. If he were an unknown actor, his conduct would have immediately gotten him fired and kicked off the set. I hope Christian Bale takes the proper steps to mend his image by apologizing. He is fine actor, but I have lost quite a bit of respect.

Listen to Christian Bale’s rant

[UPDATE]

This morning Christian Bale called in to Los Angeles radio station KROQ to issue an apology…

“It’s been a miserable week for me.”

“Listen, I know I have a pottymouth, everybody knows that now, but I understand this is live, so please don’t worry, I will behave.”

“The thing that I really want to stress is that I have no confusion whatsoever. I was out of order, beyond belief. I was way out of order. I acted like a punk. I regret that and there is nobody that has heard that tape that it’s hit harder by it than me. So I make no excuses for it. It is inexcusable and I hope that is absolutely clear.”

“One thing that has really disturbed me throughout this, because I’m not familiar, I’m comfortable yet with this notion of being a movie star. I’m an actor and I’m don’t quite know how to handle the movie star thing. The thing that disturbs me so much is that I’ve heard a lot of people saying that I seem to think I’m better than anybody else.”

“I’m embarrassed by it. I ask everybody to sit down and ask themselves, have they ever had a bad day and have they ever lost their temper and really regretted it immensely.”

“Feel free to make fun of me at my expense; I deserve it completely.”

Listen to Christian Bale’s apology on KROQ’s homepage.