Sony Commits to Theatrical Windows

 Despite the streaming boom, it’s become crystal clear that theatrical releases are still a powerful revenue generator for movies, and that the once eagerly embraced day-and-date release model was a bust in more ways than one. This week we’ve seen Sony reaffirm its commitment to the theatrical release model. Brandon Blake, the entertainment lawyer at Blake & Wang P.A, shares the news.

                                                                 Brandon Blake

100% Committed- With a Catch

We should note, however, that this ‘100%’ commitment was only applied to ‘premium’ films. They also mentioned a slate of ‘moderately priced’ titles being developed specifically for streaming entities. 

 

Sony Pictures Entertainment is an interesting player in the current landscape, remaining an independent studio rather than tied to its own streaming platform. It’s been reasonably aggressive at selling its TV shows and films across TV networks and streaming services alike in the last few years, too. It seems they intend to leverage the growing competition in the overall streaming market to their best advantage with this strategy, and have no intentions to change it.

Attracting Top Talent

As a different take on this same mercenary mindset, their strong commitment to theatrical distribution also means they become immensely attractive to premium IPs and A-list creators who want their film to definitely follow the traditional theatrical route, without any chance of ‘take-backsies’ and changes in release strategy designed to benefit in-house streaming platforms and not necessarily the creators or actors.

 

Coupled with some intriguing announcements about IP development playing on their strong catalog of titles, including some video game franchises and beloved TV shows, it’s a position that leaves Sony both very strongly placed to ‘play the market’ as well as honestly produce what sells best for each available platform. 

 

It’s certainly an attractive position to be in with the current free-for-all in the streaming market and strong indications of a theatrical recovery. It will be interesting to see how they adapt as that landscape settles into its new normal.

 

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