Report: Sony Not Shortening Theatrical Window

15 Mar, 2010 By: Erik Gruenwedel

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Don’t expect Sony Pictures to follow The Walt Disney Co. and cut weeks from the traditional 17-week theatrical window in order to expedite DVD/Blu-ray Disc sales.

Sony Pictures chairman and CEO Michael Lynton, as keynote speaker March 15 at the annual ShoWest confab in Las Vegas, told theater operators the studio was in the business to create theatrical releases, not programming for the TV, iPod, cell phone or computer.

“With the decline in DVDs, I think we need to start looking at different ways of going at it,” Lynton told BusinessWeek, adding the studio had no plans to expedite retail sales of packaged media. “We need to find alternative revenue sources if we’re going keep making movies.”

He didn’t include DVD and Blu-ray Disc in the aforementioned revenue sources despite growing pressure from domestic theater operators upset by actions taken by Disney to shorten by four weeks the theatrical run of box office hit Alice in Wonderland in the United Kingdom in order to expedite the packaged media release.

Indeed, the CEO cited what is common knowledge in home entertainment, namely that the $10 to $14 that studios used to generate from the sale of a DVD has eroded significantly, with sellthrough representing just 25% of revenue compared to 43% in 2005.

Lynton said the reduced margins and revenue call for revisiting windows and alternative distribution strategies.

“We don’t want to open windows in a way that closes yours,” Lynton told attendees.

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