We recently talked about Hollywood moving into offering digital film online to own. With this move they understood that there is going to be a democratization of the film industry whether they got on board or not.
Now that they have begun to embrace it slowly, it brings up new challenges for people that make money off of the industry.
Will there be a place for Blockbuster and Netflix in this new world? Who will even want to receive offerings through snail-mail? I would think that they are on the defensive now and will have to come up with a lot of changes in their business models to survive. What about the movie rental industry in general?
Now in the case of the movie theaters, this will over time probably prove to be a real winner, as I can think of numerous possiblities when they themselves will be able to download movies right to their theaters from satellites or broadband or possibly use an HD disk tape.
This drive toward online distribution also implies a move toward digital filmmaking. George Lucas has been doing this for years, but Hollywood overall has been slow to adapt it, contrary to the independent film producers who have taken it up as the most cost-effective way of doing business. I know if I were to invest in a film, I wouldn't do it unless it was produced digitally.
While all of this is really great and empowering to the consumer, success still will depend upon the quality of the story and acting. I think from the business standpoint, it can give investors and producers a little more breathing room with the lowering of costs. It's really a win/win situation all around.
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