Incepplications

Read about this, this morning and wanted to comment since I think it's a bold move by Warner. If you haven't read, Warner Studios has offered up "app editions" of The Dark Knight and Inception for $9.99 and $11.99 respectfully. Clearly a move to bypass the iTunes store and control more of the profit, Warner has taken a major step forward ahead of all the other studios. In addition to just the movie, the app offers full functionality with behind the scenes extras, social extensions and what I believe to be the best feature - airplay compatability (enabling viewing on your home TV via wifi). Since you don't always want to watch a movie on your iphone...or ever.

Your move Apple? Warner certainly has taken a step that might make Apple rethink things, but this model is of course not that scalable. You can't simply convert every movie into an app, and add all of these extras and extensions. The price point also brings up an issue, are people willing to pay for the "enhanced" app version of a movie for $12?

Or is it scalable? Warner obviously didn't make this move without considering how their failing DVD business would be affected. If they are offering digital versions for less than the physical copy and they can be used across a number of screens, isn't that the promise of the DVD window moving forward?

Another interesting angle is the movie studio becoming a distribution arm unto itself? Will people start to see the studio as more of a brand, and one that distributes the movies that they love? The only studios that currently owns its brand is Disney, and they own the only other one in Pixar. 9 out of 10 moviegoers wouldn't even be able to tell you that Warner made and marketed Inception, because to this point it hasn't been a story they needed to tell. People come out to see the stars, the plot and maybe the director/producer (Nolan helps) - but never to see something that was made by Warner Brothers.

My Take: I think you will see other studios follow suit, and just like Warner they will start with the biggest box office movies and try to build revenue above what they have realized through the box office, DVD and VOD. Whether this becomes a new window for studios, we will have to see but I do think it represents a possible future for post-box office release.