This post is not about the fact that the film Antichrist did better on the VoD market in US than it did in the theaters when it was introduced in theatres VoD more or less simultaneous (Oct. 23 in Theatres  and on VoD Oct. 21).

The interesting part is:

1. When the American consumer had a choice, the majority chooses to see it at home through the VoD alternative. Again, there could be several reasons for this – it’s a pretty controversial movie – but the fact is that they did.
2. When this “trend” (to early to says that is really is one but it’s a probable one) is discussed with the Norwegian distributor and a Cinema Director the focus is not how this should be used to grow the market and see it as a opportunity to expand the distribution.

No. What they discuss is how to stop this “leak” away from the Theatres. Their argument is that since the consumer is getting better and better sound (surround) systems and bigger and bigger televisions, it’s easier to sit at home and enjoy the movie rather than going to the theatre. And to prevent the consumer to do this the one leverage the distributors have is to delay the launch on VoD.

But isn’t that the whole idea? Giving the consumer a choice? Let the consumer decide instead of building barriers to prevent the consumer making the best choice for themselves?

One word comes to mind: Dinosaurs…