‘Window’ Narrowing on Video Availability Gap

Home video fans have been conditioned to wait a half year or so for movies to reach video stores. But some films seem to be available on home video just after they open in theaters.

For instance, Nelson Entertainment’s “Crazy Moon,” an offbeat romantic tale starring Keifer Sutherland, opened here in December and was on home video in February. That’s a few months shorter than the standard six-month “window”--the time between theatrical and home video debuts. This gap, prized by theater owners, allows the movie as much time as possible to rake in box-office dollars.

In most cases, movies could do better in the home-video rental market if they were in the stores soon after theatrical release, taking advantage of the advertising and publicity that surround an opening.

“All the attention a movie gets when it’s released creates an awareness in the minds of the public for this movie,” noted Dimitri Villard, president of New Star Entertainment, the parent company of New Star Video. “When a movie is fresh in people’s minds from the effects of those campaigns, that would enhance its rental prospects.”

So debuting a movie on home video as soon as possible after its theatrical debut is simply smart marketing. The unusually short window of “Crazy Moon” was also the result of a marketing ploy, said Barbara Javitz, Nelson’s vice president of programming.

“ ‘Crazy Moon’ got limited exposure in theaters. We thought maybe people who didn’t see it theatrically might be interested in it now because of Keifer Sutherland is hot with another video and a new movie. ‘Lost Boys’ came out on home video and ‘Bright Lights, Big City’ was opening in theaters. With the attention he’s getting from those movies, people might want to rent another movie he’s starring in. So we wanted to make ‘Crazy Moon’ available as soon as possible.”

One reason you don’t see more movies breaking the six-month window is because of contracts between film producers and the video companies with releasing rights.

“Most agreements talk about that six-month window,” Javitz added. “Some agreements aren’t very flexible. But some do allow flexibility so that if a movie isn’t doing well at the box office, an earlier home video release is possible.”

What’s curious about “Crazy Moon” is that it technically doesn’t break that six-month window. A few months before its local opening, it played in other cities. So that short window only applies to certain cities--such as Los Angeles.

Since making a movie available on home video as quickly as possible is advantageous for many movies--particularly smaller ones that don’t feature big stars--is it possible that short windows may become the norm someday?

Don’t get your hopes up. Lorimar Video’s marketing vice president Jeff Jenest explained why: “A long and proper theatrical release is best for theater owners. It also helps certain movies because that long theatrical release can create an awareness in the public’s mind that can help when the movie comes to home video.

“But the main problem is that if the short window became standard, it would hurt box office revenues. The last thing theater owners want is for the public to think all they have to do is wait two or three months and a movie will be on video. What do you think that would do to theater business?”