Tvmama

1 Comment Written by Atila on August 21, 2008 – 8:55 pm

Say goodbye to “straight to video” and say hi to, “straight to download.” I don’t know if this is the first of its kind – I hesitate to say anything is the first. But it certainly is one of the first: MGM is releasing “A Dog’s Breakfast” directly to iTunes and Amazon’s Unbox.

In the past decade or so, second-rate, low-budget movies starring second-tier or fading Hollywood actors that weren’t quite good enough to go into theaters went straight to the videotape. It was surprising how many films did that. You can find such movies on rental store shelves today – movies you never heard about featuring actors you may actually have heard of.

IMDB says the budget for this film was $120,000 (so it qualifies for the low budget tag), and was apparently some kind of gift, (a bone, as it were), to “auteur” David Hewlett, a star of its show, “Stargate Atlantis.”

So, I wouldn’t expect much. But, to be fair, a reader review on IMDB was laudatory, and called it “unexpectedly hilarious.” A similar reader review showed up on Amazon and called it “well written, well acted, and very funny.” Can’t say for ourselves.

Whether the movie is any good or not, this type of release is a harbinger of things to come, for sure. Why should a studio bother with all the manufacturing, packaging, shipping and marketing needed to go to rental stores, record stores (you know what I mean), and the like. Just stick ‘em straight online. The distribution costs get reduced virtually to zero. Apple’s iTunes store and Amazon (and probably others down the line) have well-honed distribution channels, and prices probably will be low for all around ($14.99 on Unbox. Even with that the studios will make a nice profit, so don’t worry about them).

This could be a win-win: more product available in more online pipelines for download and (eventual) viewing on the big and small screens.

Note: This movie is coming out on DVD, too, but several months down the road. So, MGM is hedging its bets. I bet that if this download succeeds, you will see some movies released ONLY online, without any boxing at all.