Insight Report WHAT MAISIE KNEW

bfi.org.uk Contents

Introduction 2

Executive Summary 3

Section One: Overview 4

Section Two: Planning and Execution 4

Section Three: Results 8

Section Four: Lessons and Conclusions 11

1 Introduction Executive summary

• What Maisie Knew is a drama, roughly • The marketing clearly pointed consumers The following report is an evaluation based on the Henry James novel of the to the variety of ways to see the film same name, directed by Scott McGehee of the performance and lessons of the and David Siegel. It premiered at Toronto • The critics were mostly positive about the in 2012. film with a few high-profile exceptions. day-and-date multimedia release of • The film’s stars include Julianne Moore, • The film focused on independent venues Steve Coogan and with a highly praised without targeting multiplexes, and What Maisie Knew by Curzon Film World. debut for the child playing Maisie, accepting that there would be a number Onata Aprile. of cinemas refusing to show the film given its release strategy. • The film had a modest US run, opening The film was released in cinemas on What Maisie Knew requested and was in May 2013, taking just under £0.7m with • The film reached its ‘low’ theatrical August 23 and was simultaneously awarded £150,000 by the BFI, which was its widest release reaching 122 cinemas. target of £350,000 but was a long way available for online rental through used to support the £244,000 marketing short of its ‘high’ forecast of £500,000. on-demand services: Sky Store, iTunes, spend to widen the reach and scope of • In the UK, the film was released FilmFlex and Curzon Home Cinema (CHC). the release on all platforms. Curzon spent simultaneously in theatres and on • The relatively low forecast was, according £79,000 on online and VOD marketing, on-demand services, including Sky to Curzon, partly because it wanted to The window for each VOD platform £78,000 on press and magazines; and Store, iTunes, Filmflex and the Curzon concentrate on what it believed were the varied with two weeks on Sky, four weeks £87,000 on outdoor. Home Cinema VOD site. stronger options for VOD revenues. on FilmFlex, six weeks on iTunes and throughout on CHC, which also became This report is based on a number of • What Maisie Knew took £330,186 in its first • The majority of the audience (63%) was available on the BT VOD service in the measures and key indicators, including: four weeks at the box office. made up of regular cinemagoers, and first week of October. The DVD release exit polls suggested most were strongly was held back beyond the conventional • Distributor expectations • Premium VOD revenues were more than committed to the cinema experience. 16/17 week period until January 6, mainly £65,000, well ahead of expectations. • Opening weekend exit polls (cinema) because of availability issues during the • The audience skewed strongly towards Christmas period. • Online rentals from iTunes, FilmFlex women (68% to 32%). • Financial figures from all platforms and Sky Store topped 20,000, 74% higher The release focused on creating a • There are strong reasons to believe • Further relevant research than Curzon’s stated expectations ‘premium window’ of simultaneous release before release, while the Curzon Home that the film underperformed in the in theatres and on selected VOD platforms, The conclusions are based on an objective Cinema sales of 671 transactions after theatrical market but it did easily contrasting with later standard windows of view of the data, interviews both before eight weeks were the highest for a exceed its VOD projections. release on DVD, other VOD services and after the film’s release, and on day-and-date title since the service • Sky Store was easily the best and television. experience of the UK distribution and launched in 2012. performing VOD service. exhibition market. This report uses performance data, • Media spend was £244,000, supported including box-office data and information The report evaluates the performance by £150,000 from the BFI. Marketing was on visitors and sales from all platforms. of an individual film but it also tries to split fairly evenly between press, online It is also informed by the results of exit explain the context of the release and and outdoor. polling data carried out during to suggest lessons for other films trying the opening weekend by pollsters similar strategies. First Movies International.

2 3 1.1 Release strategy SECTION ONE: Windows Exploitation Table OVERVIEW What Maisie Knew was released 23rd August 23rd 3rd 10th 23rd 30th 6th day-and-date through: August September September September December January (wk2) (wk3) (wk4) (wk6) (wk21) (wk22)

• Theatrical Cinema

What Maisie Knew is a drama, loosely • Sky Store Curzon Home Cinema based on Henry James 1897 novel, and • iTunes FilmFlex Virgin Media/Film 4 dealing with the difficult issue of a child’s • FilmFlex services, with Virgin and Film4 perspective on divorce. • Curzon Home Cinema iTunes

Sky Store Rental The film debuted to mostly critical acclaim The day-and-date on-demand release was at the Toronto International Film Festival focused on streaming, through online DVD in 2012 and opened in the US in May 2013 rental services. The stated target was TVOD (Netflix) with an ‘R’ rating, grossing a modest £0.7m. 11,500 sales, generating income of around £40,000, which the next section shows it Free TV/SVOD sold upfront It still came to the UK and the Republic considerably exceeded. of Ireland, through Curzon Film World, on the back of strong US reviews and with a ready-made word of mouth. Methodology There are some factors that need to be This report also comes before the considered in reading the report. One is DVD release, which will offer a second This report is intended to test the effect There had been particular praise for that day-and-date releases are rare and essential piece of research about whether of the release on financial performance the performances of its stars, including have tended to attract attention that day-and-date releasing has any effect and audience choice. It uses a number Julianne Moore, Steve Coogan, Alexander arguably may distort results. on the still essential conventional home of measures: Skarsgard and a young newcomer in entertainment formats. Onata Aprile. It should be noted, however, that the • Distributor expectations release of What Maisie Knew generated Nonetheless, the poll questions were UK reviews were generally positive with little of the press around its release designed between SampoMedia and • Exit polls in London (August 24) and a few notable exceptions (The Guardian strategy that has followed some previous Curzon to provide as much relevant detail Glasgow (August 28) being the highest profile) and review experiments. The attention on the range about audience sentiment and choice as aggregator suggested a 77% rating • Financial figures from all platforms of multimedia viewing options then possible. The data on which this report is from ‘Top Critics’, with 82% approval came, as it will have to do for other future built is as robust as possible and the study from audiences. • Other relevant industry data releases, through the marketing campaign. does throw up a number of potentially significant pointers to the potential of It opened on August 23 in 43 theatres, The conclusions are based on an objective A second, and important point to note, day-and-date releases. with simultaneous release on VOD view of the data, interviews both before is that the data available for assessing services, including Sky Store, iTunes, and after the film’s release, and on the performance on VOD platforms was FilmFlex (through Virgin Media and experience of the UK distribution and weak, certainly in comparison with the Film4) and Curzon Home Cinema. The exhibition market. information on theatrical release. Sky DVD was due for release on January 6. remains unwilling to offer much data, The report evaluates the performance of while the greater cooperation from iTunes The emphasis was on creating a ‘premium an individual film but it is important to was restricted to sales and revenues. window’ of simultaneous reach, which understand the context of the release, would allow a single marketing push, particularly when assessing future generating strong revenues online. potential.

4 5 SECTION TWO: Among the influences on the strategy were: PLANNING AND • The well-publicised glut of Hollywood blockbusters restricting multiplex access. EXECUTION What Maisie Knew opened alongside sci-fi epic Elysium, comedy We’re The Millers, fantasy adaptation film The Mortal Instruments: City Of Bones and Jurassic Park On paper, What Maisie Knew, seemed to 3D. Pixar’s Planes, Two Guns and Kick-Ass 2 have potential for theatrical box office were also on their second week success with any experimentation with release strategy. • The relatively poor performance of the film in the US The film is a classic story-driven arthouse film, starring one of the greats • Greater confidence in day-and-date of independent cinema, Julianne Moore, releasing, gained through the release a UK star Steve Coogan, whose comedy earlier in the summer of A Late Quartet Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa had opened just (also supported by funding from the BFI) two weeks earlier to strong reviews; and another star, Alexander Skarsgard, with a • Curzon’s own long-term commitment to following through the TV series True Blood new release patterns, notably with the and films including Melancholia. launch of its own VOD service, Curzon Home Cinema It was also released over the August Bank Holiday, which in recent years has seen The opportunity to test their hypothesis some counter-programming success stories about the release with the support from up against the late summer Hollywood the BFI was also an influence. tentpoles (See Section Three).

While the film had achieved only 2.1 Marketing strategy modest results in the US, it had enjoyed good reviews and at least built some Curzon already had one strong precedent market recognition. for the day-and-date release of What Maisie Knew – A Late Quartet – which was released Inevitably the day-and-date release meant in April 2013. that a significant number of cinemas would refuse to show the film, which would The earlier release had shown the restrict theatrical revenues. advantages of a single marketing push but that film had attracted an older Curzon, however, were firmly convinced and more conservative audience, which that the potential of Premium VOD polls suggested were less inclined, or outweighed the likely theatrical returns. informed, to take up the home viewing options, which performed well under the original forecast.

6 7 For What Maisie Knew, Curzon Film The US online marketing was still The poll suggests that a quarter of the World targeted a 30-to-50-year-old, available, including a separate Facebook SECTION THREE: audience (26%) went with their partners, female-leaning audience (in contrast page and YouTube trailers (155,000 views RESULTS while 24% went with friends. to the earlier, older-leaning audience for the HD release), which may have also for the release of A Late Quartet). played a part in raising awareness, even Men were most likely to have attended if there was a degree of confusion with with partners, hinting at a potentially The marketing aimed to stress the two Facebook sites, etc. 3.1 Financial results even greater bias towards women, family drama aspects of the film, with with women leading the choice of film. an emphasis on weekend supplements The US campaign was similarly female- The film opened at number 19 in the UK, and lifestyle magazines, such as Grazia oriented and used the strongly female- taking £95,059 from 43 venues, reaching Those going with friends were and Stylist, as well as the film pages. centric social media service Pinterest, £171, 767 by the end of week one. There mainly women. Online spending targeted the Huffington though with a fairly limited response. was little regional variation with the film The marketing push seems to have Post, the Daily Mail online and The opening at number one in 32 of the venues encouraged the film to become a social Guardian lifestyle section. spread evenly across the UK and the 2.2 Premium VOD Republic of Ireland. experience among female friends. As the next section demonstrates, the One overall objective was to see if a new Another influence may be the cast. audience was even more female-oriented There was a 36% drop over the second profitable window could be established, Although it was not a specific question than expected. The championing of the weekend, broadly in line with expectations, provisionally called ‘Premium VOD’. in the polling, there was a lot of magazine film by leading women’s magazines, with a 10-day total of £231,859. interest in co-star Alexander Skarsgard, and notably the interest in Alexander It was the second serious experiment in Holdovers meant the film entered its third who has a significant following among Skarsgard, helped accentuate the developing the idea, following the work week on 30 screens and by week four, it women (180,000 Facebook Likes) domination of audiences by women. on A Late Quartet, mentioned earlier. had reached a total of £330,186, close to One interesting factor was the influence As What Maisie Knew was expected to the ‘low’ forecast. The younger, largely female audience, of the book. As often happens, Curzon did attract a younger audience, there was targeted for What Maisie Knew was expected On-demand online rentals reached 20,602 cooperate with the publisher of the Henry more emphasis on online marketing. to be more responsive and the results were after six weeks, generating £65,832 in James source novel, generating sales of much more encouraging (see next chapter). The media campaign, of £244,000, revenues. Those were broken down to: the book and the film. supported by £150,000 from the BFI, was What this film showed was that revenues Exit polls suggest that the biggest draw split fairly evenly between online (£79,000), Service Rentals Revenues from the day-and-date release exceeded for women over 45 (36%) was that it was press (£78,000) and outdoor (£87,000). expectation, and there were hints from Sky Store 11,000 £32,010 based on the novel. (No men under 45 and By contrast, half of the marketing budget the iTunes sales that day-and-date only 11% over 45 mentioned the book as for A Late Quartet was spent on the outdoor iTunes 6,457 £23,451 availability had some attraction. an influence). It is fair to speculate that campaign and just 27% online. FilmFlex 2,552 £8,932 book group socials may have made up a It is, however, not conclusive evidence The media campaign openly promoted Curzon Home Cinema 671 £1,630 significant minority of the audience. of changing demand. A big part of the availability on all platforms and the problem is that Sky was unwilling to The social experience might account on-demand services strongly promoted share data beyond the number of sales 3.2 The theatrical audience for the disparity in recommendations simultaneous multiplatform availability. and iTunes, while more forthcoming, between genders: 64% of women under did not offer detailed demographic data. In line with distributor expectations, the The Facebook site generated 1,360 Likes 45 and 65% of those over 45 said they average age of the audience was 44, with and was kept updated throughout the would recommend seeing the film Consumer research in the area of Premium a strong female bias (68%). campaign with reviews and features. in cinemas immediately, compared VOD is glaringly weak. Essential issues, The fact that the film had already been with 41% and 56% of men in the such as the price that people would That female bias was expected but was released in the US meant there was also same categories. be willing to pay, that might become more pronounced than expected, not least an existing (but separate) Facebook page integral to the business model, need because of the enthusiastic support of with more than 6,000 Likes and a number more investigation. some women’s magazines. of YouTube trailers.

8 9 3.3 Other platforms iTunes, however, offered a better per-sale 3.4 Marketing Time Out, the Daily Mail, the Daily return for Curzon Film World, generating Telegraph and The Observer were among The on-demand online rentals delivered 36% of sales but 42% of revenues. The cinema trailer was the biggest the majority of press critics who were much stronger results than anticipated. influence on awareness, according to positive about the film. All the VOD platforms performed well the theatrical exit poll, with 33% citing All the VOD platforms heavily promoted ahead of the initial estimate. it as the main source of information. There were some notable dissenters the film: from the consensus though with the Sky’s figures, however, are indicative, rather There were regional variations, with the highly influential Guardian critic Peter Sky advertised the Sky Store offer with than a definitive final breakdown. The audience in Glasgow much more likely to Bradshaw calling it: ‘a rather sentimental, announcements on the Sky Movies and Sky broadcaster is resistant to sharing figures, have been informed through the trailer precious tale.’ Entertainment channels; Sky included news, in this case they say partly because of the (43%) than those in London (26%). That features, a review and trailer on Skymovies. technical issues in collating information. may owe to the greater general awareness The cinema exit poll shows a generally com; and it posted related content on the through posters on the Tube, a broader strong response to the film with 35% rating Sky Movies social media sites. The Sky Store It does mean that there is a large degree of range of press sources, etc. it ‘excellent’ (above the 30% UK norm) and service clearly tagged the film as being speculation about analysis of the numbers. a further 39% rating it ‘very good’. available simultaneously in cinemas to help The print campaign was the main source of drive interest in the early window. Nonetheless, achieving more than twice awareness for 23% with reviews retaining The 74% rating it very good or excellent is the expected number of rentals on the Sky some impact. 19% said newspaper and 14 percentage points higher than the UK iTunes had the film as the top banner on Store does need comment. magazine reviews were an influence, average of 60%, according to the theatrical the Film homepage for the opening two against 2-5% citing advertisements. exit pollsters, First Movies International. weeks; it was included in the premium One possibility is that the premium VOD top of the page ‘carousel’ for four weeks sales mirrored those in theatres with the The Guardian was the most cited news In terms of recommendations, 51% said and was included as one of the visible big marketing push exciting interest. Sky source (42%), which may be unfortunate they would ‘definitely’ recommend the films lower down the page for the rest was selling at £6.99 for standard definition given the less favourable review, although film, against a UK norm of 50%. of its run. iTunes also supported the and £7.99 on HD. Curzon suggests that it had expected a less release with entry on Apple TV and enthusiastic response from the critic. Again, however, there was a divide along The iTunes sales figures, which were through newsletters. gender lines. 54% of women (and 59% available week to week, showed a strong Prior consumer expectation was mixed among women under-45) would ‘definitely’ FilmFlex had a promo playing for the opening of 2,011 sales dropping in tandem with 29% having medium/average recommend the film against 46% of men. opening two weeks with additional with the theatrical audience. expectations to 27% having high Overall the positive recommendations blog support from Virgin Media. expectations. Gender and age was a were fairly even with 90% saying Curzon Home Cinema (CHC) recorded the factor, with 38% of the older female they would ‘probably’ or ‘definitely’ highest sale for a day-and-date title since Curzon’s own Curzon Home Cinema audience (45+) having ‘high’ expectations. recommend the film. obviously gave the film the highest it launched. It exceeded its forecast of 650 prominence on the site and through its sales, reaching 671 sales after eight weeks The recommendation was largely focused news, marketing and social media work. and generating £1,630 revenues (against a 3.5 Word Of Mouth on the cinema, with 59% saying they would forecast of £1,580). On October 4, Curzon recommend that the film was seen during Sky Store was the biggest in terms of numbers signed a deal with BT, which meant that The audience reaction to the film were its first run in theatres, compared to 13% and revenues, and it achieved its numbers in CHC was also available on the BT TV overwhelmingly positive, with a high suggesting viewing through iTunes, Sky Box just two weeks, compared to the six weeks service, although the new platform was percentage saying they would recommend Office or Curzon Home Cinema. The gender for iTunes and four weeks for FilmFlex. added too late to have much impact on it to others. divide was evident again here, with 65% What Maisie Knew. of women recommending viewing at the Analysis done by the RSU unit of the cinema immediately against 53% of men. UKFC on the relationship between recommendations and playability Service Sale period Curzon estimate Actual Percentage Price Perhaps tellingly, the numbers intending scores and box office is attached below. to see the film again were lower than iTunes 6 weeks 5,500 (£20,075) 6,457 (23,451) + 17.4% £5.99 industry norms. 41% of the audience Critical reaction to the film was strongly Sky Store 2 weeks 5,200 (£16,760) 11,000 (£32,010) +112% £6.99/£7.99HD said they were interested in seeing the positive with critic aggregation site Rotten film again, against a norm of 63%. Of the FilmFlex 4 weeks 800 (£2,842) 2,552 (£8,932) +219% £6.99/£7.99HD Tomatoes recording an 88% positive rating repeat viewers, just 16% were intending from critics (77% from ‘top critics’) and 82% Curzon Home Cinema 8 weeks 650 (£1,580) 671 (£1,630) +3.4% £5.99 to see it on DVD/Blu-ray with 13% waiting from audiences; Metacritic suggests a 74% for free television. rating from critics and 79% from audiences.

10 11 There have been some strong opening strong word of mouth, the film expanded 4.2 Did the release suggest any change SECTION FOUR: weekends in recent years. The Imposter, for from 47 venues in its opening weekend to a in audience behaviour? LESSONS example, was the number one independent second-week high of 101 venues. film in 2012, and proved a big breakout iTunes has been more open and offered success, with 160% higher revenues than Another comparison, invited by the a useful insight into on-demand sales. What Maisie Knew on just six more screens. marketing materials for What Maisie Knew, This final section aims to answer key is to 2010 Sundance-premiered hit The Kids Its figures revealed that the opening week questions raised by the day-and-date There were differences this year, notably Are All Right, which shared a producer and on the iTunes platform, coinciding with release. These questions are related to any the number of big studio films opening Julianne Moore. the theatrical launch, attracted the biggest actual or perceived changed in audience the same weekend. That was not the sale with 2,211 rentals in the UK and behaviour; the impact of greater choice; and case in 2012, when only one film, That film was a comedy-drama, though Republic of Ireland. That dropped off 26% any evidence about the effect of the release The Three Stooges debuted. again with a strong female leaning. after the first week, 42% the second, and on a range of platforms on the traditional It took £1.6m in the UK, released through 24% the third, meaning a total drop of 68% release model, particularly theatrical. Looking more broadly, three foreign UPI on 203 screens (and later went on from week one to four. That may suggest language films opened strongly, albeit to pick up two Golden Globes and four that simultaneous launch is a significant films with a ready-made audience in Oscar nominations). incentive to on-demand online rental. 4.1 Is there any evidence of damage to the Almodovar in 2009 and 2011, and the theatrical audience? Swedish adaptation of a hit novel in 2010. The bank holiday slot suggests a much On the other hand, it might also say better potential audience, a fact that something important about the dynamic What Maisie Knew ended its run broadly Almodovar’s The Skin I Live In, in 2011 took Curzon acknowledges. On the other hand, of the iTunes home page, which promoted in line with Curzon’s ‘low’ forecast of more than three times the revenues of it was convinced that the Premium VOD the film strongly at the start but becomes £350,000 and it was well ahead of the What Maisie Knew and it was up against revenues when added to the box office, less visible by repetition. very rough rule of thumb that UK releases three major releases, including the UK/ and set against costs, offered a better should generally earn around 10% of its US release One Day, which, while a more overall return. Another key factor in assessing potential US numbers, which were £0.7m). commercial title (taking £2.2m on the demand is price. opening weekend) attracted a similarly It is an assumption that is not easy to The film was also the number one female-leaning audience. prove. Certainly without a more detailed Price was seen as an important part of the specialised film title, finishing ahead breakdown of the VOD audience, it is hard experiment with What Maisie Knew, with a of Lovelace, which had a wider release. In terms of comparable films, there to assess how far the day-and-date release range of tariffs on offer. are examples of films that suggest a cannibalised the potential revenues, and Nonetheless, there are sound reasons to potentially bigger audience. One recent how far it opened the film up to new iTunes sold at £5.99 for all formats, as did believe that the film underperformed. comparison would be another festival audiences. Curzon Home Cinema, and FilmFlex and As the table below shows, August Bank favourite (Sundance and Cannes) Precious Sky Store at £6.99 for standard definition Holiday weekend has become a key in 2010. Based on a bestselling novel, with Anecdotal evidence, not backed up by hard and £7.99 for high definition. slot for independent film, often as an acclaimed child performance it took evidence, suggests that What Maisie Knew counter-programming against the The domination of Sky Store suggests £1.2m at the UK box office. Boosted by was dominated in all formats by London. last big US tentpole releases. If that is the case, there are questions to that its customers were not interested in be asked because the film was available shopping around and were largely driven by availability and visibility – and habit. Comparison Weekend Box Office for August Bank Holiday Releases at many venues.

Year Film Box office Cinemas Another factor also needs to enter the The £5.99 all-format tag on iTunes was the cheapest option but there was some 2013 What Maisie Knew £95,852 43 equation, which is considered in the next section – the price. How far did the resistance, expressed on social media, Lovelace £86,076 80 much cheaper option of home viewing to the £5.99 price tag on iTunes. 2012 The Imposter £252,170 49 affect demand? That may come down to a comparison Shadow Dancer £201,936 166 with the price of other items on the iTunes service. The standard new release is £3.49 2011 The Skin I Live In £325,349 125 standard definition and £4.49HD. 2010 The Girl Who Played With Fire £404,895 125

2009 Broken Embraces £296,048 90

Mesrine £ 57, 978 34

12 13 4.6 Final conclusions the older audience for that film was just not interested in new media exploitation. For Curzon Film World, the release of Interpreting bigger numbers with a What Maisie Knew included a number of wider age range, and a female dominated positives. It set out with a strategy to focus audience, is more open. Are women, for on building VOD numbers in the premium example, more price sensitive? Was it a slot, and the results were considerably different demographic watching online? higher than their forecasts. What would people have been prepared to pay? These are essential issues for The company has invested strongly, those looking to pursue day-and-date in terms of finance and reputation, in release strategies. building a multimedia brand, focused on developing audiences and building Box office analysis has its limitations demand across a range of platforms. but they are a genuine record of audience behaviour. The availability And on those terms, you can make and transparency of data from VOD a case that the film succeeded. platforms is a serious issue in planning A focus group study by SampoMedia, That suggests opportunities for releases and could become an issue for available soon on the BFI site, backs up home viewing. It does, however, seem fair to conclude that future business models. the idea that the concept of premium the box office potential was far in excess value for multimedia release day-and-date A second interesting point from the exit of what was finally delivered, given the poll asks questions about the breadth of is certainly not yet clear to customers. comparisons made in this report. Boycotts appeal of the film. As discussed at length It also suggests that the idea of in this report, the majority of the cinema The film was a long way short of the ‘high’ A significant percentage of the potential Premium VOD and a high price for audience was made up of women. forecast of £500,000, which, when taken theatrical market will not show a film instant availability has not strongly. against the performance of other similar that breaks the standard release windows. However, that female dominance may owe Again, the information from the other films, and those released in the same While there may not always be a formal something to a highly targeted marketing VOD sources is limited and there is a real slot in precious years, actually looks boycott, many cinemas see the window campaign (necessarily so perhaps given need for more data in the area of pricing. very pessimistic. as an essential means of protecting the budget.) It does not necessarily reflect their revenues. As long as there is underlying demand for home viewing. active resistance from exhibitors, it 4.3 Did the simultaneous release on DVD will be difficult to really establish true demand and in theatres suggest the The poll suggested that 67% of the (female- demand. In the case of What Maisie Knew, potential for new audiences? dominated) audience did not feel that the One acid test still to come is the DVD however, the initial discussions with film had any particular appeal according release. It already took a hit by being cinema owners suggests that this was One of the fundamental problems that has to gender. While 23% suggested it was pushed back to January 6, because of a film that could have done well for emerged from experiments in day-and- more attractive to women, as opposed to shelf space availability over Christmas. distributor and exhibitor but failed in large date releases is the inadequate data from 3% for men, there are perhaps questions But it will be informative to see if DVD part because of an almost ideological stand on-demand services. about whether there might be wider appeal numbers are affected by the strong VOD against altering windows. beyond the cinema audience. performance. It raises a fundamental Yet this is a crucial factor in judging one of question: do consumers see VOD as an the most critical aspects of simultaneous Again, this is an area that is short on data. alternative theatrical release or as the multimedia reach – the opportunity to equivalent of DVD, an ancillary release. Michael Gubbins reach audiences who from lack of access, or There is simply no adequate evidence to inclination, might want to watch specialised show that the greater-than-expected VOD Peter Buckingham Transparency film outside theatres on release. buyers were audiences that would not sampomedia.com have attended the cinema, or potential The theatrical exit poll revealed that 63% cinemagoers opting, through convenience The lack of transparency in VOD was very of the audience described themselves as or price, to stay at home. The theatrical telling in this release. Curzon’s previous ‘frequent cinemagoers,’ meaning they visit results for What Maisie Knew, compared to release of A Late Quartet was fairly simple more than one a month. That makes them other titles during the same release slot to interpret because VOD numbers were atypical of a country where average cinema (see above), suggests the latter. so low; polls and research suggests that visits are less than three a year.

14 15 bfi.org.uk