Disney upsets theater owners with early-DVD-release plan

February 15, 2010 at 12:00a.m.

Los Angeles Times

LOS ANGELES — In a move that begins to redraw the way movies are distributed, the Walt Disney Co. plans to release the film “Alice In Wonderland” on DVD only three months after it opens in theaters March 5.

The decision signals a big shift in strategy for Disney, which until now has resisted tampering with the traditional four-month period between a movie’s theatrical release and its availability in the home. Some theater operators, who worry that pushing up the date of DVD releases will dissuade people from watching movies on the big screen, fear that Disney’s action could snowball and become standard industry practice.

The chief executive of one regional circuit in Knoxville, Tenn., said he would yank “Alice” off screens as soon as it reaches DVD.

“I speak for myself and other exhibitors when I say we don’t like it,” said Phil Zacheretti, chief executive of Phoenix Big Cinemas Management, which operates 170 screens in 13 states. “It encourages people to wait for the DVD to come out. Three months is way too early on any film, much less what’s being touted as a potential blockbuster.”

Exhibitors, which split box-office revenue with the studios, generate higher profits the longer they can keep a movie in theaters.

Disney Chief Executive Bob Iger has championed a change in movie- release patterns to address the changing habits of consumers, who want to see movies on their big-screen TVs or portable devices without waiting months for the DVD.

The decline of DVD sales, exacerbated by the recession, prompted Iger to renew the call to speed up a film’s release to the home.

Until now, Iger has not made the move — despite raising the idea five years ago — because of resistance from theater owners. Exhibitors have admonished other studios that have shortened release windows.

In November, major theater chains yanked Sony Pictures’ family animated comedy “Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs” after the studio announced it would release the movie to owners of its Internet-connected TVs a month before its DVD release. Similarly, Paramount Pictures raised the ire of exhibitors when it released its summer blockbuster “G.I. Joe: The Rise of the Cobra” on DVD slightly less than three months after its theatrical debut.