Sean Parker Has A New Business That Allows You To Watch In Theater Movies At Home. What Took So Long?
(Source) — Billionaire Sean Parker made his name by forever disrupting the music industry with Napster. Now he’s aiming for the movie business. He’s currently shopping his latest venture: The Screening Room, and he already has the support of many titans of the movie business such as Steven Spielberg and JJ Abrams. The Screening Room would allow first-run movies playing in theaters to be streamed to a set-top box in your home. Each movie rental would cost $50. While the idea is already getting some pushback from some theater owners and studios, it’s easy to see the product’s potential upside.
What the hell took so long on this? I still enjoy going to a theater here and there but I see roughly 2% of the movies I want to see. It’s such a chore and extended experience to go to the movies that I just flatout don’t do it anymore, so this is a no-brainer for the film industry. If I could order movies on my TV for 50 bucks I’d probably spend 100 bucks a week on them and that’s not an exaggeration. At least one weeknight and one weekend night I would be watching an in theater movie. As it stands, I’m never going to do it. I won’t take the time to go get my license, which I lost years ago, and I’m legally obligated to do that. If you think I’m gonna put life on hold long enough to go see a movie you’re nuts.
But if I can just order it from my couch? I’ll see everything that’s in theaters. And while $50 kinda seems high when you first look at it, that’s what going to a movie costs. Uber is 10 bucks, ticket is 15, sacks of candy and bathtubs of soda are 20. That’s 45 bucks right there and it’s not even counting the pre-movie drinks and the girl you’re bringing to the theater with you, you Casanova.
Turning your living room into a screening room is actually such a genius business decision that I might be against it. It’s like getting a casino in Boston: I like the occasional weekend trip to Foxwoods, but the responsibility of being 20 minutes from one would be too much. I can’t handle that kind of power a film reel in the palm of my hand and I’d be blowing half my paycheck every month on new movies.
But still, do it.