A Three-Week Old “Tower Heist” on VOD Is Worth as Much as Prize Fight, Apparently

Will Leitch
·Editor

Movie studios have been toying with the idea of getting their movies on demand shortly after release since it became clear there was a market for the service. And there is. Right now, if we want, we can go to a theater to watch "Tucker & Dale Vs. Evil," or we can order it from our television, right there in our living room in HD, for $6.99. It is always preferable to watch a movie in a theater, obviously. But three bucks cheaper, without having to travel, at a time of our own convenience? It's not difficult to see why movies on demand is catching on.

But of course, that's an independent movie that needs all the help and exposure it can get. What we haven't seen is big studios releasing their movies early on demand; theaters are what the whole enterprise is based on, of course. Studios have said they're trying to figure out the appropriate pricing plan, and how much time to allow theater chains exclusive distribution. They're doing their first test case in November, and, suffice it to say, they're starting out on the higher end. To say the least.

"Tower Heist," the upcoming comedy with Ben Stiller and Eddie Murphy, is the first guinea pig, and you are never going to believe how much they are gonna charge for it three weeks after its in theaters.

Universal Pictures plans to make its upcoming Eddie Murphy action comedy film "Tower Heist" available through video-on-demand just three weeks after it debuts in theaters Nov. 4. But that convenience will come with a hefty asking price -- $59.99 -- that many cash-strapped consumers will balk at in the current economic slump. The proposed test, which will be offered in Atlanta and Portland, Ore., to approximately 500,000 digital cable subscribers of Universal's corporate parent, Comcast Corp., marks the first time a major studio movie will be available to watch in-home while still playing in thousands of theaters.

Sixty dollars! Sixty! We are not sure we would pay $60 for "Tower Heist" if Stiller and Murphy performed it live in front of us while Brett Ratner gave us a backrub. Take a look at Comcast's other PPV events coming up: Not a single one of those is $60, and those are all live performances of sporting events. (Well, "sporting events.") Universal is asking customers to pay six times the normal ticket price, three weeks after a movie comes out.

Actually, that's not what they're doing. They're hoping for various Portland and Atlanta residents to be too drunk to realize they just accidentally ordered something that's 60 bucks. It's just a "test," likely one put into place to show that, look, we don't need to put our movies on demand, don't worry theaters, people don't want it. Except for the addled and confused.

All right, we might pay 60 bucks if Stiller and Murphy performed live for us, but only if Murphy wore the jacket from "Raw."

'Tower Heist' to hit video-on-demand three weeks after theatrical debut [Los Angeles Times]