Julianne Moore Calls VOD Inferior to Theatrical Experience

Julianne Moore and Sony Pictures Classics co-president Tom Bernard bashed day-and-date VOD releases on a panel on Thursday, the last day of CinemaCon.

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Moore, who won an Academy Award for her role in “Still Alice” — which was released by SPC — insisted that there’s no substitute for seeing a feature film in a theater. “We’re always so disappointed when you hear the words, ‘day-and-date.’ I think, ‘oh, really?’ We work very hard as creators in creating a theatrical experience. I’m married to a director [Bart Freundlich], and a movie never looks the same on television,” she said, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Bernard said that doing a day-and-date releases for some films confuses audiences. Sony Pictures Classics has not released any films day-and-date.

“The exhibitors are the gatekeepers and they choose the movies that are worthy of playing in theaters,” said Bernard.

It’s a touchy topic, to say the least, since exhibitors are pressing hard to keep their traditional theatrical windows, while VOD providers must contend with last-minute changes and the perception that the best movies play in theaters first.

Earlier in the week at CinemaCon, National Association of Theater Owners (NATO) chief John Fithian vaguely acknowledged the controversial issues of windowing (and theater owners declining to screen films which are released day-and-date). “Though one-off and radical simultaneous release experiments garner some media attention, the reality is that major distributors believe that theatrical exclusivity drives the entire business,” he said.

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