Prima Cinema has an answer for any of you, who have complained about not being able to watch first-run movies in your living room while they’re still playing in theaters.
The system comes equipped with a rack-mountable cinema player and the Prima Biometric Reader, which, PC Magazine notes, is a security function that enables only the owner of the system to play movies streamed from the Internet to the device.
One of the only caveats to ownership: it only offers films from Universal, and will cost you a whopping $35,000, not including the $500 per title for each new release.
Also, the cinema player can house only 50 movies at a time (or around $17,500 worth of Universal films). Up this week: Jurassic Park 3D .
Previous releases have included Identity Thief , Admission , and Les Miserables .
While the move is potentially groundbreaking for the home entertainment market — how many times have you encountered obnoxious movie patrons and thought, “I’m not coming back; if only I could stream from the house”? — it’s not a particularly aggressive maneuver.
Clearly, the five-figure initial price tag will keep middle class and lower income film lovers from biting, and the $500-per-title ongoing expense will further exclude, but it’s doubtful that’s the market anyway.
The Prima Cinema system would appear to be a great asset for businesses looking to capitalize, but not so fast if that’s what you’ve got in mind , according to The Hollywood Reporter .
THR noted representatives would inspect any venue belonging to an owner interested in purchasing to ensure no more than 25 seats are available.
Such a practice would effectively turn this into a loss-leader for small venues looking to dabble into Prima Cinema as an event revenue generator.
And considering technology pricing always starts higher and trends cheaper with time, a few questions come to mind:
1. Who will pay a fortune for a technology that’s likely to be significantly reduced in five years?
2. How long before the tech becomes palatable to the common consumer?
3. When was the last time anyone watched a movie in theaters and thought, “Yeah, I’d pay $500 to see that”?
Would you cough up the asking price for a Prima Cinema player, and how do you expect theatrical releases streamed to the home entertainment market to develop in the next five years?
For the curious, here’s a demonstration video of the system:
[Image via Prima Cinema website ]
