Trespass, the new psychological thriller directed by Joel Schumacher and starring Nicole Kidman and Nicolas Cage, didn’t just come out in theaters this weekend—the movie was also released on YouTube Movies as well.
In an interview on the YouTube Blog, Director Joel Schumacher explained the factors that led to the decision to release Trespass on YouTube as well as in theaters. ”I’m all for progress. I know certain people in my industry are furious about … their films being shown in anyway except the way they were supposed to be meant to be seen [in theaters],” Schumacher said. “There’s no stopping technology.”
Though the choice to release Trespass on YouTube may have been made for more practical reasons. Despite the film’s critical acclaim and premiere at the 2011 Toronto International Film Festival, Trespass opened in only 10 theaters, grossing just $16,816 according to Box Office Mojo. Both Kidman and Cage draw large international audiences, and perhaps Warner Bros. hopes that a domestic release combined with some online traction might increase international sales. The DVD is scheduled to come out November 1, 2011, less than a month after its theatrical release.
Trespass is available via the MillenniumVOD YouTube channel for $6.99, along with free content on YouTube Movie Extras.
This just goes to show how traditional media producers (and/or their marketing departments) still don’t fully grasp the web.
It would have been much more impressive had there been an intentional strategy to release the film in 2 different mediums from the pre-production stage rather than what appears to be an after-post-production marketing ploy to increase awareness of the film and/or cut their theatrical losses.
Had Schumacher made 2 different cuts for the 2 different mediums (that audiences experience 2 different ways), that would have been novel. Had the narrative of the movie necessitated a simultaneous release in 2 different mediums or only online, that would have been novel.
But there is nothing novel about a first-run release on the Internet of a movie with some stars in it. It’s been happening since The Quantum Project was released online in 2000. What is newsworthy about Trespass being made available on YouTube? It kind of seems 11 years too late in terms of newsworthiness.
[...] Kidman Lands Role in Chan-Wook’s ‘Stoker’Latest Film of Nicole Kidman TerminatedNicole Kidman and Nic Cage Together on YouTube? p.description, span.description { font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: [...]