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And don’t forget all the other costs. If you want something. You see Dendy Cinema is about to
popcorn, a Coke, maybe some Maltesers and launch ‘DendyDirect’.
absolutely a boysenberry choc-top that $72 blows It’s an On-Demand movie and TV service, much
out to over $100 in no time at all.
like the model of Netflix and Hulu. Dendy is only
Did I mention you have to also make it to the a small time cinema operator. They have just 27
cinema, park and then drive home? So there are cinemas in Sydney, Brisbane and Canberra.
the extra costs of fuel, parking and all the other They’re not as ‘corporate’ as Village and it seems
bits and pieces. with DendyDirect, they’re far more innovative
too.
Now of course Village isn’t responsible for the
ancillary costs associated with a night out at the Dendy realise that the preferences and attitudes
cinema. But when they question why movie of normal, everyday people have shifted. And that
piracy is so rife in Australia, it’s clear they have trends of how people consume entertainment are
little idea how the ‘average man’ lives. challenging the traditional cinema business model.
For many people it’s far easier and significantly They’ve taken the proactive approach and decided
cheaper to stay in to watch a film. Popcorn and a that on demand content straight into the home is
box of ice creams from Coles will probably set the way forward.
you back $6. And a 1.25 litre bottle of Coke is $2. And they’d be right. I’ve spoken about Netflix
Then all you need to do is find a suitable source and Hulu before. Their on demand services are
to get a movie and you’re total night out comes sweeping across the world. And it's changing the
to about…oh $8.
way in which we consume entertainment. It’s only
That’s just a little better than the $100 minimum a matter of time before they find their way into
for the cinema. Australia too.
Of course the elephant in the room is that many But Dendy are getting the jump and at least having
people ‘pirate’ movies. They download these new a crack. And Village? Well it looks like they'll
release movies from torrent sites off the internet. just keep on doing what they’ve always
The people that put these films up illegally we call done...bump up prices to counter the falling box
‘seeders’. And those that download and don’t seed office numbers.
in turn we call ‘leechers’.
Village Roadshow and cinema is a dying medium.
This trend of pirating movies is a growing concern Right now the only thing that keeps them alive is
from the movie business and for companies like the novelty of a giant screen and exclusivity of
Village Roadshow. distribution for a short period of time.
However it’s a trend that’s not likely to slow down But that’s changing. With technology and
in a hurry. And if Mr Burke’s out of touch advances in visual technology like TVs, on
comments are anything to go by, it doesn’t look demand content and online streaming cinema will
like Village Roadshow will be really doing much become redundant.
to fight it.
And it’ll be companies like Village that miss the
Victory through innovation boat and flounder while companies like Dendy
There is one way to fight piracy. And that’s will at least continue to share a slice of the pie
innovation. Innovation of the way in which when it comes to what we watch and when and
entertainment and content is delivered to how we watch it.
Australians. Village seems happy to moan about Regards,
piracy. And they also are happy to praise the Sam Volkering Editor, Tech Insider
government's heavy-handed approach to it all. But
really, it’s not going to change much. Submitted by John Doak
However, a company like Dendy Cinema thinks Tech Insider is a free email newsletter see ..
there’s a better way. And they might just be onto
http://www.techinsider.com.au/

Reel Deals - 9 - June 2014