Roger Fingas
Serena, a Susanne Bier movie starring Jennifer Lawrence and Bradley Cooper, is now available for rent on the iTunes Store and Google Play — three weeks before the film is due to arrive in US theaters.
On iTunes, the movie costs $10 to rent in HD or SD. Google Play is charging $11 for HD, and $10 for SD.
All three pricetags are unusually high for a rental, but it's rare for a movie to show simultaneously in theaters and on streaming services, much less stream weeks in advance. Most major film studios are worried about hampering box office numbers and upsetting relationships with theater owners.
Serena may be an exception because of its poor reviews so far. The film has an average rating of just 27 percent on Rotten Tomatoes, and major publications such as Entertainment Weekly and the Hollywood Reporter have panned it. People may be more willing to see the film if it's at a cheaper price and in their own home.
A more typical iTunes rental price is $6 for a recent, high-profile title such as Big Hero 6. At Google Play, that same movie is $6 in HD or $5 in SD.
Update: The movie is also available on Amazon Instant Video for $10.
Charles Martin
Malcolm Owen
William Gallagher
Christine McKee
Wesley Hilliard
28 Comments
Check out the imdb.com reviews of the movie. Wow.
The movie business is not an easy one and success is still mostly a matter of good timing and audience awareness. For a while, in the 70's, the big movies that were getting made were gritty, adult dramas with morally conflicted leading characters. Today, the biggest films are spectacle and action designed to play to international audiences and to appeal to the youth market. With a large aging population, I have a strong suspicion the tide will turn.
I'm guessing this is a stinker, at least in today's market.
The movie business is not an easy one and success is still mostly a matter of good timing and audience awareness. For a while, in the 70's, the big movies that were getting made were gritty, adult dramas with morally conflicted leading characters. Today, the biggest films are spectacle and action designed to play to international audiences and to appeal to the youth market. With a large aging population, I have a strong suspicion the tide will turn.
There are some movies being made today that are gritty etc. The real difference is that the tech wasn't really there to go big, purely entertaining spectacles that would make big money.
And I"m not really sure that this move has anything to do with the reviews. It's possible that this was the arrangement from the start. Some directors and studio execs have the balls to try these moves rather than crap on them. Audiences are changing and many of JLaw's fans are younger and more in tune with tech. Making this perhaps a worthy experiment to see if folks still go to the theaters in numbers similar to what was expected for the film or if there is a high rental and low theater attendance
oh and for the record, 50 Shades of Grey has a 25% on RT. and has also been panned by several major magazines etc
There are some movies being made today that are gritty etc. The real difference is that the tech wasn't really there to go big, purely entertaining spectacles that would make big money.
And I"m not really sure that this move has anything to do with the reviews. It's possible that this was the arrangement from the start. Some directors and studio execs have the balls to try these moves rather than crap on them. Audiences are changing and many of JLaw's fans are younger and more in tune with tech. Making this perhaps a worthy experiment to see if folks still go to the theaters in numbers similar to what was expected for the film or if there is a high rental and low theater attendance
I'm pretty confident it has a lot to do with the lukewarm reviews. They're smart to get their movie into the hands of fans as quickly as possible to goose their opening day numbers.