The Nines on Amazon VOD
The Nines is now available through Amazon’s video-on-demand, with options for download or streaming within the browser window. It’s very straightforward, and I’m always happy for another outlet.
But it costs $14.99. That’s simply too much.
Amazon sells the physical DVD with all the special features for the same price, at considerably more cost to the retailer. They have used copies for as little as $2.04.
Obviously, the advantage of online viewing is that you can watch the movie immediately. For that purpose, iTunes has it priced at $9.99, which not only suits the title but feels like a more appropriate price. (iTunes link)
I don’t get any advance notice when the movie will be showing up in different venues, so if you spot it somewhere else, let me know. I’m particularly curious what the options are outside the U.S.
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January 3rd, 2009 at 11:30 am
Does buying a used copy help you or the success of the film at all? Or are you content now with people just getting to see it?
January 3rd, 2009 at 1:01 pm
For me a fair price for an electronic movie download is $5. And I would pay even less if the distribution service employed a p2p download mechanism.
January 3rd, 2009 at 1:01 pm
Hi John, Happy New Year. In Australia here.
It is available on DVD here now, think it came out at the tail end of last year sometime. But it is not available to download from iTunes over here and Amazon’s VOD is not a service that Australia has access to. There are a couple of other VOD sites that the telco’s run and as yet there does not seem to be anything on there either.
So it’s 2009 and still no legal way to download a copy of your movie over here despite the fact that a solid distribution method is in place. I swear if I hear another studio exec bleating about lost revenue to illegal downloaders…
January 3rd, 2009 at 2:32 pm
I’ve seen it a bunch of times being aired on ‘The Movie Network’ up here in Canada. We have our own HBO channel now, too… it’s about damn time! Happy New Year!
January 3rd, 2009 at 2:38 pm
Here in the UK, I watched The Nines back in July through Virgin cable TV VOD. £3.50 And well worth every penny!
January 3rd, 2009 at 2:46 pm
@Chris:
No, buying a used copy doesn’t make me any money. It’s like buying a used book — royalties are only paid the first time it sells. But I’d rather have someone see the movie than not.
January 3rd, 2009 at 4:58 pm
You can get 2 versions in Denmark, one with scandinavian subtitles and another without subtitles but with ekstra features (like commentary with John August and Ryan Reynolds, and an interview with John August.)
links: http://dvdcity.dk/?51O49XO4934XO493632X32X352
http://dvdcity.dk/?51O49XO4934XO4936X353834X2
January 3rd, 2009 at 6:34 pm
Obviously they would rather do DVDs, but does it make sense? I’m sure it’s not just economics, but a political fight mixed with simple resistance to change. I mean, it’s 2009 and one of the two high-end Euro film cam shops in town still don’t do digital. If original internet content is any indication, there’s good reason why they are resisting. Talk about the era of big movies and big movie stars being over. I’m curious about John’s thoughts on an a future with downloading as the primary ancillary market, given his take on the realities of indie filmmaking.
January 3rd, 2009 at 6:59 pm
“Obviously, the advantage of online viewing is that you can watch the movie immediately.”
This is not quite true. Downloadable movies take a while to actually download, unless you have an awesome connection. Though I live outside of San Francisco, which is allegedly a high tech region, my major-carrier DSL service is slow and spotty enough that it would take me less time to drive to my local video store (or a Best Buy) and either rent or purchase the DVD.
If downloads were sufficiently fast, I’d pay $5 max for a download. The reason is that since I don’t get physical media (or inserts, extra features, etc.) with a DL movie, I view it more like a rental than a DVD purchase. Also, for the short term, I am more likely to assume the mastering has been done correctly for a DVD than a DL, and the DL is more likely to look bad. $15 is too much, but $10 is also too much, in my book.
January 3rd, 2009 at 9:11 pm
John,
Can I just say that I saw The Nines at Sundance and now own it on DVD. In an attempt to get more people to see the film, I recommend it to anyone who asks me for movie recommendations and on numerous occasions, I have screened it for friends at my place. It is such an excellent work.
-Evan
January 3rd, 2009 at 10:44 pm
LHOOQqtius,
I think John was talking about VOD, not so much downloading. With something like iTunes for instance you can start watching the movie immediately as it streams.
January 4th, 2009 at 10:10 am
Gary: I find streaming, at least on my DSL connection (which is allegedly 1Mbps, but isn’t in reality), to be very unreliable and prone to stutter (even with buffering). Some streams take a while to initiate.
I have not, however, tried iTunes streaming technology in particular, but have tried a few other VOD systems, and I basically have to wait for quite a bit of the stream to load (enough that I could still make the 5 minute drive to Blockbuster if I wanted to) before hitting play, or the playback is awful. So, for me, I still can’t realistically start watching immediately, I need to let the buffer fill enough that the playback doesn’t reach the end of the buffered material before the slow and spotty DL catches up.
January 4th, 2009 at 2:06 pm
John, Off -Topic, but thought you might be interested in this.
It looks like Yellowstone might be about to blow after all…
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/usandamericas/article5444466.ece
January 4th, 2009 at 10:58 pm
Working in Germany at the moment, no legal possibility to get The Nines whatsoever – despite of course importing it (which is possible from the UK, but the film is out of stock for some reason). No sign of a release via screen or DVD or download here.
January 5th, 2009 at 3:11 am
So, VOD on Amazon means streaming only? If so, why would anyone pay $15 to watch the movie once?
January 5th, 2009 at 8:32 pm
just looked it up, if you are a netflix subscriber it’s available to ‘watch instantly’ on your computer or tv using netflix streaming hardware (like my roku box which I got for christmas and love).
January 6th, 2009 at 2:15 am
She just popped up on Netflix “Watch Instantly” – which I LOVE. The instant queue is quickly becoming the equivalent to programming my own cable channel, so it’s a welcome addition to say the least.
January 6th, 2009 at 5:43 am
It’s in the Netflix “watch instantly” section. That’s included with a Netflix subscription. You can stream it on a computer or through a third party box to your TV (like Roku, which works well with a fast connection). Not sure if that’s what you were talking about, but it’s in my queue right now. (I’m in the U.S.)