I’m not sure if this is a first for iTunes, but it is impressive none the less. Edward Burns has decided to debut his new movie exclusively on iTunes, before it’s shown anywhere else. It’s impressive because Edward Burns is fairly well known and has directed some Award Winning films. My first introduction to Edward Burns was back when I worked in a video store in high school. His directorial debut was the Brothers McMullen, which won the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival. I brought it home one night at really enjoyed the movie. His next turn in the directors chair was She’s the One, which I also enjoyed.
The real question in all of this is, will debuting the movie on iTunes first reward the content creator instead of the movie studios? If debuting to iTunes first is going to work, this type of film is the perfect test case. An indie drama doesn’t need to pull in enough cash to cover a huge special effects budget like an action movie would. It’s also something that doesn’t necessarily require a huge TV with perfect sound to be enjoyed like some of the summer blockbuster movies.
I’m really interested to see if any sales/profit figures are released once the exclusivity to iTunes is gone. I really hope the movie is a hit and sells well on iTunes, giving other directors the opportunity to keep more of their movie’s profits. We’ve seen the trend of music artists ditching their record labels, but movies have traditionally been a different animal. Could this be the movie revenue model of the future?
