A new chapter in the “saga”.
While some theather chains had already reopened 2 month ago here in Italy, they were mostly showing stuff that released the week when the COVID-19 lockdown was put in place, but mostly throwing a lot of stuff from last year’s catalogue, when not even older material. Not much else you could do, really, as obviously no one was approving new releases to play in closed theathers during a sweeping pandemic.
But pretty much most theathers (even the one i usually go to) will resume proper this 19 of august, and i look forward to see the new Abel Ferrara movie, Siberia (and Onwards, honestly) not a bad way to begin a new – hopefully prolonged – “theather binge”.
I did went to see (and reviewed) The Grudge 2020 in the meantime, it was nice to go back, but it’s even better when you can choose to see movies you didn’t already saw last year…….. or 2 years ago.
About the “30 bucks for movie purchase” on Disney + debacle… i won’t have to really consider this option, since it should release early in theathers this September here, and i don’t have (nor intend to get) Disney +. I propably won’t, as i stopped watching these live-action Disney remakes after Dumbo (i movie i truly, genuinely, hate with passion), really didn’t care about Mulan that much to begin with, and the lead actress playing Mulan herself, Liu Yifei, also openly attacked the Hong Kong protesters…. so time to buy Arrow Video releases even harder and RIP like a fucking king.
And i mean it, because Disney also recently (2 days ago) announced they would stop printing physical 4K editions of movies from not only their own catalogue, but also Fox’s library. I guess they never saw how One Piece literally starts, let’s put it that way.
Going back to the “30 bucks i find the proposal obscene to begin with, 30 bucks for a movie on top of the fee you already pay for the premium streaming service… it’s obscene. Unacceptable. Outright insulting, i would say, i understand that in the US ticket prices are way higher than Italy (and i guess most places in Europe)… but still, fuck no, for many reasons.
First, it’s sheepish we should be treated the same because “America does it”.
Second, 30 bucks for a digital purchase it’s too much. I said it before, but it bear repeating: the new The Invisible Man movie skipped the theathers entirely here in Italy, so they sold it to home video, and for less than 20 bucks you can own it on Blu-Ray.
Third, this could easily become a new standard, if Disney can get away with it, other streaming services will soon want to emulate is as well. Why just having them as life-long customers that pay monthly, when you can have that AND charge them OBSCENE PRICES for accessing a single movie? Streaming services, now with paid DLC as well!
“But i have kids, and 30 bucks for me, my wife and our 2 kids isn’t much”
Ok, i understand that, but problem is you (or i, for that matter) won’t get charged less or more if we do – or don’t – get all the family together to watch a frigging Disney live-action remake/reboot/thing. 30 bucks the same, still too much.
Wise Cafe (International) 