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Author Topic: Fox Repertory Catalog Mark Strube Master Film Handler Posts: 322 From: Milwaukee, WI, United States Registered: Feb 2007 posted 07-29-2019 05:05 PM                        Unfortunately for those of us who do alternative programming, our jobs just got a little harder. I just received word from our bookers denying a few of my recent requests from Fox. With the Disney purchase of Fox, their policy of not allowing commercial movie theaters to book anything from their repertory catalog has now become the policy at Fox.  |  IP: Logged Carsten Kurz Film God Posts: 4340 From: Cologne, NRW, Germany Registered: Aug 2009 posted 07-29-2019 05:19 PM                     They probably want to save some of their repertory titles for Disneys upcoming streaming service.  |  IP: Logged Mark Strube Master Film Handler Posts: 322 From: Milwaukee, WI, United States Registered: Feb 2007 posted 07-29-2019 05:30 PM                        As far as I know, this has been the policy at Disney for many years. Their repertory catalog is untouchable if you're a first-run commercial movie theater. It's just unfortunate that now the entire Fox catalog is off-limits as well.  |  IP: Logged Mike Blakesley Film God Posts: 12767 From: Forsyth, Montana Registered: Jun 99 posted 07-29-2019 08:50 PM                        Disney is a genius company in so many ways but in this one, they are just stupid. They're leaving potentially millions of dollars on the table. The policy was instigated during the film days. I have a feeling if a person could get to the right decision-maker at Disney, it could get reversed. They do anything else to make profit off their library; why not this? The problem is finding the right person who could make a change. He or she is probably behind about five or six layers of subordinates.  |  IP: Logged Martin McCaffery Film God Posts: 2481 From: Montgomery, AL Registered: Jun 99 posted 07-29-2019 10:36 PM                        Apparently the only Fox Rep film now available to first run houses is Rocky Horror. We're going to have a lot of disappointed people come Valentine's Day who look forward to our annual screening of The Princess Bride.  |  IP: Logged Mike Spaeth Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1129 From: Marietta, GA Registered: Jul 2000 posted 07-29-2019 10:39 PM                        Including "The Rocky Horror Picture Show"? Rep screenings of just that title net them hundreds of thousands of dollars each year. Edit: Martin answered the question in an almost simultaneous post above.  |  IP: Logged Scott Norwood Film God Posts: 8146 From: Boston, MA. USA (1774.21 miles northeast of Dallas) Registered: Jun 99 posted 07-29-2019 10:51 PM                        Is this regarding bookings through Fox or through Criterion?  |  IP: Logged Mark Strube Master Film Handler Posts: 322 From: Milwaukee, WI, United States Registered: Feb 2007 posted 08-04-2019 11:40 PM                        As far as I know, only Fox and Fox Searchlight. Are Criterion titles theatrically booked through a different entity?  |  IP: Logged Frank Angel Film God Posts: 5305 From: Brooklyn NY USA Registered: Dec 1999 posted 08-05-2019 04:50 AM                        So non-commercial operations like museums and performing arts centers still have access? What's their definition of "commercial" theatres? Even performing arts centers, colleges and museums charge admission or are they falling back again on the age-old nonsensical division of theatrical vs. non-theatrical which has been the bane of my existence for the last 30 years? Decades ago I had to created an entity within the performing arts center at the college that on paper, looked and acted no different than any commercially run arthouse. Box Office reports, booking forms, all our stationery plus, of course all our publicity material only referenced ourselves as an art cinema. The only reference to the college was that it was located on the college campus so people could find us, but other than that we booked as a commercial retrospective arthouse. There was never any reference to the string of non-profit entities in which the cinema operation was nestled. This allowed me to book like any commercial arthouse, getting titles on the break with second run theatres. I got to play the titles I wanted, the studios got their pound of flesh. If this new policy allows booking to PACs and other traditionally non-theatrical cinemas, then I guess we'll have to redo the stationary again and become a Performing Arts Center on a college campus. The hoops we have to go thru just to show movies.  |  IP: Logged Martin McCaffery Film God Posts: 2481 From: Montgomery, AL Registered: Jun 99 posted 08-05-2019 07:33 AM                        The policy seems to be in flux, and getting pushback. Last I heard, if the theatre runs any first run films (and as the definition of running first run varies by distributor, who knows what that really means) it is not allowed to show Fox rep.  |  IP: Logged Scott Norwood Film God Posts: 8146 From: Boston, MA. USA (1774.21 miles northeast of Dallas) Registered: Jun 99 posted 08-05-2019 08:33 AM                        quote: Mark Strube As far as I know, only Fox and Fox Searchlight. Are Criterion titles theatrically booked through a different entity? Criterion Pictures is the nontheatrical distributor for 20th Century Fox and Fox Searchlight titles (and those from a handful of other distributors). Some cinemas book Fox repertory titles through them, while others book directly through Fox. I forget how Fox defined "theatrical," but a performing-arts center would not have qualified when I went through the process of booking some films in 2012-ish. Agreed with Frank that the whole theatrical/non-theatrical thing is truly odd. I book occasional screenings for a PAC type of place. Warners, Universal, and Sony let us book through them as a theatrical exhibitor. Disney, Paramount, and Fox force us to book as non-theatrical through Swank/Criterion. We have not booked anything from Dreamworks. In any case, they all use different definitions for what is "theatrical."  |  IP: Logged Mike Blakesley Film God Posts: 12767 From: Forsyth, Montana Registered: Jun 99 posted 08-05-2019 12:01 PM                        Maybe when Disney's bean-counters are combing through the Fox books, they'll see how much money they made on rep titles and it might spur them into thinking, "Hey, maybe we could add some Disney titles to this list and really kick-start it" but then the video division will say "No no no, those titles are going onto Disney+, so forget it." No reason why they couldn't do both though. Maybe a repertory title could end with a card saying "Liked this movie? Watch it again on Disney+!"  |  IP: Logged Rick Cohen Expert Film Handler Posts: 102 From: Amherst, New York Registered: Feb 2011 posted 08-06-2019 03:06 PM                        Kinda anticipated this when Fox was bought by Disney. It was almost inevitable, was just a matter of when.. The only reason Rocky Horror is an exception, is because technically, it has been in continual release since 1975, and has never been fully pulled from cinemas, although its runs certainly are of a limited nature. I am curious if they are still allowing bookings of the more adult oriented Fox titles, such as Alien. I had heard that the kids titles would be taken off service first, such as Princess Bride and Sandlot. Definitely a huge blow to theatres which run occasional retro programs.  |  IP: Logged Marcel Birgelen Film God Posts: 3357 From: Maastricht, Limburg, Netherlands Registered: Feb 2012 posted 08-06-2019 04:29 PM                     Disney tries to inflate value by creating a false scarcity around their content. They've done this for quite a while now, even back in the VHS days it was often particularly hard to find a good copy of one of their repertoire titles. Yes, nowadays, in the age of the Internet, cheap global shipping, you'll find a copy of almost any title, but it's not because Disney is so forthcoming. I think their idea is that, by reducing the availability of certain content, they increase the desire for this content. Yet, they're not going to give it to you at some bargain price. But then, once in a while they'll put a "remastered" version in circulation, for which they simply ask their premium pricing. Now, this might work for the traditional Disney content to some extend, but I doubt it will work the same for the Fox repertoire catalogue...  |  IP: Logged Martin McCaffery Film God Posts: 2481 From: Montgomery, AL Registered: Jun 99 posted 08-06-2019 06:23 PM                        quote: Marcel Birgelen They've done this for quite a while now, even back in the VHS days They did this before the VHS days. They had their big animated films on, IIRC, a five year cycle to allow time for a new generation to be produced and be brought to the movies by their parents. One thing Disney has always been good about is monetizing the product. We'll see if it works in the streaming age or if they are leaving money on the table.  |  IP: Logged

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