How do media industries shape media audiences?

Abigail Wideman 

In my case study I focused on the potential threat that Redox posed to theater & studio film companies in 2012, & could pose in the future. 

In 2012, the U.S. box office total was $10.4 billion, which had gone down 5% from $10.9 billion in 2011. Researchers believed this was partially due to the increase of in home theater appliences, and because of business’ like Redbox.

Studio and theater companies did not like this, Warner Brothers in particular. Warner Bros. feared that the inexpensive rentals would discourage consumers from more profitable DVD purchases or video-on-demand rentals.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0_SOrtyg4U4 

Warner Bros. tried to push the film release window to 56 days, which is double the original Redbox release date. Redbox would not agree to this, and began to provide Warner Bros. films to its customers through third party markets.

Warner Bros. ended up caving to Redbox, and reverting back to the 28 day agreement.

Redbox has the potential to surpass movie theater attendance and poses a threat to major studio profits. However, I don’t really think it will due to the fact that people would have to wait nearly a month in order to have access to the films. Personally, I enjoy the experience of going to the movie theater. 

Sources:

• Barnes, Brooks. “Movie Studios See a Threat in Growth of Redbox.” The New York
  Times, The New York Times, 6 Sept. 2009, www.nytimes.com/2009/09/07/business/media/07redbox.html.
  CNETTV. “Loaded: Redbox breaks up with Warner.” YouTube, YouTube, 1 Feb. 2012,
  www.youtube.com/watch?v=0_SOrtyg4U4.
  Fritz, Ben. “Warner Bros. relents, agrees to Redbox DVD deal.” Los Angeles Times, Los
  Angeles Times, 25 Oct. 2012, articles.latimes.com/2012/oct/25/entertainment/la-et-ct-warner-redbox-20121026.
  News, ABC. “Warner Bros. delays releases to Movie-Rental kiosks like Redbox.” ABC
  News, ABC News Network, abcnews.go.com/Business/story?id=8325124&page=1.
  Reisinger, Don. “Redbox rebuffs Warner Bros., won't delay rentals for 56 days.” CNET,
  1 Feb. 2012, www.cnet.com/news/redbox-rebuffs-warner-bros-wont-delay-rentals-for-56-days/.
  Straubhaar, Joseph, and Robert Larose. (2008). Media Now: Understanding Media, Culture and Technology. Belmont, CA.: Wadsworth Company.