Studios back DVD release rethink

Hollywood executives think DVDs should be released quicker to combat the growing threat of piracy, according to the Hollywood Reporter. And they predict that the day may not be far off when some major films are available on DVD at the same time as their theatrical release.

"Your premiere may be at Wal-Mart," said Barry Meyer, chairman and chief executive of Warner Bros Entertainment. In some territories movies make more money on DVD than in cinemas, he added.

"Right now theatrical is the main way we set values in these movies, and video is the first aftermarket," Mr Meyer said during a discussion held as part of the Milken Institute Global Conference on Wednesday. "It might well be in certain territories it should be exactly the reverse - that theatrical is the added value."

Mr Meyer related how camcorder copies of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets were being sold outside a multiplex in Shanghai on the same day the film opened there.

"The day you have a public performance of a movie anywhere in the world, you can count on the fact there will be a physical product on the streets of Asia, Eastern Europe (and) Russia within a few days," he continued.

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