Movie distribution cinema/home releases

Spon Farmer

Ireland and the UK have been same distribution region for cinema and vhs/disc/digital

Is Brexit going to have any impact on that?

Victor

Highly unlikely. The UK and Irish markets are too small to have a separate regions.

Map of the regions https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DVD_region_code

Spon Farmer

Victor wrote: »

Highly unlikely. The UK and Irish markets are too small to have a separate regions.

Map of the regions https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DVD_region_code

DVD & BluRay region codes are a separate thing decided by other factors.

That isn’t what I’m asking about.

ixoy

Well unlikely surely as cinemas almost overwhelming use digital, which I assume is rather easy to ship..

johnny_ultimate

The short answer is: possibly!

If there are extra fees, taxes etc... on cross-border trade (services, not just goods), there is a chance smaller distributors in particular won’t think it’s worthwhile to release here. I’m thinking particularly with films that may only play in the IFI, Triskel or one / two arthouse venues. I’ve seen a few cases recently - a French film called The Apparition springs to mind - that have had separate UK / Irish distributors. You might see that a bit more regularly. Worst case though would be distributors thinking it’s not worthwhile releasing films theatrically here.

Honestly, like many things Brexit, it’s all a bit unclear until it happens. The only thing for certain is the Brits will get their triumphant blue passports (which they were allowed have in the first place anyway).

Spon Farmer

johnny_ultimate wrote: »

The short answer is: possibly!

If there are extra fees, taxes etc... on cross-border trade (services, not just goods), there is a chance smaller distributors in particular won’t think it’s worthwhile to release here. I’m thinking particularly with films that may only play in the IFI, Triskel or one / two arthouse venues. I’ve seen a few cases recently - a French film called The Apparition springs to mind - that have had separate UK / Irish distributors. You might see that a bit more regularly. Worst case though would be distributors thinking it’s not worthwhile releasing films theatrically here.

Honestly, like many things Brexit, it’s all a bit unclear until it happens. The only thing for certain is the Brits will get their triumphant blue passports (which they were allowed have in the first place anyway).

This is the kind I was asking about.

We rarely get the smaller films on this side of the country. Even an Irish film is rare at the cinema.

What about the big studios? Release dates across Europe cary but we always get the same as the UK - so could Ireland start seeing different dates?

And what about the extra features on Blu-Ray and iTunes? Is Brexit going to affect the licensing and copyright in those?

There are a lot of smaller movies missing from the Irish iTunes Store - they are cleared for release but the distributors don’t complete the data input correctly and then don’t appear on the store. I know this from looking into it and talking to others who have done the same.

If Ireland because a separate distribution market I wonder if the errors will stop or get worse.

johnny_ultimate

A lot of the Hollywood majors have offices in Ireland, so I’d say the impact on them will be minimal. Even those that don’t have offices, the scale of wide releases means it’ll still be worthwhile as they can absorb any extra costs. I’d be surprised if it effects them in a way audiences will notice. I’d say the impact, if any, will most obviously be felt on smaller and independent films.

Anecdotally I’ve heard the fees to get a film classified for Ireland isn’t worth it for many very small distributors. Especially on iTunes / Google Play where realistically only a handful of copies will be sold. That was a few years ago though so not sure if thoughts / reality of that has shifted. There definitely are discrepancies between what’s available in the UK & Ireland, but yeah whatever the reasons they’re independent of Brexit. Again: we can but wait and see

Spon Farmer

johnny_ultimate wrote: »

A lot of the Hollywood majors have offices in Ireland, so I’d say the impact on them will be minimal. Even those that don’t have offices, the scale of wide releases means it’ll still be worthwhile as they can absorb any extra costs. I’d be surprised if it effects them in a way audiences will notice. I’d say the impact, if any, will most obviously be felt on smaller and independent films.

Anecdotally I’ve heard the fees to get a film classified for Ireland isn’t worth it for many very small distributors. Especially on iTunes / Google Play where realistically only a handful of copies will be sold. That was a few years ago though so not sure if thoughts / reality of that has shifted. There definitely are discrepancies between what’s available in the UK & Ireland, but yeah whatever the reasons they’re independent of Brexit. Again: we can but wait and see

I know there is a few US studios listed in Dublin but I thought they had shut down and everything is handled from the UK.

I knew someone working for Fox and I though my that was why he moved to London.

Is Studio Canal a small distributor? They have a few missing from iTunes.

Spon Farmer

There are quite a few movie tagged Unrated on iTunes.

Not big movies with additional scenes but quite a few foreign language movies have this age classification.

Does this they haven’t been through the IFCO?

johnny_ultimate

Fox may be shutting up shop here but that’d be a result of consolidation due to the Disney merger.

Studio Canal is mid-tier. They don’t actually distribute independently here but instead have a relationship with Element Pictures who handle all their titles.

Spon Farmer

johnny_ultimate wrote: »

Fox may be shutting up shop here but that’d be a result of consolidation due to the Disney merger.

Studio Canal is mid-tier. They don’t actually distribute independently here but instead have a relationship with Element Pictures who handle all their titles.

The guy I know from Fox left a few years ago and I was told that Fox, Warner Bros. Etc were all moving to London.

Maybe I was misinformed.