How Much People Would Actually Be Willing To Pay To Watch New Release Movies At Home

a couple sitting in a movie theater

Over the last couple of years, there has been a great deal of talk about the potential of seeing brand new movies get released for home viewing alongside their theatrical run, but one of the major sticking points has been the price. Just how much would such a service cost? A new survey has reported that only 5% of people would pay $50 for a movie at home the day of release. If that same movie were $25, 13% of people would pay it. However, while the numbers come in low, they are still high enough to bring in some serious revenue.

The survey was conducted by the CivicScience, a market research firm in Pittsburgh that asked 1,800 people their thoughts on paying to watch a movie at home on the same day it was released in theaters. When the price was set at $25, 64% said that they would not pay for that because it was too expensive, as opposed to 13% who said they would not pay it because they prefer the movie theater experience. However, as Variety points out, it's possible that if and when such a service came available, the actual results could be very different. For a family that goes to the movies together, $25 could be a significant savings over what it normally costs three or more people to go to the theater. Even before you include the cost of popcorn and drinks. Even a $50 price tag would be savings for a lot of people. It's possible that those responding to the survey haven't really done the math, and as such, haven't realized that the home viewing isn't as expensive as it first appears.

However, even if only 13% of Americans spend $25 on a brand new movie, in a nation of over 300 million people, that's still a financially significant number of people. Even if we're only counting Americans over the age of 13, that 13% equals 34 million people who would potentially buy into the service. 34 million is a lot of people, which also means that movie theaters could be looking at a potential loss of the same number of people, which would be a serious blow to the bottom line, which explains why theaters are dead set against a program such as this.

Movie studios like Warner Bros. seem to be taking day one home release very seriously and so this conversation is far from over. Would you pay to watch brand new movies at home rather than in a theater? What's the magic number price point that would have you making popcorn at home? Let us know down in the comments.

Dirk Libbey
Content Producer/Theme Park Beat

CinemaBlend’s resident theme park junkie and amateur Disney historian, Dirk began writing for CinemaBlend as a freelancer in 2015 before joining the site full-time in 2018. He has previously held positions as a Staff Writer and Games Editor, but has more recently transformed his true passion into his job as the head of the site's Theme Park section. He has previously done freelance work for various gaming and technology sites. Prior to starting his second career as a writer he worked for 12 years in sales for various companies within the consumer electronics industry. He has a degree in political science from the University of California, Davis.  Is an armchair Imagineer, Epcot Stan, Future Club 33 Member.