HOW MUCH DOES HOLLYWOOD EARN FROM DIGITAL RELEASES?

Although the studios release a wealth of information publicly about how their movies perform at the box office — estimated weekend ticket sales, final results (sales and attendance), international ticket sales, etc. — there is no such transparency when it comes to home video, something that may be about to change, the New York Times observed today (Monday). What is likely to force the change, it observed, may be upcoming negotiations with the industry’s unions and guilds, which presently have no idea how much studios are earning from digital distribution. The Times quoted Liesl Copland of the William Morris agency as saying that “transparency could have a watershed moment” during upcoming negotiations between the studios and the guilds. But Bruce Goerlich, chief research officer for Rentrak, which provides most box-office data, told the Times that there is a basic reason for the entertainment industry’s inclination to withhold digital sales data: “Measurement can equal monetization can equal a fight,” he said.