CONAN ON YOUTUBE FOR A BUCK DAY AFTER RELEASE

Only a day after Lionsgate’s Conan the Barbarian was released on home video, the movie popped up on YouTube’s Dollar Theater Collection — a collection of recently released movies that can be streamed online for 99 cents. The collection also includes such major theatrical hits as Warner Bros.’ Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2; Crazy, Stupid, Love.; Green Lantern; and Horrible Bosses, and Universal’s Fast Five and Bridesmaids. (It also includes such flops as Universal’s The Beginners; Larry Crowne; and The Change-Up.) In a note to clients, BTIG Research analyst Richard Greenfield speculated that Google-owned YouTube may be using its Dollar Theater Collection as a loss leader to attract other online consumers to use its site for video rentals. “We expect consumers to embrace this rental medium,” Greenfield wrote, noting parenthetically: “Unlike Redbox you do not have to pick up the movie nor drop it off and its [sic] never out of stock, not to mention it is cheaper than Redbox following their price increase.” (In the note, Greenfield ignores Netflix, which will no longer offer any recent movies from a major studio via its streaming service after its deal with Starz expires next year.) On Wednesday, Google and Disney announced a deal that will bring hundreds of films from Disney, Pixar, and DreamWorks to YouTube for online rentals. The companies did not disclose whether any of the studios’ recent films will be included in YouTube’s Dollar Theater Collection.