Is Home Streaming of Theatrical Releases Coming Soon?

Movie night can morph into fright night when you calculate the high cost of seeing a first-run flick at the theater. An emerging concept can change all that, newly released films directly to home video or streamingwhile theaters are still playing them.

Two Hollywood studios are making a test run of the concept in South Korea, according to The Wall Street Journal. If the trend ever catches on the U.S. it could come with huge savings in comfort and cash for you and your family.

American theaters have already begun to fight back. AMC and certain other top-name cinema chains demand any film it plays have a 90-day lag period between the time it’s released in their theaters and the time it’s released at home.

But it’s not as if overall ticket sales are hurting. The movie market had record ticket sales in 2012, according to the Huffington Post, raking in $10.8 billion. But film bigwigs are still concerned that the business’s DVD and Blu-ray disc sales have tumbled to $7 billion from $10.3 billion over a seven-year period, which may be in response to the popularity of home streaming options.

The average movie ticket price was $8.12 in 2012, WiseGeek notes, and once you add on the $6 popcorn and $4 drink, you’re looking at a $20 price tag for a single person to enjoy a film in the theater. Attend with your family of four and you’re spending $80 for about two hours of entertainment (plus time lost for bathroom breaks).

WiseGeek did the math and found you could instead rent a DVD, purchase popcorn and soda from the supermarket and even buy a $40 DVD player for a movie night for four of $54. If you already own the DVD player, the next movie night for your family of four could potentially cost as low as $14.

Another way to slash the bill is to go for a plan that offers unlimited movie streaming from the Internet, opening the door for as many movies you and your family want to watch for one monthly fee.

Your initial outlay will be a higher, but it can start paying for itself rather quickly. Do the math on this scenario and you’re likely to pay $100 instead of $40 for a DVD with streaming capabilities and another $10 or so for a monthly unlimited movie and TV streaming plan. The monthly cost of your Internet connection can also stay low if you opt for service from CenturyLink Internet or other companies that offer high-speed Internet at reasonable or discounted monthly rates.

Add it up and your initial outlay can be about $130 for the month you buy the DVD player and $30 per month thereafter. If you were to be lucky enough to have time to stream one movie per day, you could watch an entire month of movies for as low as $30. Compare that to $2,400 it would cost your family of four to see 30 movies at the theater