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It’s fascinating to watch what changes in times of crisis. Examples are legion from the past ten weeks but the over-the-top direct to TV film releases turns an entire industry on its head. While Netflix and others have been doing some of this now it’s the movie theaters getting in on the action.
Just in the past weeks Alamo Drafthouse launched on Screenplus while other indie theaters like our own Roxie in San Francisco launched on VIMEO. It may not seem like a shift because the distribution model is the same, what’s really different is the sensibility, the packaging because most what I pay Alamo or Roxie for is the movies they choose. Their home screening options deliver the same sensibility but at home. I would have never found Lucky Grandma if Alamo hadn’t recommended it and it turns out to be one of the funnest and sharpest movies I’ve seen in a long time. Remember when Netflix had a million dollar bounty for whoever could approve its taste matching algorithm? It’s still a major problem but indie theaters solved it the old fashioned way.