Miramax Moronics
If the New York Times’ source is right – and keep in mind, we are dealing with a notoriously iffy industry reporter at the NYT chasing down a source to confirm gossip that Nikki Finke was softly floating – than Disney will make yet another move that seems quick and decisive, but not very smart.
Unless Disney is having major cash flow troubles, $700 million or less will not change much of anything for the company. And in the process, they would be selling off a good-sized library that may, indeed, be worth less and less in the future. But it does create revenue now and though I am not a great believer in the long tail creating a big pot o’ cash, you never know.
What possible reason would a stable company have to sell off a library with dozens of classic and near-classic titles for so little money?
Oy!
Wow, what is going on with the mighty Mouse House. Perhaps they’re having the same problems Paramount had late last year? But it doesn’ make sense that they’d be flailing like this after the underperformance of a handful of films theatrically. They had the number 3 DVD of last year in “Up” just make major $$…
Can i bid 30,000 for Phantoms?
Just curious: Any theories regarding the steep drop in library value? I would think that as the cable and on-line outlets increase — have you ever really counted just how many pay-cable movie channels there are these days? — library values would be on the increase. Obviously, I am mistaken. Why? Too much short-term thinking? Or is it demo-driven? That is, are they finding that younger auds don’t care all that much about movies made more than a decade ago?
Joe, I’m no expert here but I suspect there was a “DVD bubble” for library titles. There was probably a large amount of speculation going on assuming that the DVD party would never end. When the DVD market slows, back catalog revenue starts to dwindle, and I wouldn’t think that expanding PPV options offsets that.
Remember that about a decade ago Disney sold the rights to The Black Hole after underestimating the movie’s popularity amongst thirtysomething nostalgiasts, then shamefacedly had to buy the rights back at an inflated price when the Anchor Bay DVD sold like gangbusters.