So, you haven’t had time to hit the movie theater in the past few months, or years. It’s OK. People get busy. You have a life. Lucky for you, cable networks, like FX and USA are buying up the rights to popular movies so they can air them in a year or two.
For example, the newest James Bond thriller Casino Royale was snatched up by USA for somewhere in the $20 million range, according to Reuters/Hollywood Reporter. The network hopes that snagging the most successful Bond movie of the recent era will turn into booku bucks when they air the film some time in 2009. They will have the rights to it for five years. Not bad, USA, not bad at all.
FX jumped on the bandwagon too, buying up Scorsese’s The Departed after its successful run in the theaters this past year. The movie, adapted from a Hong-Kong feature, is Scorsese’s most successful movie, when talking box office dollars. In addition, FX grabbed V for Vendetta, T3: Rise of the Machines and the Nicolas Cage flop, Wicker Man. FX paid a reported $18-20 million for the set of movies, eagerly awaiting release times in 2008 and 2009.
With movie channels like HBO, Showtime, and Cinemax it is amazing that networks will still pay large sums of cash to air popular movies. The key is getting stuff for free people, rhyme not intended. The networks know that the majority of viewers want to see great movies and not pay for it. Apparently shelling out a few million a year to air a couple of movies omehow pays for itself after advertising costs. Those wily executives!
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