The unique distribution strategy makes the film a high risk in terms of it's revenue and the income that it gets. The magazine addresses the issues of releasing a film in the cinema, on DVD, TV and VoD simultaneously and also addresses the advantages of doing this, compared to the conventional staggered release which is more effective in terms of getting a higher revenue. The release generated a lot of media interest. People believe that releasing the film in this particular way is right for the arthouse movie, which targets a niche market. Piracy is an issue with a staggered release and therefore for a niche market having a simultaneous release will help an audience as they will not fear that the film will be gone after a week of being streamed in the cinema.
1. A Field In England released in cinemas, on DVD/Blu-ray, TV and on demand all on the same date. This simultaneous release is unconventional as the usual release would be staggered in order to create the maximum income. However, due to the nature of the film, the director, Ben Wheatley, believed that this simultaneous release would be best for the market.
2. The advantages of releasing the film across all platforms on the same day is that it "might help it be around longer in cinemas, and let people come to it without that panic of being around for one wee before it's gone." Also due to piracy, a film gets leaked online within a matter of days after its theatrical release, therefore this staggered release approach may cause less hype about the film as many individuals are able to stream the content for free illegally. Also due to the film being arthouse and targets a very niche market - the core demographic being ABC1 or even AB audiences - these cinema goers would most probably spend the money watching the film in the cinema to get the full experience of the film as they have money to spend and are of a middle class demographic, therefore would be interested in going to the cinema.
3. The disadvantages however is that it is a massive risk as many people may simply download the film for a substantial amount less than going to watch it in the cinema. This would make it financially unsuccessful as there will be no cinema goers. Another disadvantage is that people may just not want to watch the film, it's arthouse it hasn't been hyped through a theatrical release and not many people would be interested primarily; which is a risk with almost every film, however because it is an arthouse film it suffers a bigger risk of being disliked and therefore unsuccessful in terms of views and profit.
4. A Field In England would be targeted at quite a niche market; predominantly quite a middle-class ABC1 demographic. In terms of age, I also think it would be aimed at an elder, more mature audience due to the setting of the 17th century and the use of the black and white filming. However, I also think it has potential to appeal to a younger market due to the content of the film being drugs and the issue of psychedelia. This may therefore appeal to a wider audience, yet due to the artistic film making, may be something that the younger market may not necessarily feel comfortable with watching due to Ben Wheatley's unorthodox approach to film making. In terms of psychographics, I think the film would be aimed at explorers, however I believe that explorers are younger and more experimental so the younger market explorer demographic may be interested in the film and the succeeders as they have money and status so would be interested in quite a different and high status cinema like an arthouse one, dissimilar to a mainstream multiplex such as vue.
5. I do not think loads of film will be released like this as it is a high risk that a distributor would take. Due to the nature of the film being arthouse, this is already a risk in itself as the core target market is very niche, therefore this simultaneous release somewhat would be a good thing as a wider audience that may not necessarily want to watch the film, may just watch it due to it being on demand or on the TV. I think this approach may be more popular for arthouse films, however for high-budget Hollywood blockbusters, this would not be the smartest idea due to the amount of hype the film would get and the amount of profit they would get through a staggered release. I do think this staggered release will start to fill a closer gap due to piracy.
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