E-Commerce Blog

With its purchase of Vudu, an online service that delivers video to Internet-ready TVs and Blu-ray disc players, Walmart is hoping its sequel turns out better than its previous attempts to enter the online movie distribution business. The deal will put Walmart back in competion with the likes of Netflix, Redbox, Best Buy, Blockbuster and Amazon.com. It may also force other big-box retailers, like Target, to find video distribution partners. “It will be a defining service for Walmart,” said Kurt Scherf, vice president and principal analyst at Parks Associates.

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Walmart Buys Vudu to Take Another Stab at Online Movie Distribution

The movie industry loves a gala premiere, with red carpets, paparazzi and Klieg lights sweeping a glittering marquee. YouTube’s announcement this week of its new movie rental strategy is about as far away from that scenario as you can get. Instead of the commercial first-run features that are popular with Netflix members, YouTube said this week that it would make available for streaming rental five movies from this year’s and last year’s Sundance Film Festivals. The $3.99 rentals would only be available, however, from Friday through Monday.

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YouTube Slowly Sundances Into New Rental Territory

In The Rise of the Creative Class, author Richard Florida describes his theories on how creative communities grow around two groups of people: 1) artists, media workers, and other classically bohemian sorts; and 2) university professors, service providers, and other highly educated professionals. One of Florida’s examples for a work management model is “going Hollywood” — that is, teams are assembled on a project basis and then disbanded, only to be aggregated again in different configurations for a new project.

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Does ‘Going Hollywood’ Mean Going North?

2009 may have been a year of recession, but don’t tell that to the blue-skinned aliens of “Avatar,” the hormonal teen wizards in the new “Harry Potter” film or the needy talking dogs of “Up.” Their adventures in special 3-D theater screenings helped push U.S. box office receipts past home DVD sales for the first time in seven years, according to a new study. Entertainment data company Adams Media Research released findings Monday showing that box office accounted for $9.87 billion in ticket sales, a 10 percent increase over 2008’s figures.

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Box Office More Boffo Than DVDs in ‘09

Although prices for some Blu-ray players dropped below US$100 this holiday season, customers are hesitating to jump into the next-generation video format. Even people who already own Blu-ray players are still buying movies on DVDs. One big reason: Blu-ray discs won’t play on standard DVD players found in cars, computers and bedrooms. Now Hollywood — which is banking on the pricier Blu-ray discs to help lift sagging home video sales — is stepping up its efforts to win customers.

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Studios Add DVD, Digital Options to Goose Blu-ray Sales