One day before the first premium-VoD release, a group of leading filmmakers including James Cameron, Peter Jackson, Gore Verbinksi, Michael Bay and Guillermo del Toro have signed a letter calling on the studios to scrap the proposal.

Satellite provider DirecTV will make available Sony’s rom-com Just Go With It (pictured) to subscribers on Thursday [21] at a cost of $29.99 for a 48-hour rental window, nine weeks after the film opened in theatres on Feb 11. The traditional theatrical window averages four months and 12 days.

Warner Bros, Fox and Universal are on board the controversial plan and DirecTV will shortly be releasing titles from those studios.

However Cameron et al believe the new window – ostensibly devised by the studios in response to slower DVD business – could damage the industry.

An open letter paid for by the National Asociation Of Theater Owners and signed by 23 prominent directors and producers read: “As a crucial part of a business that last year grossed close to $32billion in worldwide theatrical ticket sales, we in the creative community feel that now is the time for studios and cable companies to acknowledge that a release pattern for premium video-on-demand that invades the current theatrical window could irrevocably harm the financial model of our film industry.”

Topics