Cinemas at war with studios over plan to screen films in homes1 min read
Reading Time: < 1 minuteCinema chains could refuse to show major films in a showdown with two leading studios over home viewing.
Warner Brothers and 20th Century Fox are expected to soon launch a premium online video-on-demand service, allowing people to watch movies on their TVs and computers a month after they are first screened.
Cinema companies are outraged by the proposals, which would greatly reduce the standard gap of four months between cinematic openings and films becoming legally available for the small screen.
They believe it would greatly cut into profits by reducing their time window for luring audiences into cinemas and have warned that it would cause many cinemas to close down.
