Gibney's Musk Heads to Paid Home Viewing 18 Days Early
Bleecker Street is preparing to announce a new plan that brings the paid home debut of Musk forward by 18 days. The four-hour documentary by Alex Gibney about Elon Musk will now reach paid digital platforms on Nov. 6, according to The Hollywood Reporter. It had been scheduled for Nov. 24.
Paid digital platforms are the services where viewers rent or buy a film to watch at home. The industry calls this video on demand, or VOD. The plan would give the film a shorter time in cinemas and a longer run on VOD, the trade paper reported. The film will keep playing in theatres until the Nov. 6 date.
Bleecker Street is the film's distributor, the company that places a film in front of audiences. In September, Deadline reported that the cinema release had been set for Oct. 9, one week earlier than first planned.
Since that opening, the film has taken $650,000 at the box office, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Box-office gross is the total ticket money taken before any costs are paid. The trade also reported that about 40,000 tickets have been sold. The film played on 60 screens over the most recent weekend.
Home-viewing interest looks strong on one chart and modest on another. The film ranked No. 2 on Apple's preorder chart, which tracks people paying for a film before it is available, the trade reported. On Apple's top 50 VOD orders chart for the current week, it ranked No. 24.
The film has also drawn public criticism from its subject. Elon Musk publicly opposed the documentary, calling Gibney an "idiot" and a "horrible human," the Associated Press reported.
On Oct. 24, the A.V. Club reported that the film had almost vanished from theatres. The Hollywood Reporter also said the film remains on course to debut on HBO platforms this winter. Screenings could continue alongside the home release after Nov. 6, the trade said.
For viewers, the change is straightforward. The film will be available to rent or buy at home about two and a half weeks sooner than first planned.
