The real value of a product, in my opinion is based on the personal enjoyment that one gets from exposure to it. If the enjoyment / cost ratio (including the manufacturing, distribution, royalties…) is too high, sales will drop and a manufacturer (studio, indy producer…) will either have to stop making the product, or make the product cheaper (outsourcing to foreign economies, use new technology, use less known actors…).

If there is a real desire for the product at its pricing, then people will accept to pay a premium, at least for a while. Then it is likely that eventually, the industry will want to create cheaper version of the product (think of all the B movies emulating tentpole releases) and by then, technology will probably have new offering that will help achieve that – i.e.: shooting HD instead of film, using greenscreen instead of traveling to location, broadband delivery instead of VHS rental…

But in the end, in my opinion, the enjoyment value is what justify what a film is worth.

I’d love to be able to watch a new release on my own schedule, on my own couch. To me that’s worth a huge premium.

Besides if you do have kids you’re looking at at least $40 to see a movie with your significant other. Fuel, parking, food, beverage, tickets, baby sitter…

$25 isnt to much for a family to watch a movie now is it?

This is the market that the studios need to address. Instead of dealing with the hassles of going to a theater I’d much rather pay a premium to watch the new release at home. I am not alone in this for most of my friends and colleagues agree. I’ll pay $20-25 for this privilege. Have my own food, my own sound, my own home.

Studios: Are you listening? Make your films available to viewers at home via Streaming or Download. People will pay a premium to watch the films and you can eliminate the hassles and costs of distribution. Your margins will increase and your audience will grown.

Get it? Give the viewer the option at a premium. They’ll take it when they can.

I don’t know where this leads, but imagine a model where prices are set by consumers (check out the lending site Prosper, http://www.prosper.com). Where products that are valued more by the general public also carry a higher price tag. Or imagine if every price was negotiated (not unlike purchasing an item from a market in a third-world country). There’s market potential in the power of the well-connected consumer that has not yet been tapped.

I like the mashing idea. Bundling the books and movies would be cool, though I’m not a fan of physical DVDs anymore.

Remind me to invite you to my next screening of “Goonies.”

But the quality will not be as good as a premium version of the same product.

Entertainment continues to gravitate toward a long-tail effect. To see what I mean go over to TCM.com and see the huge number of groups especially “fans of…”

I see packaging mashable experience as a future way to capture higher revenue. Take the Thin Man series of movies. Sell high quality DVD that includes all amazon.com books on the film series as well as on Loy and Powell and you have a viable upscale product.

Make it accessible for its owner anywhere anytime and away you go. Tie it into tickets to an annual film festival at an added price……

So price is subjective but can be driven by the seller.

On a personal level, I cannot justify renting a movie for viewing by myself for over a couple of dollars. For a family, perhaps five dollars. And to buy, I’d buy a pre-viewed DVD/BRD at under fifteen dollars before I’d pay the thirty dollars they usually ask for new. As a download, I feel ten dollars is fair, as they have few extras and I do like the “making of” features.

I’d like five dollars to buy an older (good) movie rather than a two dollar rental.

I just wish there was a clear answer to the question of what a movie is worth. Perhaps it is only in the mind of the beholder…?