Direct-to-video

 ( Home Video ) 

Some direct-to-DVD releases recently have tended to feature actors who were formerly bankable stars. In 2005, salaries for some of these direct-to-DVD actors in the multimillion-dollar range from $2 to $4 million (Jean-Claude Van Damme) and $4.5 to $10 million (Steven Seagal), in some cases exceeding the actors' theatrical rates.

As part of a push by the service towards original content, the subscription video on demand service Netflix began to acquire feature films for distribution on its service in the 2010s, including the 2013 documentary The Square, and its first feature film in 2015 — Beasts of No Nation. Netflix pursued a simultaneous release strategy for its films, partnering with a distributor for a limited theatrical release (in order to maintain eligibility for awards requiring theatrical release, such as the Academy Awards) simultaneous with their availability to subscribers. As this practice violates the traditional mandated by the cinema industry, major chains have typically declined to screen the films. Since 2018, Netflix has partially backpedaled from this strategy, giving its films a one-month theatrical run before their premiere on the Netflix service.

Unique circumstances have also resulted in direct-to-digital releases, sometimes alongside a limited theatrical release; the 2014 film The Interview was released simultaneously on digital and at selected cinemas, after major chains dropped the film due to terrorist threats by a hacking group believed to have ties to North Korea (whose regime is satirized in the film). The group had also leaked confidential data from the internal servers of the film's distributor, Sony Pictures.

The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in worldwide closures of cinemas due to economic restrictions and guidance against public gatherings, which prompted direct-to-digital releases for several major films; the Chinese film Lost in Russia was acquired by ByteDance for 630 million yuan (almost 100 million in US dollars) and streamed on its platforms (including TikTok) for free in lieu of a theatrical release, as part of a larger relationship with the company and the film's distributor Huanxi Media. A number of U.S. films were shifted directly to video-on-demand rentals in lieu of a theatrical release, while some have been sold directly to subscription services, including Disney+, Max, Netflix, and Amazon Prime Video.

The OVA market developed in the mid-1980s. The lax restrictions and censorship in comparison to broadcast television appealed to filmmakers, allowing them to include more controversial content, as the films did not need to rely on sponsored advertisements for financial support. The result was animated films with greater sexual, violent, or political content. The market continued to expand during the Japanese asset price bubble and began to decline with the collapse of the bubble in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

With the rise of VHS home video and the decline of the Japanese economy in the late 1980s, film studios struggled to recoup investments on big-budget films. (See Cinema of Japan) Inspired by the success of OVAs, Toei Company released the first film in its V-Cinema line, Crime Hunter, in March 1989. Following Toei's success, other studios began to release a slew of direct-to-video movies, often under lines with similar names such as "V-Picture", "V-Feature" and "V-Movie".

Relaxed censorship in V-Cinema gave way to the premier and rise of expressive auteur directors such as Takashi Miike, Hideo Nakata, Shinji Aoyama, and Kiyoshi Kurosawa. As the release of these titles were outside of usual distribution, studios and directors worked quickly to capitalize on niche markets or upcoming and current trends to increase financial returns. This period of history in Japanese cinema has been described by film journalist Tom Mes as "a far more diverse and vibrant film scene than". By 1995, the V-Cinema industry was in decline, but the explosion in quantity and variety of such movies established and cemented genres like J-horror and yakuza films.

The success of OVAs and V-Cinema has resulted in less stigma regarding direct-to-video releases in Japan than in western markets. While there are still OVA and V-Cinema releases, the market is considerably smaller than it was in the 1980s and 1990s.