Comment Re:Physical Stores (Score 2) 323
You can't pay $1 / movie to stream any movie whenever you want because that's not a sustainable revenue model.
Financially successful movies typically demand big budgets, and these same financially successful movies typically make the bulk of their return during the initial cinema run. This is followed by the home-theatre / pay-per-view release which aims to reach both diehard fans and untapped markets that value it enough to actually pay for it. Once that's been worn out it'll head for a second theatre release if there's demand for it, and finally head to broadcast syndication and public availability like Netflix. High budget programs that reach Netflix have already made over 95% of the revenue that they will make from program viewership; further revenue comes from milking bargain bin sales, re-releases, and branded merchandise.
Were media to go straight from cinema to general availability many titles would miss out entirely on very important sources of revenue, and this would render many niche and cult-classic films entirely unprofitable. Many high-budget films would survive (albeit at a much reduced profit) provided that they have a long and successful cinema run, but quality titles that don't generate significant consumer awareness due to smaller initial market demand will simply fail miserably.