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"Bubble" is a murder mystery set in a dollmaking factory. The movie has some theater owners worried it will undercut their business because it's being released on DVD and cable at the same time as it's in the theaters. (Image courtesy of Magnolia Pictures)

Director Steven Soderbergh's new movie "Bubble" is causing concern in the cinema world. Not so much the movie, but how it's being released. Soderbergh's films such as "Ocean's 11" and "Sex Lies and Videotape" have drawn theatrical audiences for years. But "Bubble" is going to be released simultaneously in the theaters, on cable, and three days later on DVD. Theater owners say it's going to hurt.

St. Paul, Minn. — It's been a bad few months for the movie business. The box office is down in part because the holiday blockbusters didn't draw the hoped for huge crowds.

But also customers complain about the hassle and expense of going to a show which might well be ruined by some bozo talking on a cell-phone. Many people are chosing to watch movies at home.

Now the president of the National Association of Theater Owners, John Fithian, says the business is facing "the biggest threat to the viability of the cinema industry today." He's talking about what's called "the day and date release strategy," where a film is available on cable and DVD while it's still in the theaters.

Leading that charge is a guy called Mark Cuban, who has a seven day and date picture deal with Steven Soderbergh beginning with "Bubble."

"With the goal," Cuban says, "that anybody who is a Steven Soderbergh fan, and this is a really cool murder mystery, that wants to see the movie, you can see it wherever, however, whenever."

Cuban is known to many as the flamboyant owner of the Dallas Mavericks basketball team. But he is also owns several movie businesses, including Magnolia Pictures, and the Landmark Theater chain, which has 10 screens in the Twin Cities. And he owns a cable network and a dvd production and distribution company. Cuban says by exploiting digital technology his combined companies can provide film fans with better choices

"All of us have been in situations where we wanted to see a movie on opening weekend but couldn't get a babysitter, couldn't get out of the house, had to work," Cuban says. "Or maybe you live in a small town and first-run movies, particularly independant fare take six weeks just to make it to your city if at all. So there are so many reasons why it makes sense to enable fans of a film to consume it how they want it that we just decided to go forward with it."

Some local movie theater people aren't pleased.

"I read his blog about this about a week and a half ago," says Adam Sekular, "and I sent it out to a couple of film programmers I know as 'Read what the enemy is saying.'"

Sekular works for Minnesota Film Arts, which runs the Oak Street Cinema, a non-profit art moviehouse in Minneapolis. The Oak Street has felt the impact of cable and DVD recently, and competition from Landmark too as they try to book films. Sekular says people who watch movies only at home miss out on seeing a film on a big screen, and he says the community misses out too.

"Sitting down with a group of 40 strangers watching something and then maybe on meeting somebody in the theater afterwards, starting to talk to somebody who might your neighbor who you never saw before, it opens a whole world of possibilities," he says.

St. Paul Pioneer Press film critic Chris Hewitt says theater owners have predicted every new technology since TV would kill their business, yet people keep going to movies. He's a little worried about day and date moving audiences away from a theatrical experience.

"One of the things I love about going to the movies," Hewitt says, "Is putting myself in the hands of a film maker who is gifted at manipulating me, or manipulating might be too loaded a word for people, but I like putting myself in the hands of somebody. In a way if you have got the DVD, even if it's the same movie you lose that because it's at your mercy and not the other way round."

Hewitt points to "Bubble" as an example. It is a murder mystery, but it's an art film, a very low key story about three people working in a doll factory. All the actors are amateurs. Hewitt says people watching with a remote might be tempted to fast forward, and miss out on the elements of the film.

Mark Cuban admits "Bubble" is no "King Kong." In a way he says that's the whole point. It's a specific film aimed at a specific audience. He also points out he's going to be selling the DVD at a premium price. That he says will encourage people who want to see it to head to the theaters where it's cheaper.

"Remember, we own theaters," Cuban says. "We own Landmark Theaters. We don't want to see attendance drop, we want to see it increase." "Bubble" is opening only on 20 screens nationwide, and no-one expects the film to break any box office records. However Cuban says directors are lining up to make day and date release films with his companies.