Subscriptions for movie theaters

The NY Times has a good story about Netflix and their rental patterns.

Netflix sends and receives 700 million DVDs a year. Out of their 60,000 titles 35,000 to 40,000 are out every day. That number is surprisingly diverse. I would have expected Netflix’s 5 million subscribers to be more homogeneous. I guess the movie interests of Netflix subscribers are far more diverse than the mainstream movie theater crowd.

I wonder what the difference is between an average Netflix subscriber and an average theatergoer. My guess is that ticket costs make the theatergoer less likely to take risks. I’d love to see some of the art house theaters offer up a subscription program like Netflix that encourages people to take more chances.