Filmmaker Steven Soderbergh told Wired Magazine, "Simultaneous release is already here. We’re just trying to gain control over it."

Mr. Soderbergh (Traffic, Ocean’s Eleven) was talking about pirates who put illegal copies of theatrical films on the internet and street corners before they’ve seen a full day on local theater screens.

He was also talking about his new film Bubble, financed by Mark Cuban and Todd Wagner (the pair who spent part of the $5 billion they got from Yahoo for Broadcast.com on 2929 Entertainment). Bubble is the first film intentionally released on theater screens, DVD and television (via high-definition HDNet) at the same time.

The standing film industry business model pushes new releases through a series of windows, beginning with theatrical release and ending on airplanes. With rare exceptions — mostly due to unanticipated stamina at the box office — DVD’s aren’t released until after films leave the theaters and movies aren’t available to cable until DVD marketing has a chance to pay off and so on. But that model is already hard pressed as release dates crush closer together. Now Wagner and Cuban are abandoning phased rollout altogether. If their plan works, they’ll save big on marketing expenses that often amount to more than a film’s budget. "This way we can cut through the clutter once, spend the money once and allow people to buy it however they want to consume it, whenever they want to watch it," Wagner told c|net.

The two are convinced they can make more money for theater owners too. As if to prove the point, they acquired the Landmark Theater chain — in reality, the purchase ensures that the six – eight releases planned for 2006 get big screen play even if they encounter resistance at the multiplex.

They will. The biggest chains have so far turned up their noses at the deal. At the regional level, theater owner Greg Laemmle, whose Los Angeles chain bears his family name, told c|net: "God bless them, they own films, and they own chains, and we will watch with curiosity. But the reality is, we’ve seen the impact that DVD release had on grosses, and there wasn’t a lot of business left."

One way or another, things are not likely to get better for run of the mill movie houses. "When the changeover from film to digital happens in theaters in five or 10 years," Soderbergh told Wired, "you’re going to see name filmmakers self-distributing."

Name filmmakers self-distributing…Greg Laemmle isn’t the only one watching with curiosity:

"How are you gambling with Bubble?" Wired asked Soderbergh.

"There are risks," he said, "and then there are risks. I’m not working in a coal mine. Still, everybody involved did it for scale pay, and everyone owns a piece of the profits."

"Sounds like the financial model for a startup," Wired replied.

"Exactly," Soderbergh said. "I’d be thrilled if the model works well enough for me to do that all the time."

The U.S. entertainment industry, which famously employs more Americans than the steel industry, is ripe for disruption by the interaction between entrepreneurs like Wagner, Cuban and Soderbergh and consumers who want what we want, when and where we want it. Disintermediation is coming soon to a theater near you…