This is one of the big questions asked whenever independent filmmakers get together. Back in the day, (way back when dinosaurs roamed the earth and there was such a thing as Home Video), the general consensus espoused the idea that a theatrical release was crucial to marketing your film to home video - even if you LOST money at the box office. That was then, this is now. DVDs and VHS have returned to "ancillary" income, no longer the equal to, or superior of you theatrical