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It doesn't, in practice. Consider the NPV of year 36 with, say, a 10% discount rate. It's low. Also, having watched directly some fairly famous friends deal with property coming up on the 35 year mark, media companies are adept at tying in other deals, finally getting projects financed, cutting a deal for a different project with some agreements made about the original property.. You can imagine.

Probably not, because of the monopoly power mentioned - and also because you can't count on a copyright to be worth anything after 35 years.

Why? A publishers goal is always to pay nothing at all for the rights, at best this is simply another excuse.

For the same reason a 35-year lease on a house is cheaper than buying it outright. If you know you won't own it forever, you won't pay as much.

That’s not the right comparison. Is a 35 year lease that much cheaper than a 70 year lease? Copyright isn’t forever.