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» Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE   » Community   » The Afterlife   » Fox to issue rental DVDs sans bonus material (Page 2)

 
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Author Topic: Fox to issue rental DVDs sans bonus material
Bobby Henderson
"Ask me about Trajan."

Posts: 10973
From: Lawton, OK, USA
Registered: Apr 2001

- posted 03-13-2009 09:56 AM      Profile for Bobby Henderson   Email Bobby Henderson   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
Some directors commentary tracks are well worth the listen. The commentary track on Airplane! featuring directors Jim Abrahams, David Zucker and Jerry Zucker was entertaining and often pretty funny. The commentary track on the Criterion Collection version of Robocop, with director Paul Verhoeven and producer Jon Davison, described the back and forth issues with the MPAA and what they had to edit to avoid the X-rating (those cuts are restored on the unrated version).

Likewise, some extras are pretty interesting too. I don't like the EPK puff pieces with actors and directors kissing each others' asses. That is indeed a waste of time. Extras that get into the nuts and bolts process of making the movie are much more interesting. It's like watching a documentary you would see on the Discovery channel or something.

quote: Joe Tommassello
If sales of DVDs keep declining the studios will likely adopt a new business model like they had with videocassettes - higher prices for initial releases for rental.
The home video industry was a lot smaller when "rental pricing" was standard back in the 1980s and it would shrink back to that much smaller size if high rental-style pricing was put back into effect. The industry shifted to a sell-through model in the 1990s for a number of reasons.

The studios knew they could make a lot more money by pricing movies for sell through when they debuted on home video. They also knew they were losing a lot of potential sales by way of people taping movies off cable. If the movie was only going to be priced at sell through by the time it debuted on HBO a lot of people just taped it off of HBO. Now we have the DVR thing. I can attach external hard discs to my DVR and back up lots of shows.

There's also no chance of rental pricing coming back due to the business models now firmly in place at movie studios. They produce movies with a LOT of borrowed money. They pay interest on that borrowed money. They want new movies going from theaters to home video fast so they can pay back that borrowed money fast. Rental pricing will get in the way of that big time.

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Joe Tommassello
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 547
From: Coatesville, PA, USA
Registered: Jan 2008

- posted 03-13-2009 11:43 AM      Profile for Joe Tommassello   Email Joe Tommassello       Edit/Delete Post 
quote: Bobby Henderson
The home video industry was a lot smaller when "rental pricing" was standard back in the 1980s and it would shrink back to that much smaller size if high rental-style pricing was put back into effect. The industry shifted to a sell-through model in the 1990s for a number of reasons.
Bob - I was in that industry from 1981 to 1998. I don't know what happened early this decade to VHS pricing but I can assure you most titles still debuted at $100 retail pricing (about $60 to distributors) through the end of the 90s.

Back then the studios had a 10-to-1 mindset...if they believed they could sell 10 times as many copies at sell-thru price (typically $19.95 to $26.95) they would go for it. This takes into account multiplying the cost of marketing to create the desired awareness and the lower margin of profit on each piece sold. By the late 90s the industry had grown enough that a top title could sell a million units or more at rental pricing...Basic Instinct may have been the first rental priced title to break that barrier. In any case that meant they wanted to be comfortable that they could sell 10 million units before they even considered sell-thru over rental. New Line took a shot with "The Mask" at $19.95. When "Dumb and Dumber" came up the next year they went with rental pricing. Inquiring why when it had obvious similar audience appeal and higher box office than "The Mask" I was told that only 8 million pieces of TM had sold through.

The studios are holding all the cards. If they choose to start releasing titles at higher prices initially, lowering to sell-through later and holding off various TV windows to maximize the number of units moved they could find a successful balance. ("Mr. Brooks" is only hitting pay cable now...I watched that in a hotel room in August of 2007. That's a nice long window!) Bootlegging would pick up incrementally of course, but let's face it kids...if you want something bad enough to buy a bootleg copy then you are likely to buy it anyway when it is re-priced. If you only want to see it you won't get a bootleg because the REAL rental product will be available. The studios want a bigger cut of the rental market and they are out there every day wishing for it.

10-to-1 folks. Works for "Dark Knight" or "Iron Man" for sure. But 90+ percent of the titles would not make anywhere near the numbers. We may well see this model again - especially with increased capacity for various pay-per-view or online rental options.

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Scott Norwood
Film God

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From: Boston, MA. USA (1774.21 miles northeast of Dallas)
Registered: Jun 99

- posted 03-13-2009 12:23 PM      Profile for Scott Norwood   Author's Homepage   Email Scott Norwood   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
My understanding is that what killed "rental pricing" was deals struck between distributors and rental chains (Blockbuster, etc.) whereby the distributors would provide the tapes/disks for free or almost free and the rental stores would then pay a per centage of the rental fee (or maybe it was a set fee per rental) to the distributors. As the major rental chains put the mom-and-pop rental stores out of business, fewer stores were buying tapes outright at "rental prices" anyway (and almost no consumers were/are willing to pay $100+ for a VHS tape, although the "rental" tapes were often of higher quality than the "sell through" tapes, due to the smaller production runs).

Perhaps someone who knows more about the video business can comment on whether that rumor is actually true and, if so, if that pricing arrangement still applies.

It _is_ perfectly legal for anyone to purchase a legal copy of a video/sound recording and then loan, rent, or sell that copy. Unless it is purchased with a license that allows it, it is generally not legal to exhibit it to the public or to duplicate that copy, though things have become murky with the DMCA and other recent legislation.

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Bobby Henderson
"Ask me about Trajan."

Posts: 10973
From: Lawton, OK, USA
Registered: Apr 2001

- posted 03-13-2009 01:13 PM      Profile for Bobby Henderson   Email Bobby Henderson   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
quote: Joe Tommassello
Bob - I was in that industry from 1981 to 1998. I don't know what happened early this decade to VHS pricing but I can assure you most titles still debuted at $100 retail pricing (about $60 to distributors) through the end of the 90s.
Underscore that "most" in most VHS titles debuted near $100 MSRP. It went from "all" in the 1980s to "most" in the early 1990s and then really started declining big time after that. By the time DVD debuted in 1997 most VHS releases were arriving on store shelves with sell through pricing. It didn't require working in the home video industry to be able to read prices on products sitting on store shelves.

I forgot about the factor Scott mentioned -the "Blockbuster Video" factor. They sure as hell weren't paying $100 per tape in the kind of volumes they were buying.

Also add Wal-Mart to the mix. This is where I started seeing so many new release VHS tapes being priced at $20 levels rather than $80-$100. Wal-Mart bluntly tells vendors, be they movie studios or clothing hangar companies, they have to cut prices to the bone to get any shelf space in their stores.

quote: Joe Tommassello
The studios are holding all the cards. If they choose to start releasing titles at higher prices initially, lowering to sell-through later and holding off various TV windows to maximize the number of units moved they could find a successful balance.
The studios think they're holding all the cards. The customers are still the ones holding the dollars in their wallets and deciding how they want to be entertained.

Back in the 1980s the home video industry was at best a $5 billion per year industry. Now it is at least 5 times that size. Home video revenues now dwarf the theatrical side of the movie industry. Back in the 1980s home video was only on an equal or lesser footing. If they want to try bringing back rental pricing they'll kill off much of the lucrative sell through market. They're not stupid enough to do that.

Movies have a far shorter shelf life now than in the past, in part due to the need of paying back all that borrowed production money quickly to avoid getting killed by high interest payments. The other problem is viewers have far more choices of entertainment now than ever before. Movies have to be marketed in a short term blitz just to keep them in the customers' minds.

BTW, most movies are appearing on premium cable in roughly 12 months or less after the original theatrical release. Street Kings premiered on HBO recently. That movie was released in theaters last April. Look up the movies now debuting on HBO or Showtime and you'll see a lot of early 2008 fare being offered. It isn't a 2 year window like that example of Mr. Brooks would attempt to suggest.

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Geena Phillips
Expert Film Handler

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From: Norcross, GA / USA
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- posted 03-24-2009 08:23 PM      Profile for Geena Phillips   Author's Homepage   Email Geena Phillips   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
I can't see this affecting anything. Fox already issues a single-disc version of virtually every two-disc set they put out eventually, anyway.

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Bobby Henderson
"Ask me about Trajan."

Posts: 10973
From: Lawton, OK, USA
Registered: Apr 2001

- posted 03-24-2009 10:55 PM      Profile for Bobby Henderson   Email Bobby Henderson   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
Case in point: Quantum of Solace. I thought this movie was going to be released on home video through Sony, but somehow Fox has the rights. Strange.

Anyway, there's two DVD versions available. A single disc version with minimal extras and a two disc version featuring the extras included on the Blu-ray version. The BD release is a single disc product; a deluxe 2-disc version with even more stuff is planned.

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Mike Heenan
Phenomenal Film Handler

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From: Scottsdale, AZ, USA
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- posted 03-25-2009 12:04 AM      Profile for Mike Heenan   Email Mike Heenan   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
Any news when that 2 disc blu ray will be released? My dad just bought the 1 disc, but hasn't opened it... I should take it back for him.

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Bobby Henderson
"Ask me about Trajan."

Posts: 10973
From: Lawton, OK, USA
Registered: Apr 2001

- posted 03-25-2009 12:23 AM      Profile for Bobby Henderson   Email Bobby Henderson   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
No word on the release date at this time. I'd guess 6 months or more.

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Mike Blakesley
Film God

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From: Forsyth, Montana
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- posted 03-25-2009 01:23 AM      Profile for Mike Blakesley   Author's Homepage   Email Mike Blakesley   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
quote: Bobby Henderson
I thought this movie was going to be released on home video through Sony, but somehow Fox has the rights. Strange.
According to our audio/video supplier, it's on the MGM label. (Their catalog number is MGMV113466.) Sony only had the theatrical rights. I don't see Fox in the picture anywhere.

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Richard P. May
Expert Film Handler

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From: Los Angeles, CA
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- posted 03-25-2009 09:47 AM      Profile for Richard P. May   Email Richard P. May   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
I believe Fox is MGM's home video distributor.

DM

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Bobby Henderson
"Ask me about Trajan."

Posts: 10973
From: Lawton, OK, USA
Registered: Apr 2001

- posted 03-25-2009 10:06 AM      Profile for Bobby Henderson   Email Bobby Henderson   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
Fox did the DVD and Blu-ray release for Quantum of Solace in the US. The Blu-ray version even maintains the Fox tradition of using DTS-HD Master Audio. It's pretty odd to play the movie and see a 20th Century Fox home video branding and then see MGM/Columbia Pictures branding in the actual movie.

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Bill Gabel
Film God

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From: Technicolor / Postworks NY, USA
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- posted 03-25-2009 01:41 PM      Profile for Bill Gabel   Email Bill Gabel   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
20th. Century Fox-UK is handling Quantum of Solace DVD and Blu-ray release in England.

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Claude S. Ayakawa
Film God

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From: Waipahu, Hawaii, USA
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- posted 03-25-2009 03:38 PM      Profile for Claude S. Ayakawa   Author's Homepage   Email Claude S. Ayakawa   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE is still playing at many of Honolulu's theatres at regular first run admission prices on the eve of it's video release next Tuesday from Fox. I wonder if people who are seeing this movie in a theatre at this time realize that they can rent the movie for less than it cost for a single admission ticket unless they have a thing about seeing movies on the big screen with others who talk with their companion, put up with parents with crying babies, tolerate young people who talk on text with their cel phone as well as people who arrive late after the movie has started.

-Claude

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Mike Blakesley
Film God

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From: Forsyth, Montana
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- posted 03-26-2009 12:33 AM      Profile for Mike Blakesley   Author's Homepage   Email Mike Blakesley   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
Maybe they're lucky and can find theatres that don't have those features. They're out there somewhere.

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Mike Heenan
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From: Scottsdale, AZ, USA
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- posted 03-26-2009 11:43 AM      Profile for Mike Heenan   Email Mike Heenan   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
Yup, the theater(s) I go to don't have those distractions, other than the occasional person taking out their cell to check texts during the movie.

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