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Author Topic: DVD sales going south? Mark Gulbrandsen Resident Trollmaster Posts: 16657 From: Music City Registered: Jun 99 posted 04-25-2007 10:47 AM                     Thats odd since I seem to buy enough of them... but at the 5.99 counter at Smith's and mainly older films.. I rarely have time to go to the movies . Mark  |  IP: Logged Mike Williams Master Film Handler Posts: 255 From: Knoxville, TN Registered: Feb 2002 posted 04-25-2007 11:15 AM                     Some of you may not agree with what I am going to say: I am afraid that this also shows where the theater industry will eventually end up. With subscription services and video download services popping up everywhere AND a narrowing window between theater release to rental - what is going to keep people going to the movies? Eventually, whether we want it to happen or not, there will be a day when most movies are released day and date with video. When that happens, there needs to be something compelling to bring people to theaters. My guess is the only theaters that will be doing ok at this point will be the ones with some sort of gimmick - like the largest screen or a cinema grill type where real food is served. I am not going to pay $10+ a person plus concessions to sit in a 55 seat auditorium with a small screen. What I think this may mean is that a lot of the 20+ screen mega plexes popping up everywhere are going to be in trouble at some point. Sure, there will always be an audience (like teenagers out on Sat night) but I think even that will dwindle as the release gap gets smaller and it becomes easier to choose your movie from home.  |  IP: Logged Mark Gulbrandsen Resident Trollmaster Posts: 16657 From: Music City Registered: Jun 99 posted 04-25-2007 11:55 AM                     If Hollywood keeps churning out the crap they have been I couldn't agree with you more!! Mark  |  IP: Logged John Pytlak Film God Posts: 9987 From: Rochester, NY 14650-1922 Registered: Jan 2000 posted 04-25-2007 12:34 PM                        Most of the DVDs that I buy are for gifts. Likewise, most of the ones I own were gifts. Mostly I am using HBO-HD, HBO-on-demand, and TCM for the films I watch on television. Also have a gift Netflix subscription (3-DVD plan).  |  IP: Logged Bobby Henderson "Ask me about Trajan." Posts: 10973 From: Lawton, OK, USA Registered: Apr 2001 posted 04-25-2007 12:38 PM                     I think retail sales of pre-recorded movies on disc will continue for quite some time to come. Many customers simply prefer having a tangible product in their hands or on their bookshelf. A good parallel example to this is computer software. Lots of people still prefer to buy a box with the discs inside rather than simply download it. However, I think the video rental business clearly has its days numbered. Eventually average Internet speeds across much of the nation will reach 30 million bits per second and well beyond that. I'm positive the United States will be there within the next 10 years. The pace of improvement is happening much faster in other developed nations and that's going to force the United States government and the dipshit telcos operating here to stop getting by trying to do the same old thing. The imbalance works as a very serious economic threat. Once the Internet is fast enough in enough places, stores like Blockbuster Video will be doomed. On demand movies and other video streaming in real time at 1080p HD resolution will not only kill off most video stores. It could also cause a huge amount of upheaval in the television broadcast industry. Traditional forms of over-the-air broadcasting, as well as cable and satellite, could all get torpedoed by this. Broadcast networks are used to competition coming from other domestic rivals. Local TV stations mainly compete against other local affiliates. All of that could change radically with an ultra high speed Internet.  |  IP: Logged Tim Reed Better Projection Pays Posts: 5246 From: Northampton, PA Registered: Sep 1999 posted 04-25-2007 02:54 PM                       Funny you should mention that, Bobby. Yesterday, I noticed a nearby rental store that had closed this week. quote: John Pytlak TCM for the films I watch on television You can't get much better than that! TCM is one of my favorite channels.  |  IP: Logged Jesse Skeen Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1517 From: Sacramento, CA Registered: Aug 2000 posted 04-26-2007 05:39 AM                     Whoever thought this a worthy news story is invited to come inspect my DVD collection, and if they think I don't have enough I will gladly go buy more to help the industry.  |  IP: Logged Claude S. Ayakawa Film God Posts: 2738 From: Waipahu, Hawaii, USA Registered: Aug 2002 posted 04-26-2007 11:52 AM                        I will have to disagree about DVD costs being higher than before. Yes, the MSRP may be higher but stores like Walmart, Best Buy, Target, Circuit City as well as Costco and Sam's Club never sell them at those prices when they are released. If your took advantage of Best Buy's offer this week, one could buy "THE QUEEN and DE JAVU"" for $12.95 each if you bought both of them together. You can also get "A NIGHT AT THE MUSEUM" for "$14.95 if you used a coupon that came with ERAGON" at Costco. The only thing that has changed as far as I know with many new DVD's is the release of two versions of the same movie - a single and a double disc set with the two disc set costing about seven dollars more. Yes, compared to Laserdiscs, DVDs are still a great bargain especially if you wait a couple of months when many are offered for ten dollars or less. -Claude  |  IP: Logged Bobby Henderson "Ask me about Trajan." Posts: 10973 From: Lawton, OK, USA Registered: Apr 2001 posted 04-26-2007 01:01 PM                     One major problem: a lot of those DVDs aren't worth the space they take up on an entertainment shelf regardless of the price cuts. Many movies are indeed "one timers" if they're worth watching at all. If the movie ends up being watched just once, then money was wasted if that movie was bought rather than rented. I just don't see any many new movies being released these days that stand up to repeat viewings. There's a few, but just not enough. Not as many as compared to a few years ago and well before then.  |  IP: Logged Mike Blakesley Film God Posts: 12767 From: Forsyth, Montana Registered: Jun 99 posted 04-26-2007 07:17 PM                        quote: Bobby Henderson If the movie ends up being watched just once, then money was wasted if that movie was bought rather than rented. I don't see that at all. I have lots of DVDs that I haven't had time to watch yet, or ones that I might want to watch again "sometime," when I'm in the mood for that particular show. If I ever decide I don't want a disk anymore, I can always eBay it. That way I've enjoyed it to my heart's content, with no "time limit," and I might even get back more than I originally spent. [quote]I just don't see any many new movies being released these days that stand up to repeat viewings. There's a few, but just not enough. Not as many as compared to a few years ago and well before then./quote] That could be just a sign of age. I think the 18-to-25 year olds of today will still be watching "Star Wars Episode III" and "Wedding Crashers" when they're in their 50s, the same as I still like to watch "Green Acres," one of my favorite shows when I was a kid.  |  IP: Logged Mike Heenan Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1896 From: Scottsdale, AZ, USA Registered: Mar 2000 posted 04-26-2007 07:30 PM                     What's unfortunate these days is that you can't really recoup your costs on the DVD by selling it on ebay. Back within the first few years of DVD's release (97-01) I was regularly buying them the first week at best buy or costco, where they'd be like $15.99 or so, and I would sell it on ebay if I didn't like it, and usually made enough back so that all I was out was the cost of a rental (say around $4 bucks or so). Heck, I even made MORE money than it cost me for a DVD of Not Another Teen Movie one time. With the over saturation of the market it's tough to do that anymore in my experience.  |  IP: Logged Bobby Henderson "Ask me about Trajan." Posts: 10973 From: Lawton, OK, USA Registered: Apr 2001 posted 04-26-2007 09:45 PM                     quote: Mike Blakesley I don't see that at all. I have lots of DVDs that I haven't had time to watch yet, or ones that I might want to watch again "sometime," when I'm in the mood for that particular show. I guess that's where our opinions will immediately differ. While I do have friends who still have store-bought DVDs in their shrink wrap (even months or years after purchase), any DVD I have purchased I immediately watched. If I didn't feel like watching that movie then, why buy it then? Why not just buy it when I feel like watching it? It's sort of a "positive cash flow" kind of thing. Also, I still fail to see the point in buying any "one timer" quality movie. A new release costs $3.99 to rent typically. There are no legitimate stores anywhere selling new movies for that low a price. Even movies in the clearance bin at Wal-Mart typically cost at least a couple of dollars more. And those movies only hit that $5-$6 price point 2-3 years after release (and the movies usually have to really suck balls as well). After just a few months the typical rental fee on a not-so-new release will drop to $1.99 or even 99 cents. And there's still that space issue I brought up. Lots of DVDs I don't watch waste space on my entertainment shelves. I'm not going to buy DVDs as decoration to fill up a shelf. Considering how bad some movies are these days I don't want many of my friends knowing I even own some of that trash. Some of those movies are so shitty it would be less embarrassing for the girlfriend to find the stash of hardcore porn.  |  IP: Logged Mike Heenan Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1896 From: Scottsdale, AZ, USA Registered: Mar 2000 posted 04-26-2007 10:38 PM                     Anyone still paying $4 a pop for rentals at blockbuster should look into their online rental system, its comparable in price with Netflix but the plus with blockbuster is that you can drop the movie off at a store and it's returned, and you can rent one at the store as your next choice for no charge (goes towards your monthly fee).  |  IP: Logged Monte L Fullmer Film God Posts: 8367 From: Nampa, Idaho, USA Registered: Nov 2004 posted 04-27-2007 04:37 AM                     But, you watch - you collectors out there with a wall to wall rack covered with DVD's: let them age a few dozen or so years, esp if the original format dies off, then have them in the cellar really keeping the age on them. Then, when the time comes to bring them into the light: you might have a "gold mine" of something valuable down the road.  |  IP: Logged Mike Blakesley Film God Posts: 12767 From: Forsyth, Montana Registered: Jun 99 posted 04-27-2007 09:54 AM                        I'm not so sure about that. With storage getting cheaper and more plentiful all the time (thereby allowing online keeping of content), and playback device formats disappearing every decade or two along with computer "reading" devices (seen any 5" floppy drives lately?), in 50 years all those DVDs will probably be unplayable artifacts.  |  IP: Logged

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