Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Delayed home video rental dates

This is topic Delayed home video rental dates in forum The Afterlife at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.

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Posted by Claude S. Ayakawa (Member # 1401) on 08-03-2009, 02:51 PM:

Paramount Home Video announced they will release rental copies of DANCE FLICK about three weeks after it is released on Blu Ray and DVDs are introduced to stores. I guess it it an experiment by Paramount . If such a new policy is ever implemented, it wlll make no difference to me and I doubt it will to others because I know what I want to buy and rent before any new titles are released. I guess it is Paramount's intention to encourage purchase rather than rental. If I could wait three months or so after a movie completes it's theatrical engagement to rent the movie on Blu Ray or DVD, an extra three weeks will make no difference to me.

-Claude

Posted by John Wilson (Member # 269) on 08-03-2009, 07:03 PM:

So you're the one hanging out for 'Dance Flick'! [Wink]

Paramount should just deliver it to you directly and save making all those other copies.

Posted by Claude S. Ayakawa (Member # 1401) on 08-03-2009, 08:26 PM:

Never heard of the movie, John [Smile]

I can understand Paramount doing this in November for the new STAR TRECK movie when there will be great demand for it but what is the big deal with DANCE FLICK?

-Claude

Posted by Bill Gabel (Member # 1105) on 08-04-2009, 09:19 AM:

Claude, They are just testing the water. To see if it works before they use it on a Big title. [thumbsup]

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 08-04-2009, 11:57 AM:

I can see that working. This way PAR sells more titles and gives less $ to the rental business which they don't get a piece of.

Here is the dialogue that will play out in stores everywhere:

Customer: I want to rent Dance Flick.

Clerk: Sorry, that title is "purchase only" for three more weeks.

Customer's teenage kid: But MOM, I want to see it NOW!!!!

Customer: Oh fine, we'll just buy it.

Posted by Lyle Romer (Member # 1266) on 08-04-2009, 12:07 PM:

I think this is probably due to the fact that DVD/Blu-ray purchases are beginning to decline and rentals beginning to increase as a percentage of total. I think people are finally realizing (like they did after the buy every movie on VHS and build a library craze) that there is no need to purchase most movies on Blu-Ray or DVD since you're only going to watch them once and never pull them off the shelf again.

I guess paramount is determining if they can reverse the trend.

Posted by Joe Tommassello (Member # 4632) on 08-04-2009, 03:20 PM:

Actually you got it backwards. The rental DVDs come out FIRST and the sell through later!!!!

They are not trying to reverse the trend. They know that won't happen. They are trying to establish a model to get more income from the home video rental market. This is the direction I predicted things would go back in the "Fox to issue rental DVDs sans bonus material" topic. Look at this from Video Business (link to entire article at bottom of post):

One potential downside for rentailers is their cost to purchase the Sept. 8 DVD carries about a $4 premium over typical standard DVD orders. In an additional wrinkle, rentailers say that in order to revenue share the Sept. 8 Dance Flick, they must agree to hold off selling the copies as previously viewed for a substantial amount of time—well after the DVD version rolls out for sale.

Now it's only $4 and on a nothing title. But I told you all this is the direction the studios would try to go. Soon it will be a big title...probably early next year. I didn't know the retailers were revenue sharing though I should have assumed it due to the low cost of DVD compared to the old VHS rental model. So they pay $4 more and still have to share revenue? Or is it one or the other? In any case I knew the studios would find a way to try squeezing more money out of the rental market!

Video Business Article

Posted by Mike Frese (Member # 4361) on 08-04-2009, 11:32 PM:

Hey Joe,

I also own video stores as well as operate a movie theater. Dance Flick (and Summit will do the same with Brothers Bloom and other titles) will be available to video stores by one of two methods (which is normal): 1) through traditional distribution at a cost of aprrox. $23 vs aprox $19 normally (yes Wal-Mart & Bets Buy are cheaper on the "A" titles which is where I get most of my copies) or 2) Revenue Share through Rentrak PPT division.

Method 1 contains all First Sale Doctrine rights which means you can sell it at any time. Method 2 does contain the restriction on selling copies until after the title is available for retail.

BTW Blu-Ray copies will be available the same time as rental.

Posted by Joe Tommassello (Member # 4632) on 08-05-2009, 01:55 PM:

Rentrak - there's a word I haven't heard in a lot of years.

So, Mike, presumably you will be forced to buy your DVD rental copies of "Dance Flick" at the $23 price (and agree to not sell used copies till "well after the dvd version comes out") or wait until the DVD sell-through versions come out at retail four to eight weeks later and buy them without restriction from a retailer. Am I reading that right?

Posted by Mike Frese (Member # 4361) on 08-06-2009, 05:08 PM:

Joe,

If I buy them from distribution for that price I get all First Sale Doctrine rights. So I could sell them at any time. Now since I paid so much for my copies, it is unlikely that I will sell them for 30 days or longer b/c I would have to get $20 or so to make it worth my while.

You will not see too many copies up for sale before the retail date except a few on Ebay. The chains like to revenue share. When they have to purchase outright they have shown a tendency to buy light and therefore not have many to sell. Amazon will likely not have a listing up for it (for the used dealers) as they will be pressured by Paramount to not have listing for it. So the last place will be Ebay.

Posted by Chris Hipp (Member # 1788) on 08-06-2009, 05:20 PM:

I read an article earlier today about how FOX wants to make it so REDBOX can't carry their DVDs until 30 or 45 days after the release date. I can understand the logic behind wanting to do that, I just wonder if it would be effective.

Take me for example, if I go to the redbox machine as I am leaving the store to see if it has a movie, and it isn't there (which is pretty common) I don't rush back into the store to spend $20 to buy the movie so I can watch it one time.

The question is, are people who have grown accustom to being able to rent a movie for $1 actually going to pay full retail to see the movie, or just wait until they can see it for $1? I don't think it is the same as the difference between seeing a movie in a first run theater vs a dollar house. At the first run you 'usually' get a better picture, sound and more comfortable chairs, so you pay a little more and get a little more. A dvd is the same either way.

I haven't bought a DVD in about three years. I used to buy them from the $5 bin at walmart because it was cheaper than renting from Blockbuster, then I started doing netflix, then they vending machines came out and I realized I could watch the same number of movies for less than netflix (I had a tendency to not mail them back right away and was wasting money) If I get two movies from the machine per week, that is $8 a month, half of what I paid at netflix. Netflix is worth it if you want obscure titles though.

Posted by Claude S. Ayakawa (Member # 1401) on 08-06-2009, 05:43 PM:

Chris, we do have Redbox rental boxes in Hawaii and I have seen them at places like Safeway stores and other locations. How is the availability of titles especially new releases? Because I hardly frequent movie theatre now to see a movie and prefer to view them at home. I expect the best presentation at home and that is the reason I had invested in a good HD set and a Blu Ray disc player. At about $38.00 a months, I am satisfied with my Blockbuster membership because I can watch about 24 movies a months and more than half of them in Blu Ray.

-Claude

Posted by Chris Hipp (Member # 1788) on 08-07-2009, 06:22 PM:

The red box does have a pretty limited selection and, at least none around here, have blu-ray rentals. As far as availability, it is usually pretty hard to get a new release for about two weeks, either they haven't stocked them yet or it is just sold out already. One nice thing about it is that you can return the discs at any location.

If you watch a lot of movies, especially on blu-ray, then I would stick with your blockbuster or netflix. I generally only rent one movie a week or every two weeks, so the red box works out great for me.

Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 08-07-2009, 07:41 PM:

Does Redbox even have widescreen versions of DVDs or are they always pan and scan? I assume the McDonald's crowd which Redbox caters to only have 4:3 TVs and hate scary black bars. If you like Redbox, you like McDonald's.

Posted by Chris Hipp (Member # 1788) on 08-07-2009, 11:16 PM:

I can't recall ever getting a pan and scan version of any movie.

Posted by Brad Miller (Member # 2) on 08-08-2009, 12:15 AM:

Down at Copperfield your discs were all pan and scan.

Posted by Jesse Skeen (Member # 586) on 08-10-2009, 06:34 AM:

They seem to finally be doing less separate "foolscreen" DVDs lately- Redbox always seems to carry what's most faithful to the theatrical version; I only use them when they have free codes out but I've never gotten a pan & scan version as long as a widescreen edition was out. I heard they got the pan & scan "Live Free Or Die Hard" though because the widescreen version included the 'unrated' version (as well as the theatrical version) but the pan & scan disc just had the theatrical, and they don't see to like carrying 'unrated' stuff unless that's the only way it's available. It looks like for the new "Friday the 13th" they have "The Killer Cut" though instead of the theatrical version (both versions are still MPAA rated R), but I'm gonna wait til I can get the Blu-Ray cheap anyways since it has both versions on it.

I'm wondering if someone will try 16x9 "full screen" versions of 2.35 movies, cropped to fit 16x9 TVs instead of 4x3. It looks like most widescreen TVs have a setting that zooms in on 2.35 for the black-bar-haters out there, so hopefully no one will try doing a special transfer for them.

What's going on with Dance Flick though- if the standard DVD is rental-only, what's its actual cost going to be and can regular customers order it for purchase if they really want it? If it's priced ridiculously high like VHS new releases were, I'm gonna illegally copy it just on principle.

Posted by Claude S. Ayakawa (Member # 1401) on 08-12-2009, 07:21 PM:

I am a Steven King fan and remember seeing the movie version of his short story CHILDREN OF THE CORN at the Consolidated's Kapiolani Theatre and enoying it very much when it was first released. I had learned the movie in Blu-Ray was coming out in a few weeks on August 25th and imagine my surprise to find it at Best Buy and on sale already. I was told by the sales girl that Best Buy has an exclusive early release arrangement with Anchor Bay of the movie in Blu-Ray and it became available last week. They also had another BD exclusive early release with deal Target a few months ago with the movie TWILIGHT.

I have seen CHILDREN OF THE CORN on video many times with picture quality terrible on VHS tapes and not too bad on laserdisc but terrific in Blu-Ray. The film elements has held up rather well all these years and watching the movie on BD lookedl like I was viewing a more recent film. It was that good. They even did a wonderful job remixing the original mono sound and producing a very good 5.1 track. The only thing about the movie that falls flat was the special effects that was not very good even even in 1984 when the film was released. It however has it's charm with it's many scary moments.

-Claude