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Topic: Fox to issue rental DVDs sans bonus material

Adam Martin
I'm not even gonna point out the irony.

Posts: 3686
From: Dallas, TX
Registered: Nov 2000

posted 03-08-2009 02:50 PM

From Video Business via Hacking Netflix:

quote:
Fox Encourages DVD Purchase by Removing Extras

Video Business is reporting that Fox is removing DVD extras from rental DVDs to encourage purchasing instead of renting.

quote:
Starting with March 31 releases Marley & Me and Best Picture Oscar winner Slumdog Millionaire, wholesalers will be “authorized to sell rental accounts only the rental SKUs and to sell retail accounts only the retail SKUs,” according to a letter sent to accounts by Fox senior VP of sales Don Jeffries and obtained by VB. Fox will impose the same restrictions on direct accounts, according to the letter.

The rental DVD of Slumdog, for instance, carries only the movie and trailers, but the retail DVD also has special features including deleted scenes and commentaries. The rental Blu-ray Disc does have the bonus features, but the retail Blu-ray adds digital copy.

There are variations by title, however. Marley & Me, for example, has special features on both the retail and rental DVDs. The Marley Blu-ray also carries bonus features, but the retail Blu-ray is a combo pack with a DVD movie and digital copy.

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Geoff Jones
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 579
From: Broomfield, CO, USA
Registered: Feb 2006

posted 03-08-2009 03:23 PM

I doubt that this will have an impact.

I would presume that most people renting DVDs aren't bothering with the special features, so they won't notice when they are missing.

Furthermore, I doubt that the majority of the audience for Marley & Me & Slumdog Millionaire are big "supplemental features" fans.

I recently Netflixed the supplemental disc from the latest release of CE3K to watch the new 20 minute retrospective. If that hadn't been available for rental, it would not have driven me to buy the disc (despite the fact that it's one of my favorite films).

I tried to Netfilx the new Blade Runner documentary, but couldn't find it. So I borrowed it from a co-worker.

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Joe Redifer
You need a beating today

Posts: 12859
From: Denver, Colorado
Registered: May 99

posted 03-08-2009 07:18 PM

I wonder if the rental copies will have a higher bitrate and therefore better picture quality as a result?

Anyway, who buys a movie for the extras? I think most people buy the movie for the movie. However I've seen DVDs come with so much extras like a fold out map and little dolls and super-crappy boxes (which almost all special edition stuff has). I wanna buy the rental copies! Screw that extra nonsense! Who gives a rat's ass what the director's thought on scene 34b was? Seriously! I am a nerd and even I can't nerd up that much!

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Mike Blakesley
Film God

Posts: 12767
From: Forsyth, Montana
Registered: Jun 99

posted 03-08-2009 09:22 PM

Agreed. Renters by and large don't care about the extras - especially if they are under a time limit, they don't have time to watch'em!

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Bobby Henderson
"Ask me about Trajan."

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

posted 03-11-2009 05:40 PM

I don't mind the studios removing extras from rental DVDs, as long as they don't go crazy with the tactic on rental Blu-ray discs. Some movies do have extras I want to see.

In a certain respect, extras have been disappearing from certain DVD releases already. Lots of movies have 1-disc and 2-disc SE versions for DVD (along with widescreen and fool-screen variants). The video stores stock up the 1-disc fool-screen version and leave those wanting to nerd-out over extras stuck with having to buy the 2-disc version.

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Jesse Skeen
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1517
From: Sacramento, CA
Registered: Aug 2000

posted 03-11-2009 06:12 PM

I just hope this doesn't lead to certain titles being available for rental only (or at around $70-100 if you do wanna buy them) like with VHS. Fox wanted to do this around 1999 but thankfully didn't. I haven't rented a DVD in my over 10 years of having a player, though I've checked out a few for free from the public library and from Redbox which gives out tons of free rental codes. If they do go to a higher-priced rental market then illegal copying will become a MUCH bigger problem than it is now.

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Claude S. Ayakawa
Film God

Posts: 2738
From: Waipahu, Hawaii, USA
Registered: Aug 2002

posted 03-11-2009 06:17 PM

I only thought the movie was only worth a rental when I went to Blockbuster and took home the single disc of FORGETTING SARAH MARSHALL to watch and return. To my surprise, I really enjoyed the made in Hawaii movie and was very interested in buying a copy because I know I will enjoy having it plus the fact that the double disc version has a lot of extra special features that interests me very much. I was almost going to buy the double disc DVD but I bought a Blu Ray player first and had realized I could get a BD with all the special features and other stuff for only a few dollars more. I just bought the BD the other day and will hold off watching it until I get a HD set in a week or two. Collecting DVDs has become a joke when almost all the extra stuff now cost more. In order to get them, one will have to pay extra for a 2nd disc set. Although BDs cost more than the special edition DVDs, it comes with all of the special as well as Exclusive Blu Ray features, gorgeous 1080p picture and better sound.

-Claude.

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Bobby Henderson
"Ask me about Trajan."

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

posted 03-11-2009 07:26 PM

Forgetting Sarah Marshall had some nifty extras, such as the "Line-O-Rama," "Sex-O-Rama" and "Drunk-O-Rama" outtakes from the movie. The Blu-ray version has some exclusive picture-in-picture "U-Control" extras not found on the collector's edition DVD.

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John Lasher
Master Film Handler

Posts: 493
From: Newark, DE
Registered: Aug 2001

posted 03-12-2009 10:40 AM

Warner Bros. has been doing this for years.

There is nothing new under the sun.

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Barry Floyd
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1079
From: Lebanon, Tennessee, USA
Registered: Mar 2000

posted 03-12-2009 02:04 PM

I haven't been to a big chain Video rental store in years. However, the local mom & pop video store we frequent during the winter actually buys their DVD's at Wal-Mart. They don't even bother to take off the Walmart labeling.

May be a dumb question... but is that legal? I know nothing about the video rental business.

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Mike Blakesley
Film God

Posts: 12767
From: Forsyth, Montana
Registered: Jun 99

posted 03-12-2009 03:25 PM

I don't see how it would be illegal. A video store near here did the same thing until they went out of business last year -- except they bought their vids at Costco.

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Adam Martin
I'm not even gonna point out the irony.

Posts: 3686
From: Dallas, TX
Registered: Nov 2000

posted 03-12-2009 03:37 PM

A while back, Weinstein tried to withhold DVDs from Netflix, so Netflix went to Costco or some such place.

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Joe Tommassello
Jedi Master Film Handler

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

posted 03-12-2009 05:08 PM

Jesse is right. 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. This helps them all around...they recoup a lot of the lost revenue of the old VHS days and still get the sell-thru dollar on the back end.

If that meant three or six months down the road I could buy a used blu-ray or a new one at the sell-thru price for $10 or $12 I'd go for that. Of course my Netflix subscription would end up costing me more.

I disagree that it would add substantially to bootlegging. It's widespread now and with more people renting more and buying less - and most of the renting being done by mail or at large retailers who won't mess with bootleg discs - I think the additional income will far outweigh the loss.

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Bruce Hansen
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 847
From: Stone Mountain, GA, USA
Registered: Dec 1999

posted 03-12-2009 08:48 PM

I don't waste my time with the extras anyway.

You have the making of video. After you have seen two or three of them, you know that they are all the same. The director says how great the actors were, and the actors say how great the director was.

Then there are the bloopers, that are only funny if you were on the set when they happened.

All you have to do the find out why the deleted were deleted, is to watch them; they SUCK.

And, just like in a theater, I don't want some idiot talking aver the movie.

This will just make it easer for some people to copy the movie.

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Claude S. Ayakawa
Film God

Posts: 2738
From: Waipahu, Hawaii, USA
Registered: Aug 2002

posted 03-12-2009 09:05 PM

While many commentary on DVDs & Blu Ray are a waste of time, there have been others that were great and filled with a lot of information about the production of the film. The best ones are on Criterion especially on films like Alkira Kurosawa's SHICHININ NO SAMURAI and AKAHIGE., One can learn quit a lot about fillm making from these commentaries. Many of the "Making of" features are also very good. The only problem I have with these features is the lack of time to spend on them and that is a shame.

-Claude

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