Maybe DVD Sales Collapsed Because Movies Suck

BigHollywood.Breitbart.com ^ | 13 Oct 2009 | John Nolte

[AreaMan]

Maybe DVD Sales Collapsed Because Movies Suck

Posted By John Nolte On October 13, 2009 @ 2:31 pm In Entertainment, News | 163 Comments

Everyone seems to have an opinion as to why DVD sales have cratered since hitting their peak in 2006, but no one’s looking at the obvious answer. Plunging sales have been blamed on piracy ^[1], competing technologies such as video games ^[2]and low-priced rental outlets like Redbox ^[3]… everything but the quality of the actual films.

First and foremost, I’m a movie lover. Nothing competes for my attention in this regard, including dollar rentals and the like. But I’m just not buying anywhere near the number of new releases I did just ten years ago. Obviously, this is anecdotal evidence, so make your own comparisons:

1998 ^[4] – I purchased 15 of the top 20 money makers…

1999 ^[5] — 18 of the top 20.

2000 ^[6] — 16 of the top 20.

2001 ^[7] — 14 of the top 20.

And nothing’s changed. My tastes are the same. I still enjoy and don’t regret a single purchase (well, maybe “Planet of the Apes” — but I keep watching thinking it will get better). Now flash-forward to the last few years  and the numbers collapse:

2006 ^[8] – 5 of the top 20.

Excerpt...

[Publius6961]

Instead, my most recent purchase was the largely ignored but totally cool 1980 film, 'The Final Countdown,' which I loved as a kid.

Tell me about it.
I went to see a double feature (remember those?) one weekend and as a bonus, I was introduced to Somewhere in Time, presumably a chick-flick, which is now another of my favorites.

As I recall, it was many years before The Final Countdown was available on DVD. The F-14 flying and accompanying musical score were awesome!

[RexBeach]

This is good to know. We’ll be more thorough in the future.

[yefragetuwrabrumuy]

In all fairness, for a few brilliant films that are remembered by the public today, there are thousands of brilliant films that only bring in a few dollars of royalties each year. And even the ones you mentioned are not huge money makers anymore.

Much of the problem is in the delivery of the product to the market. Movie theaters need a different social setting than the one they’ve had since the beginning. That is, the theater pays the box office to the film distributor, and makes its money from concession sales.

They need some other means to draw in the crowds, who can then “also” watch a movie.

[TopQuark]

The point was that the quality of movies has nothing to do with that.

[a fool in paradise]

Well the drive-in has made a bit of a comeback in some areas but Obama is doing his best to kill American car culture.

Meanwhile when older films play a revival screening (and least from my experiences), they draw a packed house.

At home, you might pause the action awhile to take a call, or go walk the dog, or for whatever. And you and your spouse/friends may talk during the movie. And that screen is no “exact” replacement for a real movie screen and a projected film print.

So the act of GOING to a movie needs to be an event again, rather that just 2 hours of drudgery to be “the first” to see the latest film that really wasn’t as good as the ads played it up.

A double feature is one way to make a night out of it. Or an “event” film. It can be an older epic (with an intermission for snacks, phone calls, cigarette break, restroom, etc) or something else (there are single “broadcast” concerts at some theaters (all screenings on the same night across the nation), but too often those are just public screenings of some forthcoming DVD product.

[a fool in paradise]

I may be wrong but I don’t think that A Christmas Story was a box office hit when it came out. I think I may have seen it twice. And then not for many years (I may not have even remembered the title).

But it built a following.

[a fool in paradise]

I’ve got the original theatrical edition of Blade Runner on laser disc (after putting off buying it on numerous ocassions even after the prices dropped cheaper than used records).

I may get the DVD set (with the variant versions of the film) but generally it is a film that I’d rather see on a big screen.

And I agree on netflix queues but having bought home video for decades now, I will buy the less common titles. The Bond films will always be reissued in whatever format comes along, generally with some different content than before.

I’ve got some of the Bond films but not a complete set.

But there are other titles that will be slow if ever to be reissued. Even Koyaanisqatsi (a film that I’ve seen but do not own or intend to buy) was slow to come to DVD (at least in anything other than an exclusive high dollar edition).

Some of the resale prices on out of print DVDs are crazy ($40-100 and up).

And some of the titles I’ve rented from Netflix and would like to see again are no longer in their catalog (the title is there but it is no longer available).

[rlferny]

I also loved Somewhere in Time. I love Spartacus and I know this was big screen but Lonesome Dove (Pure Poetry)

[MarMema]

Same for us. So we rented "Young Frankenstein" and "My Life in Ruins".

Last time we watched "Nell" and really liked it.

[rlferny]

I meant Lonesome Dove was NOT big screen

[ctdonath2]

Koyaanisqatsi ... was slow to come to DVD

That was due to wrangling over who legally owned it. Probably wouldn't have ever made it to DVD if not for the intense noisy demand for it.

some of the titles I’ve rented from Netflix and would like to see again are no longer in their catalog

That's the one thing that disturbs me about relying on rentals vs. purchase, and why I will buy a few movies. "Being Human" is listed but unavailable, and very hard to find anywhere (surprising for a Robin Williams flick). I'd think "1492" (by Ridley Scott) would get any lost discs replaced, but there it is on the "unavailable" list. At least they do have a few DVD-unavailable movies on Instant Viewing (the modernized "Hamlet"), but I've seen some of those vanish as well.

Remember: atoms are persistent, electromagnetic fields are transient.

[longtermmemmory]

if you give a movie dvd away for free and people STILL don’t want to waste their time to see it, perhaps some heads should be rolling.

[sionnsar]

The only good movies these days seem to always be foreign movies.

Becoming an Iranian film fan. You want a laugh, watch "Secret Ballot." (OTOH, lots of "inside" comment there that non-Iranians like myself wouldn't get without help.)

[sionnsar]

Fixed your title: Maybe DVD Sales Collapsed Because Movies Suck

[mel]

Check out IT Crowd,

[mel]

Gee whiz, I remember being glued to television watching Dark Shadows. Absolutely loved it.

[calex59]

Netflix has the first season(1966)which doesn’t have Banarbas in it, and then they have the 1967 season which is the first one that does have Barnabas. They will probably release more as time goes by. The thing is, you can watch them on DVD from Netflix. All you need is a 9.95 membership(per month)which allows you to get one DVD at a time(as many as you can squeeze into a month, depends on how fast you can mail them back)and unlimited instant play of over 12,000 movies and TV series(unfortunately Dark Shadows is on DVD and not instant). I am still glued to my TV when I get the disk from Netflix(they usually have about 9 episodes on one disk). I am still working my way through 1966:).

[mysterio]

Netflix and on demand have probably doomed the DVD format entirely. Blu-ray discs might turn out to be the last physical format.

[mel]

Wow, i can’t wait to start watching it again. thanks so much