Fox to start removing features from rental DVDs

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meStevo

meStevo

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Note I said DVDs, but if this proves to them this works, I think we can expect the same with Blu-Ray if we don't get the same treatment right out of the gate.

Fox To Remove Special Features From Rental DVDs | /Film

Essentially, Fox is going to start creating rental SKUs for video stores and the retail versions will retain all their special features like commentaries and behind the scenes stuff starting with Marley and Met and Slumdog Millionaire at the end of March. The goal is to weather the backlash this could potentially cause, and and spur DVD sales.

There is nothing to stop a video store from going to Wal-mart to get a retail copy and renting it though.
 
meStevo said:
Note I said DVDs, but if this proves to them this works, I think we can expect the same with Blu-Ray if we don't get the same treatment right out of the gate.

Fox To Remove Special Features From Rental DVDs | /Film

Essentially, Fox is going to start creating rental SKUs for video stores and the retail versions will retain all their special features like commentaries and behind the scenes stuff starting with Marley and Met and Slumdog Millionaire at the end of March. The goal is to weather the backlash this could potentially cause, and and spur DVD sales.

There is nothing to stop a video store from going to Wal-mart to get a retail copy and renting it though.
Click to expand...
I went to Wal-Mart last fall and was behind a woman with a cart full of Dvd's, saw her about an hour or 2 later at Hastings :D
Bad thing about this idea, (or good) is when they sell the rentals...some folk's could care less about the features.
 
I used to be a commentary guy, there are some movies I've listened to the various commentaries over and over, and I don't know if it's an age thing, or that my wife doesn't care for them (yeah, probably that), but aside from outtakes and other rare exceptions we've lost our desire for extra features.

If more collectors editions/directors cuts were built like Hellboy maybe it would be a bigger deal for us... collector's edition generally seems to mean '$4 more' instead of 'look at all these features omg!'
 
To me all the special stuff is a waste, especially when it means adding extra disks to hold it all. I'm all for reducing prices, which usually starts with the producers reducing costs. So if those "stripped-out" versions hit the retail racks for a few bucks less, I'd be even more inclined to buy...!
 
When a title comes out on 2 dics, I only get disc 1 from Netflix and never think about the extra features I'm missing. In some ways it's a relief as I don't feel obligated to at least see what the features are before returning.
 
Personally, I love extra features, especially commentaries and in-depth "making of's" that explain special effects or have interesting interviews. If a DVD (or Blu-ray) doesn't have any extra features I see little point in buying it--if I want an archive copy of the movie I record it from a movie channel or rent it.
 
Could be they are doing this as they can up their movie downloads/streaming business which gives them alot more margin. Don't put them on the DVD so people have to rent online to see special features, cutting out Wal-Mart et al. out of the equation.
 
Removing extras from "rental" versions? I don't even know why this is news because most movie studios are already doing this sort of thing on a lot of movie releases on DVD.

Take Quantum of Solace for instance. The basic single disc version is very light on extras. Just a music video of the title tune and theatrical trailers. This is the version most video stores are offering for rent.

The two disc version of Quantum of Solace adds a 2nd disc containing a lot of extra material while duplicating the main movie disc found in the basic retail version.

The Blu-ray version has everything from the 2-disc DVD, with just about everything featured in high definition.

Once Blu-ray turns into a fully mainstream consumer product (it will be another year or two) movie studios might start repeating the same recipe on it: movie on one disc, extras on another disc -offer a cheap, basic movie only version for price conscious shoppers and video rental stores.

Right now 2-disc Blu-ray releases are somewhat rare -only the biggest event movies seem to be using the model. The 2-disc editions certainly give disc authors more luxury of maximizing the bit budget for maximizing image quality of the movie itself.
 

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