Fox tries doomed, absolutely retarded DVD scheme…

Updated on April 14, 2009 By Ken Begg 13 Comments

With DVD sales plummetting anyway, Fox has decided to shoot itself in its pants (I think ‘shooting itself in the foot’ fails to cover how dumb this is) by trying to sell two versions of DVDs now; fully packed versions for consumers, and barebones, film-only editions for the rental markets, including libraries.

They are trying to control this by sending only the rental versions to the distributors that these institutions buy from, but needless to say, this will immediately backfire.  (Which of course actually threatens the distributor’s sales and livelihoods.)  I’ve spoken to the woman who buys our DVDs at the library here, and she says there’s already a movement to simply boycott buying Fox DVDs until this blows over.  Of course, we can work around it anyway, for if there’s a film we really need, we can buy it from a regular commercial source, like Amazon or Wal*Mart.  I imagine Netflix et al will do the same.

Speaking of, one of Fox’s first experiments in this regard involves the discs for the Oscar-winning Slumdog Millionaire, and Fox has already screwed the pooch by accidentally shipping Amazon the rental versions.  Amazon wisely is throwing the matter back on them, so that irate consumers have to work through Fox to get their replacement copies.  I hope these folks are properly cheesed off and let Fox know how much they like it.

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  • gzilla77

    I wouldn’t be so sure about Netflix. I have noticed recently that they have been shying away from offering bonus feature discs on certain titles. For instance, the F13 documentary His Name Was Jason was only released as a 2 disc set, yet the 2nd disc is not offered through them. Also, Hulk VS was released in both a 1 and 2 disc version. The one pictured on their site is the 2 disc but once again, that 2nd disc is not offered for rental. Sounds like they may just be itching to take Fox up on this possibly.

  • Actually, Netflix does offer the second disc for the Jason set. You just have to sign up for it as a second item.

  • fish eye no miko

    What if I want to see what the extras are like before I buy it, by renting it and looking at them…? If the fully loaded versions and the bare bones versions are different prices (I’m assuming they’re offering both at to consumers), I might decide to just the bare bones one unless I can check out the extras and see if they’re worth the extra $5-$10.

  • D

    This isn’t exclusive to Fox. Blockbuster (in Canada, anyway) gets special, custom versions of most Sony DVD releases. If the normal release is 2 discs, like You Don’t Mess With The Zohan, for instance, Blockbuster gets a special 1-disc edition. In the case of Zohan, the retail version had both the theatrical and uncut versions, and a disc of extras, where the rental disc had only the uncut version and a limited selection of extras. Another example would be the recent Journey to the Centre of the Earth, which had a 2-disc release which included the 3-d and 2-d versions. The rental disc is 2-d only.

    After a brief stint in managing a Blockbuster, I can understand the rental versions. When I was there, Baby Mama, a 2-disc edition, kept getting returned with only the extras disc in the case. (I took it as a comment on the intellect the movie appealed to) For the rental companies, one disc less is one less thing the customer can screw up, saving headaches and lost turns on rentals.

    @Miko – The bare-bones disc is not intended for sale, just for rent. Amazon getting the wrong one was a screw-up by Fox. If you buy it, you get extras. If you rent it, you don’t.

  • Tim

    I’m in the decided minority here, I’m sure, but that doesn’t really bother me. After years of buying dvds, there’s very little on the extra features worth seeing. even a lot of the features on the main disk don’t interest me. the commentaries are usually *extremely* boring. the only commentary I’ve ever enjoyed was ghostbusters, with harold ramis and others. I’ve heard the one for spinal tap is hilarious, but I haven’t seen it yet.
    I also find deleted scenes annoying. are they part of the continuity of the movie or not? if not, then what’s the point? to imagine something that could’ve happened?

  • Petoht

    I kind of agree with Tim. Sometimes I’ll listen to the commentaries, but they’re frequently exceptionally boring. The Predator commentary actually put me to sleep, and the Alien commentary was so horribly dry I turned it off. (10 minutes of boring technical conversation while Kane is in medical? No thanks.) Likewise the first season Family Guy commentary was utterly worthless as they spent 80% of the episode not saying a damn thing, just watching the show. The problem seems to be that commentaries are now “required”, and most of these people are boring as hell.

    And if I want the bonuses, it’s because I like the movie a lot, and am probably going to buy it. For rentals, I usually just want to see the movie. However, it would be nice if the stripped-down versions included “Making Of” mini-documentaries. Those are usually pretty fun to watch.

  • MarshallDog

    So does Fox make more money if a rental store decides not to buy the rental version and instead goes to Walmart and buys the retail version for rental? Also, I thought that was illegal. Isn’t that what the FBI warning at the beginning of the movie is for, where it says the title is not for redistribution for profit?

  • MatthewF

    Not sure what happens in the states, but it’s pretty common practice here in the UK to release both basic and super-duper ‘collectors’ editions. Also Blockbuster pretty commonly had (has?)’rental only’ versions which skipped most of the bonus features and ladled on the trailers.

    In my experience the only bonus stuff worth having is when a film is old and the DVD is put together after the fact and those involved can be honest and objective about it, rather than just ‘wasn’t he/she great in thise scene’?

  • rizzo

    I’m with Tim…I rarely if ever look at any bonus content on a DVD. If I could buy just the movie for $5 less, I’d gladly forgo the extra disk that’s just going to end up being used as a coaster anyhow.

  • Joe11

    I with Tim too. The “special” features on these “special” edition DVDs aren’t worth the extra $5 or $10.

    The new worthless special feature that really bugs me these days is the “Digital Copy” disc that are included in about half of these Blu-Ray packages. I don’t have the time to download them & why would I want to watch The Dark Knight or Wall-E on a little Cell or I-Pod? The worst part is that some companies don’t give you the option to buy the Blu-Ray version without the Digital Copy.

    Petoht: You’re 100% right about the Family Guy commentaries being worthless & boring. They don’t even try to say anything interesting.

  • gzilla77

    Thanks for the heads up Ken. Maybe enough people requested it that they changed it, I know I checked it quite a few times the first week it was there. Now if they would just fix Hulk VS grrrr…

  • Petoht

    why would I want to watch The Dark Knight or Wall-E on a little Cell or I-Pod?

    Or, as Yahtzee called it, Teeny-Weeny Eyestrain-O-Vision.

    Actually, most of those “swanky” ROM features are mostly worthless. The only one I’ve ever bothered with was on Pirates of the Caribbean when I could take one of my pictures on zombify it. Otherwise, they’re largely useless, it seems.

    And frankly, one for sale and one for rental doesn’t bother me near as much as what some companies have pulled with things like the Mummy or the Matrix where they release three different versions of the DVD a few months apart to sucker the hardcore fans into buying the movie three times.

  • Joe

    People who go to the library are dumb. They deserve crappy DVDs.