A new low from Fox for bilingual covers in Canada... (1 Viewer)

[MarcoBiscotti]

I was just at the store this morning, hoping to pick up some new DVDs (though the studios are making it very difficult) and growing frustrated by the number of delayed or missing titles here in Canada that have been widely available elsewhere, as well as the increasing number of DVDs with bilingual covers and even reissues that now sport new bilingual text where they hadn't previously (The new Beverly Hills Cop and Naked Gun trilogy box sets were among the first on the new release shelf that I noticed).

Anyways, I picked up a copy of the Jayne Mansfield Collection from Fox (though Ive yet to purchase any of their Cinema Classic sets yet because Im not happy with Fox Canada's handling) and to my astonishment... the covers actually had large French letters which read (Anglais Seulement)!

So now our DVD's with ENGLISH only, have French text and even translated covers to inform people that the DVDs are solely in English??

This is getting more and more ridiculous. What the hell is the motivation behind this recent switch by the studios?

It's really pissing me off and as a result of this and the fact that 90% of the films Im most anticipating (Tough Guys Coll, Noir 3, Ford/Wayne, etc) are either unavailable, pushed back by weeks, missing films entirely, or with compromised specs in some form or another.

It's growing more and more difficult to get excited about new releases. I remember when Warner Bros. first began releasing their classic film box sets with the first Noir Collection and the Marx Bros. set and the first Controversial Classiocs, Errol Flynn, etc... I would be waiting on street date outside the doors for the shops to open to grab the freshest copies.

Now weeks to months later, half of the sets are absent... the elegant classic movie poster art that these companies spend so mnuch thought and time delivering are bastardized and reworded and some films are just missing entirely (like the 2-disc Stagecoach)!

I'm getting really sick of these practices!

And apparently Fox is now not only reworking their box sets with French language tracks, but English only issues as well... to inform people of the fact, in french!

Ive yet to hear any complaints from DVD buyers, so who decided we were all a bunch of inept morons that need this sort of thing?

I'm almost ready to just stop buying altogether since it's becoming such an inconvenience and hassle. I feel bad for anyone who doesn't have access to a resource like HTF and is unable to check this stuff in advance. It's gotten so that details of every new release from any of the major studios hasd to be verified before even considering a purchase as I just don't trust the contents, specs, quality, packaging, etc.

What happened in the past year that caused this drastic change?

Does anyone else feel that it's so much more significant now than it ever was before?

I hate to import because of duties and I don't like shipping box sets that can get dinged up ad knocked around in transit. But I'm not willing to head down to the States every time a new release from Warner of Fox comes out.

I'd like some sort of explanation from the Canadian division of these studios as to why things are the way they are?

Why do we have to wait 4-6 weeks longer than everyone else to watch our DVDs? Why is it so difficult to print reverse covers or seperate French and English versions of box sets? What suddenly motivated all of this and don't they realize that they're pissing off many buyers as a result?

Why do we have to find out from buyers on messageboards who took one for the team, that an entire film or more is missing from a set when this should be made public knowledge at the time of press release by the studios. There's absolutely no reason for any surprises in this regard!

What's going on here in Canada and how can we put a stop to this?

What's so hard about shipping orders on time when the studios distribute to thousands of retailers accross North America? Why do we Canadians have to sit and wait and wonder where our DVDs are while the rest of the US is enjoying them?

I'm really tired of all these practices, it didn't used to be this way.

 

[Rod J]

Don't blame the studios, sometimes they're only licensed to distribute in the US(EU in canadian) - and the bi-whatever labeling requirements aren't their fault - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ocK9y...elated&search=

Remember the country's population is smaller than California, maybe the market's not worth the extra hassle?

 

[Fudge]

Canada's not worth the hassle? Excuse me, but that's incredibly rude. Typical American.

I'm with you Marco! Why are Canadians treated with such disregard? I'd love to know what's up with the Animaniacs DVD set for one thing - the street date has already been broken in Canada in other provinces, why not just put the darned thing on the shelf?

Canada is not Micronesia, and I hate the way the studios (yes, THE STUDIOS) treat us like second-class citizens. If you have licensing problems, TELL US. We all know months go by between when something is announced and then actually released, so there's time. The only reason I can see them not informing us is to get consumers to double-dip.

It's plain good business sense: letting your customers know of different editions, so they can make educated purchasing decisions. Otherwise, you will lose future customers.

The U.S. wouldn't put up with any of this for two seconds, so I don't see why Canada (nor any other country) should be an exception.

As for the French text, well...that is one of the things about Canada that we cannot change. However, Marco, you're also right in asking why is it so hard to just print reverse inserts? When I was in Montreal, I saw a bunch of DVDs that had large French text, with miniature English below it - so they are printing two covers already.

 

[TravisR]

And saying that isn't?

I can't speak for Rod but I think he was just throwing it out there as a possible reason (not saying that he thought that).

 

[MarkHastings]

Marco, I can understand your frustration...not with DVD's, but in the US, everthing else is becoming bi-lingual with this Spanish crap. It's so annoying to see half English/half Spanish on every freakin product.

 

[Robert Crawford]

Save the nationalistic comments for some other forum. They have no place on this forum. Thank you.




Crawdaddy

 

[MarcoBiscotti]

Was that directed at me, Robert?

 

[Lynda-Marie]

I have seen products from Canada marketed with the bilingual labels - I have to agree it's annoying as hell. Not because the labelling is there, but because the product so labelled has its font size squeezed down to microscopic portions!

I had to buy rat traps about 10 years ago, and I could not read the directions because the manufacturer decided to put them into [B/]4 different languages[/b] - English, French, Spanish and German. Of course, they put it all on the same little package, meaning that I just about needed an electron microscope to read it. The hell of it was, once I did get a magnifier powerful enough to read the directions, they were incomprehensible anyway, because they were squeezed down so small that even magnified they could not be read. There were vaguely alphabet shaped blobs of ink where directions were supposed to be.

There has GOT to be a better way to get the word out to customers who speak different languages, rather than squeezing just about every language possible onto a tiny space and rendering that text incomprehensible.

 

[Rod J]

Again, it's not the companies fault, it's all politics - write to your MP about this situation. Is French still the #2 language in Canada?

 

[Robert Crawford]

As a couple of examples, this is not the proper forum for making comments such as these:






Crawdaddy

 

[Bob Turnbull]

And we certainly shouldn't be touching any further on the political side of the issue in this forum.

As for the companies, I've always thought they could handle the aesthetics of 2 languages much better than they do. I have to say it doesn't bug me that much that it would ever prevent a sale (that's just me), but I think they just don't care to put much effort into making it look nice or to try other means of meeting the need (whether it's two-sided cards, etc.).

 

[ChristianB]

Unfortunately, DVDs are treated just like any other "packaged good" available for sale in stores.

 

[mattEarl]

You do realise that they are packaged goods, just like everything else on the shelf?

Even though films purport to be "art" (and a great many are), they still exist within the realm of a retail exchange. Whether that exchange is at the theatre or on DVD, it's still an exchange of money for a "product". Once people are willing to exchange money for something, there will always be concessions to get the product into as many peoples hands as possible. In Canada, that requires the use of French packaging. As the DVD market has leveled off, studios are going to try and save as much money as possible. Printing only one side of a DVD insert instead of both sides is going to save them money. Save them money so they can continue to be profitable and put out MORE dvd's. People bitch and moan about how a studio won't listen to them or is only concerned with making a quick buck. The home video divisions HAVE to be concerned about money, they are the ones whose job it is (more often than not) to recoup a films losses, again, so the entire studio can stay profitable.

As for the origional poster who started the thead, I didn't think there were that many DVD freaks left who complained like that about the box-art so much that they would order a from another country, only to fret over "damage" from shipping. Keep the flame buring my die hard brother, for sadly, I cannot fuss as I once did.

 

[JoePassmore]

The worst is when they have reversible inserts that have english with french subtitles on one side, then french with english subtitles on the other.....how about ALL english on one side and ALL french on the other. That's just inexcusable...

Morons.

 

[John Alderson]

LOL, that sounds like something from a Dilbert comic.