Fox Canada goes bilingual cover CRAZY! (1 Viewer)

[Opi]

@CraigF
I know, I already own "Three faces of Eve" and preordered "Three Coins in the Fountain" but I'm worried about the future. I've paied $9,95 Can, which is a prize that's hard to beat, I guess. Maybe it won't happen for the Classics because most (or all) lack a french track.

@Matt Leigh
I couldn't agree more, where is their problem ?

Opi

 

[Jim Harvey]

How bad is the damage? Are there any images up from these DVD releases? I wonder if it'll be a case by case basis or just flat out everything. Damn you bilingual covers...

 

[James_G]

How do we have until American DVDs have bilingual covers as well?

 

[Allan^L]

"Fahrenheit 9/11" in French is, get this, "Fahrenheit 9/11" but Alliance Atlantis still felt it necessary to include both titles on the spine. Go figure.

 

[MarcoBiscotti]

I drove all the way to Burlington yesterday with a friend just to pick up the Aladdin Platinum Edition because of this! Yeah, I could have ordered it online... but than I'm as obsessive about the condition of my slipcover packagings as I am with my cover art so with gas costs and all combined meal and activity expenses, I'd say the new Aladdin Platinum Edition ran me close to $130 Can. I was tempted to pick up Clerks X too while I was out there because while I haven't seen it on retail shelves here in Quebec yet, (granted I haven't really been looking), I can just envision what Miramax has done to this cover! I couldn't afford to drop the extra funds though and didn't feel like paying any additional duties so I let that slide. Maybe I'll tack it on later this month when I head out for my next overpriced day trip to the States for Mulan!

 

[Tom Tsai]

While I do think that having just English on the spine is better for me personally, I do understand why Alliance does this, even if the translated name is the same. If you look at Alliance's French only releases (as well as many other Quebec only releases from other studios), you'll notice that the title of recent releases are all written in the opposite direction on the spine. Alliance has all English titles written in one direction on the spine and the other direction for French titles. When it's a dvd that's available to both Quebec and the rest of Canada, then they do a bilingual spine so that it "flows" with the rest of the collection. See how the bilingual spine can fit with a Alliance English only dvd as well as an Alliance French only dvd:

eg.
English Only --> Bilingual --> Bilingual --> French Only
--> --> -->


well, that's my theory anyways.

 

[Jay Mitchosky]

Predator S.E. as well, at least only on the back. Count me as another frustrated Canadian consumer. As always the solution is simple - print dual sided sleeves with english only on one side and french only on the other. Let the consumer decide which they prefer.

 

[Aaryn Chan]

Actually, it should've been "Fahrenheit 11/9" in french.

 

[Eric_B_C]

Hate to be picky, but it's the movie title, therefore it's a name, therefore 9/11 is correct. Had the DVD been simply released with the date, then yes, that'd be right. (And I'm from Europe where we write the date CORRECTLY)

Having bitched at Alliance Atlantis about this I am 100% certain they are NOT forced to release disks this way, else they'd hide behind "the big bad government makes us do it this way" as an excuse. They don't. They just claim that they package it that way because that's what most Canadians want.

To be honest, bi-lingual packaging doesn't bother me too much. Sure, I don't like it, but I'll still buy DVD's with it on. It's when they start dumping features for the French audio... THAT'S when I get pissed off.

But still, it's sad to think that soon my DVD shelf will be awash in backward ass French titles as well as English.

And would it have KILLED those dickwads at Alliance to line up the Kill Bill titles on the spine? Let me guess, like "French Language Track" is listed on the extras list on the back of Clerks X, they'll probably put "Spines that actually line up" as a feature on the new Kill Bill disks down the line...

 

[Mark Maltais]

When the Abyss special edition came out there was a special "french" version of it. DD5.1 was in french with a 2.0 english track. I nearly had a stroke trying to get english 5.1 to work until I read the fine print. Thank Christ I bought it at Wal-Mart and they let me exchange it.

I'm fully bilingual but watching movies dubbed in french is somewhere akin to watching the old japanese kung fu movie dubs. IT DRIVES ME NUTS!!!

Reversable covers is the way to go!!!

 

[Aaryn Chan]

or send us free covers via the mail.

 

[Eric_B_C]

I don't understand AT ALL why they do double sided covers... But then still put BOTH languages on BOTH sides?!

 

[RyanAn]

I feel for all of you in Canada... That is a shame, they should just have two different version side by side, so you can pick which one you want.

Ryan

 

[Marc Colella]

Since only one side can be shown on store shelves at one time, they probably feel that they're still excluding a group because they can only read the contents in their language if they open the packaging.

By having one side is predominately English and the other side predominately French - they avoid really ugly covers with so much crammed on it.

 

[Aaryn Chan]

And french covers are reprints and colors are less beautiful

 

[Eric_B_C]

Surely the only province that would want the French bit though is Quebec, so why don't they just flip the inlay there? From what I understand, displaying the English cover (with the small French on it) would be illegal anyway, wouldn't it?

This whole situation is moronic.

 

[ChadMcCallum]

Damn. I hate bilingual covers so much that I will only buy a dvd with one if they are really cheap or it's a movie I want right away. What companies should do is make a removeable bilingual slip of paper to put on the back of the case (like the LOTR:EE ones) and have it list all of the goodies on the disc and then have reversable english cover on one side and french on the other. Yes cost's would increase but I would gladly pay a bit more and get what I want instead of settling for a crappy cover or importing it. If video game companies can print a whole french instruction manuel with a bilingual back cover and put that under the plastic then why can movies studios make one extra piece of paper?

 

[CraigF]

Please check out my post under "The Day After Tomorrow" review. A printing error? So much effort going into making it bilingual that the *important* info got screwed up?? Thanks.

 

[Jim Harvey]

I understand the cardboard sleeve on the DVD is bilingual, but is the actual packaging underneath bilingual?

 

[Tom Tsai]

^ yes, the inside is bilingual too.