MGM -- quietly downgrading special editions (1 Viewer)

[Brian F]

I must have lucked out with Bowling for Columbine too. I bought it at Circuit City a few weeks ago and it contains two discs and a ton of features. I guess anyone who is interested in getting it should go to a store soon

 

[Jeff D Han]

I guess I'm lucky that I decided to go to Best Buy
yesterday. I got the 3 for $20 deal on Valley Girl,
the Sure Thing and A Beautiful Mind WS. There was only
1 copy of The Sure Thing left.

 

[Joe Karlosi]

Back in 1997 I was the only person I knew anywhere who had a DVD Player. I was an early adopter. I knew it was only a matter of time before DVD became mainstream because it was such a great format. Unfortunately, now that it's become the staple of every "Joe Six Pack," we're getting less care, OAR and extras to satisfy the true collector. It's a shame.

 

[Jay*W]

Thanks for the heads up, Joshua. I was able to get the SEs of THE SURE THING and VALLEY GIRL at Best Buy last night in the 3 for $20 sale, and I picked up the LEGALLY BLONDE SE at Target for $7.50 this morning.

It looks like the good LEGALLY BLONDE DVDs are in the black Amaray, and the newer stripped-down version is in the pink Amarays.

I had already noticed this on BULL DURHAM and was able to pick up a cheap copy of the SE a few weeks ago. I'll definitely be on the lookout for a good price on THELMA & LOUISE.

Jay

 

[MatthewLouwrens]

We're getting something a bit like this in r4, although it's a bit different.

I think here MGM titles were often distributed by a different company. But now MGM has taken over and is replacing old special editions with downgraded extras.

At best, we have two disc sets reduced to one disc sets. At worst, we have excellent one-disc sets released without extra (save a trailer if you're lucky). We lost excellent special editions of Fargo, A Fish Called Wanda, and Misery, among many others . (In the case of Misery, we even lost the 5.1 mix)

 

[Tim Ke]

Not only that, the cover has been changed for the worse too!

 

[MatthewLouwrens]

Absolutely - the special edition cover of Misery was very good. Snow white background, a few small blood spatters, and great image of Paul Sheldon in a wheelchair being pushed by Annie. Unsettling, but subtle.

Now we get a lowest common-denominator cover with Annie holding a sledgehammer. Awful.

 

[Bryan Tuck]

This...is ridiculous. I really can't see the purpose here. Even if they only have to press one side of the disc, they still have to rearrange the content and design disc art. I don't see how this is saving them that much money, especially if they're lowering the prices.

Just re-promote it, why spend even more money to change the disc? At least they're retaining the widescreen version of the movie, but still...why do anything? There's just no point, except that you piss your customers off when they find out.

 

[MarcusUdeh]

I own The Usual Suspects SE and it's a DVD-14, does this mean any of the anything?

 

[James David Walley]

And, unless I'm wrong, isn't their new non-SE release of Dances With Wolves pan'n'scan only?

 

[JonZ]

I got Basic Instinct at CC for $9. One the back it said 16x9 and P&S version. They just slapped the SE coverart on the new sinlge disc version.

I have no interest in a P&S version, my point only being its misleading.

 

[Paul.S]

Yup--the one with the blue sky cover.

FWIW and just for the record, Basic Instinct is an Artisan (now Lions Gate) title.

-p

 

[Edward Schatz]

I picked up Valley Girl and Bull Durham today at Best Buy. It's true, the Valley Girl and Bull Durham scaled down discs are already out. Furthermore, they were even labeled as SE on the sticker at the top of the case!

 

[Dave Farley]

Do you know which features were deleted from these editions and is the Valley Girl DVD still two-sided?

 

[Edward Schatz]

On the Bull Durham disc the commentaries are still there but the documentary, "sports wrap", photo gallery and that stuff is gone-I think. I know the documentary is definitely gone on the new disc and I'm pretty sure the other stuff is too (Except the commentaries). The disc I believe is double sided. As for the Valley Girl disc, I think it's the same deal but I'm less sure in regards to that one. My advice is, if you want the movies at all or might want them, head to your store while they're still there. There were only two Bull Durham discs at my store, the SE and the scaled down version.

 

[Edward Schatz]

Also, the Valley Girl discs were priced the same: 9.99

 

[Dave Farley]

Thanks for the information, Edward. I'll pick those up when I go out tomorrow.

 

[John Kilduff]

If I may toss a crazy idea into the ring:

Do you suppose these SEs are being downgraded so if Warner Brothers buys MGM, they can be re-issued as 2-Disc Special Editions?

Sincerely,

John Kilduff...

Just a thought.

 

[Larry Geller]

They have also done this with The Producers & West Side Story.

 

[Mark Cappelletty]

So are you able to at least tell by the back-cover packaging whether or not it's an SE anymore?