Repackaging Older Editions in New Box Sets

Funny you should mention this. I was discussing this in the Bette Davis box thread this morning. The general concensus was that Warner Bros. especially has been putting too many repackages into their box sets. I have no problem with this, albeit as was pointed out in that thread, the Bette box has 3 out of five reissues, which is a high ratio, although one is a remaster.

I think boxes are not just for die hard fans that may already have purchased some of the films, but for everyone. I haven't purchased any of the Davis films yet, so it's great for me. I think if someone already has some of the films, then just buy the new releases. Boxes are nice, but it's the films that count, not whether they are kept in a cardboard slip cover.

Also, I have no problem with the WB repackages, as it helps the uniformity of my collection by replacing the older snappers with keepcases, which I usually view as freebies, price-wise.

I just don't see how a studio can only market boxsets to fans who already own particular dvds. To me Warner Bros. "Bette Davis" set should include the movies they are putting in it. They are among her most acclaimed WB films (although I would have put in even more titles.) They simply cannot market it just to those who may have purchased a Davis dvd before.

And whether a repackaging (or 2 or 3) is in a boxset has no effect on whether unreleased films would be in there. Perhaps the as-yet-unreleased titles are not ready for release yet. Why should that deprive someone like me of getting the Davis box set (for instance) simply because some people may own some of the films already when I don't.

I know a lot of fans feel proprietary about certain boxsets, but really, they're for everyone, including people who haven't been purchasing dvds for years.

Another point, which I made on the Joan Crawford thread, is that Warners surely can't maintain their intense boxed-set release schedule by restricting themselves to all-new content. Repackaging old releases with new ones is a way of maintaining the flow without impairing the quality.

I should say that the only annoyance for me re the Davis set will be having to rebuy The Letter, which was a very recent release. However, Warner sets are so cheap – bargains, frankly – that I don't mind buying the Davis box and giving the duplicate disc away, so the irritation is relatively minor – I'm certainly not going to to get in a sweat over trying to sell it on Ebay. And I'm pleased to be getting some releases I've previously avoided because they were packaged in snappers, a form of packaging which I'm not ashamed to say I hate.

Do we know what their release schedule is when it comes to boxsets?






Crawdaddy

Officially, no, but they've been churning out roughly two big boxes a month so far this year. If they want to maintain this level of output, and this latest Davis/Crawford announcement suggests they do, I imagine there will have to be some repetition of the titles within those boxes.