MattHR
Screenwriter
- Joined
- Mar 9, 2001
- Messages
- 1,664
They mention that the widescreen Princess Diaries only accounted for 20% of sales.
In my market (Birmingham, Al.) the consumer was barely given the choice of purchasing the Widescreen version of this title.
As far as I was able to tell only Best Buy and Suncoast in this area ever stocked the Widescreen version.
All the other retailers and rental outlets here stocked only the P&S version of the title.
So ... In this particular market at least, this was not a fair test.
On the current Video Business/Vidtrac DVD sales chart, as reprinted in the new Entertainment Weekly, the WS version of Spy Game is at #1, the P&S version is at #2. Small victory, perhaps?
UPDATE: I found the most recent chart at the Video Business website. Rather encouraging overall that the WS version remains at #3 behind this week's debuts, while the P&S version falls to #8. Somewhat discouraging is that Circuit City seems to report that the P&S version is outselling the WS version in their stores (P&S #4 vs.
WS #8), but at Best Buy the opposite seems to be true (WS #4 vs. P&S #7).
And as has been said, they can quote all the sales figures they want, but in most places the WS and P&S versions are not both available. So considering that WS made up 20% of the sales for "Princess Diaries," but was likely only available in 25% of the markets. That seems pretty good to me and an indicator that if that small amount of market penetration can make-up 20% of overall sales, then the demand for WS is much larger than they think.
Oh well, if Disney doesn't want my money there are others who do. I was becoming a bit concerned financially about all the great DVD releases coming up. Clearing all the Buena Vista titles from that list frees up quite a bit of cash.
And as has been said, they can quote all the sales figures they want, but in most places the WS and P&S versions are not both available. So considering that WS made up 20% of the sales for "Princess Diaries," but was likely only available in 25% of the markets. That seems pretty good to me and an indicator that if that small amount of market penetration can make-up 20% of overall sales, then the demand for WS is much larger than they think.
The real villain here is not necessarily the studios, but the retailers. The studio execs are following the money, trying to maximize their return on the investment their company has made in these movies. That's their job. The sticking point is mass-market retailers, whose stores are operated on principles (minimum wage rack stuffers who are charged with indulging management's stack-'em-high-and-watch-'em-fly philosophies) that are anathema to presenting fine distinctions in the product mix. Carrying two different SKUs of the same video title tastes like poison to these guys, because it increases their inventory troubles significantly and requires their worker drones to be able to distinguish between those DVD boxes that have a little widescreen banner on them and those that don't.
I don't think the home-theater crowd is going to get anywhere by petitioning the studios. The home-video divisions of studios don't answer to consumers; they answer to the retailers who order their product and send them the checks. The retailers, in turn, answer to Joe Customer. In order to make a difference, the retailers who are demanding only pan-and-scan versions of major titles need to be convinced that a significant portion of their customers are unhappy to have that choice taken away from them at the cash registers. If Costco orders widescreen versions, the studios are sure as shit gonna make them.
I don't know if there are enough people who care about aspect ratios to make any kind of dent in the corporate mindset at, say, Wal-Mart, but I really think that's what it would take to make a difference here.
-bf-
So consumers want what they want, and as [those interested in full-frame] become more vocal and more a percentage of the marketplace, it’s not in anybody’s interest to ignore them.”
The implication is that it's in their interest to ignore the people who want to see movies the way they were made.
And the spiel about family titles is crap. There is stuff coming out June 4 that is P&S that is PG-13 and R. Not "little kids" films.
What a bunch of bull.
The negative of retail confusion and consumer confusion by having two different options can outweigh the benefit,
Any such confusion is only because the studios in these cases have opted for *separate* versions for P/S and WS. If both are contained on the same DVD...no confusion bcs there's only one version to buy.
Most of these titles are 1.85:1. Had the studio used the electronic P/S option, only *one* transfer would be required and no additional cost or space would be needed to provide both aspect ratios to the end consumer
Had you all contacted Disney and told them that???
obviously they ARE getting a lot of heat about this- if they weren't, they wouldn't be making all these explanations.
But it's heat they could easily ignore. They are the owners/manufacturers of a much-desired entertainment commodity. It has penetrated the mass market to such an extent that they do not need to listen to anyone. If they put out the DVD's, people are going to buy them regardless of the presence of black bars.
Consumers/retailers can put out all the heat they want to, but any retailer that threatens to pull DVD's out of their stores unless they are P&S is bluffing. There is no way any retailer is going to stop selling DVD at this point, even if every single one of them has black bars. And any consumer who has said they won't buy into DVD unless the black bars are gone is the customer that deserves to be ignored, not the pro-OAR early adopters who spend hundreds of $$$ per month on DVD software.
If the studios were to remain true to the initial intent of DVD, and show their appreciation to the early-adopters who made the format such a success (black bars and all), they would brush off all this so-called "heat." There wouldn't be a damn thing anyone could do about it other than put up with the black bars or buy the two brain cells required to set the DVD player to zoom.
There is absolutely no reason for them to make concessions. They have cornered the DVD market with OAR, there is not one single logical reason for them to abandon it now.