Paramount!!!! Here's An Idea, Take This One To Heart...comments Welcome (1 Viewer)

Until a mutually pleasing way is found to settle music rights fees, we are not going to see many trailers on Paramount catalog releases. Period. It's just too expensive.

As much as it saddens me, this is a business, and we are darned lucky we are even getting many of the catalog titles that Paramount has issued this year. And if they don't make money off the release of those titles, those may dry up as well.

Studios react to money. That's it, end of story.

Petitions, nasty letters, pleadings, they are irrelevant.
Studios do not gauge low sales of a catalog title with any qualifiers such as lack of 16:9 enhancement or missing trailers or even lack of a widescreen option -- they gauge it solely as disinterest in the title itself. The best we can do is support the quirky titles that do get released to show that someone wants them, and when there is a dual option (separate pan-scan and widescreen copies), to boost sales of the widescreen edition.

Please, let us stop badgering one of the few friends we have at the studios and try supporting him when he does listen to us.

Mark, I don't think Chris' intent was to "badger" Mr. Blythe, only to express his disappointment in not finding trailers on his Paramount DVD's. They are disappearing from the DVD's of several companies now (Disney and Columbia to name two), and I am also sad of this. Having a trailer for the next attraction in a home theater environment makes the whole program seem more professional and fun, to say nothing of the fact that trailers often contain shots that never made it into the feature, and can be delightful mini-movies unto themselves. I have read all the reasons why trailers are being left off, and I can't help but wonder, then, how it is that MGM DVD's almost invariably have trailers, even on their fifteen dollar product, and Warner Bros. includes them on all but a few of their titles. If they can do it...

But, that said, I am also extremely happy with the titles that Paramount is putting out, and will be damned if I'm going to boycott, say, DRAGONSLAYER because a trailer is not included. I just pine for the good old days when about 80% of all DVD's had these wonderful little slices of advertising bliss.

Mark's right.

As one who's been self employed for 40 yrs., the last 11 of which has been video retailing, I'm acutely aware that upon occasion, the consumer's not cognizant of all circumstances involving a business decision. To dupe, and market a VHS/ DVD from a reel "as is" is one matter, BUT to furnish a product of the quality Paramount has chosen to release is "another whole different ball game". To shun the banquet table of turkey, mashed pots, dressing etc. simply because the peas aren't "black eyed" seems unadvisable to me, however "to each his/her own".

While on this subject, I'll share a personal experience that involves Paramount. In ' 51, the studio released one of my favorite westerns: The Last Outpost. Unfortunately, this title never made it to VHS until a hack co., Ivy Video, placed a terrible copy, under the re-release title of Cavalry Charge, on the market; it's absolutely atrocious, even for video tape. Recently, they've done the same with DVD, and it's sunken to abysmal. Personally, I'd cherish the thought of a Paramount disk, HOWEVER, it'd surely be a $$$$$$ loser, and as such not feasable.

In closing, I'm a buyer of the below:

Buccaneer, The
Last Outpost, The
Pony Express
Viva Rides!

Bob Engleman

Alright, that being said, here's what I suggest for the future.

Since music rights are the issue, perhaps Paramount could simply issue trailers with the music removed, either substituting cleared music or just leaving it without music. This may seem like heresy, especially when it's done poorly (such as Columbia's lame rescoring of the DOGMA trailer on their DVDs), but it would be a solution.

For example (a bit off topic, but bear with me), when VCI did their superb disc of THE CITY OF THE DEAD starring Christopher Lee, they naturally wanted to include a trailer for the film, released in America as HORROR HOTEL. But one, no such trailer existed with the UK title, and two, since the film (and trailer) is in public domain, they wanted to safeguard it against bootleggers who would port it onto inferior budget discs.
So, using the original HORROR HOTEL trailer as a guide, they simply made the trailer over again! They used the voiceover from the original, but conformed new (and very clean) footage together to duplicate the editing sequence, and videoburned new CITY OF THE DEAD logos onto it, with a copyright notice.

Lord knows Paramount has way more money than VCI. It may seem silly and labor-intensive to "make new trailers" as it were, but if editors are already at work on the great supplements and commentaries that are included, how much longer would it take to make a musically kosher trailer, especially when the original is available as a guide. And it would still cost less to pay an editor a one-time fee than the exorbitant amounts the music companies want for the disputed scores.

Personally, I think some trailers work great without music. Remember, the first teaser for BATMAN had no music at all. Maybe stripping some of these trailers down will make them even better.

Everyone is entitled to their opinion. Here's mine.

While I appreciate having extras, including trailers, the vast majority of the time I am purely interested in getting a copy of the movie in OAR with good video/audio. Anamorphic is greatly appreciated, but not a dealkiller.

There are a lot of catalog titles out there that I would like to see make it to DVD. A lot of these titles might not make money. Therefore, if they're ever going to see the light of day on DVD, studios have to find a was to cut costs wherever possible.

Personally, Paramount is one of my favorite studios. They release high quality anamorphic transfers. They release in OAR. It seems like they never have technical problems, such as misframing or misbehaving subtitles. If they want to cut costs by trimming extras, then I'm all for it.

Maybe there are some of you out there who would not buy a DVD because it doesn't have the trailer, but I'm certainly not one of them.