3D 3-D PRICES: Studios Continue To Shoot Themselves In the Feet (1 Viewer)

Just saw the listing for MR. PEABODY AND SHERMAN. Retail: $48.99. I had to rub my eyes. For what? A 3-D disc that cost the studio little or no more to replicate than a standard disc, a DVD. and a Digital Copy. Wasn't the retail price on such releases $39.99 a short time ago, with street prices hitting $29.99? Are you people high? Amazon street price for this has a very shallow discount, at $44.99. This is not a Warner Bros. classic box set with all the bells and whistles. It's a 2014 CGI film that happens to have been made in 3-D. Along with inflated-pricing theatrical showings of 3-D films, which cost studios no more to distribute than 2-D in this digital age, you pass this along to people who are looking forward to re-experiencing the 3-D at home, but now you're charging prices that, frankly are just out of line, and you are going to lose a ton of potential sales. I don't complain about prices charged by small companies like Twilight Time and Shout!. But this is a Fox release and will have a wide distribution. Are you and other major studios really so anxious to get rid of 3-D now that you've all spent a kazillion dollars trying to promote it? If so, just don't release 3-D movies. If so, give your customers a break and encourage them to stay with the format by keeping it affordable!!

You are right, i just looked it up on Amazon, they are charging $44, that is ridiculous, it's £20.75 on the UK site, so a bit cheaper.

Although the UK release doesn't come out till October.

I'm just wondering how Amazon allows reviews of a product that hasn't been released yet, then again they lump DVD reviews in with blu ray ones so that is hardly surprising, they need to change their review system.

Why complain about a price that is definitely going to drop lower?

TravisR said:

Why complain about a price that is definitely going to drop lower?

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If it does drop, I'm sure there will still bea rediculous 3D surcharge. I'm in favor of complaining now and complaining again.

Johnny Angell said:

If it does drop...

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If it doesn't, this would be the first major studio kids new release that I can remember only having a 10% discount in the history of Blu-ray. No doubt it's going to cost more than the 2-D Blu-ray (my guess is that it'll be $35 or maybe $30 since it's coming out in October) but it's pointless to complain about a price that is definitely going to drop.

Weren't the Disney 3D 5 disc sets retailing around the same price?

I never see the price of Disney's animated films on BD drop very much in price. In B&M stores, the retail price of any Disney BD always seems to be above the 30 dollar mark. Disney 3D flicks are even more expensive, around 40 bucks or more. 3D on home releases is already struggling and these studios want to see if they can kill it all together. I probably would have bought "Peabody and Sherman" if it was around the 20 dollar mark or so. The film was okay, but it certainly is not worth spending 44+ dollars on, regardless of the 3D.

The 3D version of "The Lego Movie" is another example of stupid marketing. The only way I can get it is to spend money on a box of crap that I have no interest in.

Edwin-S said:

The 3D version of "The Lego Movie" is another example of stupid marketing. The only way I can get it is to spend money on a box of crap that I have no interest in.

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If you only want the 3D disc, they have sold on eBay for $13.00 with free shipping

Street prices of new releases seem to be the same as they always have been, although lately it seems they aren't discounted the 3D as much as before during release week, nor it is being advertised or carried in stores as much.

On the other hand, catalog 3D prices are lower than ever, and as a recent 3D convert, I really appreciate that as I can catch up on lots of titles. The only ones that aren't any cheaper are the Disney ones, but even then I can usually find them for around $25 from ebay or 3rd party Amazon.

bruceames said:

The only ones that aren't any cheaper are the Disney ones,

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No great loss because those Disney ones look better in 2D, very lacklustre 3D on most of them.

"Beauty and The Beast" and "The Lion King" looked pretty decent to me.

Does anybody actually want this film? Was it any good? I simply cannot imagine that it is; but then, this is from someone who purchased STEP UP 3D, and has watched it more than once!

Edwin-S said:

"Beauty and The Beast" and "The Lion King" looked pretty decent to me.

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I did say most of them, not all, particularly the Pixar ones, i feel Disney in the last few years have decided 3D is only about depth.

The only reason i would even think of purchasing this film is because Dreamwork's usually does good 3D, it's a studio that knows 3D is not just about depth, having said that i will wait for reliable reviews first, the film's plot so far doesn't interest me.

The most I have paid is $20 for a Blu-ray 3D title and may of them I watch for free on Netflix, on demand HBO and Starz. If you can wait for a sale, Black Friday, etc. you'll save a lot of money on these titles,

John Maher_289910 said:

Does anybody actually want this film? Was it any good? I simply cannot imagine that it is; but then, this is from someone who purchased STEP UP 3D, and has watched it more than once!

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From watching the previews I decided not to see it in the theater and at the ridiculous price being charged, I have decided not to see it at home.

FoxyMulder said:

No great loss because those Disney ones look better in 2D, very lacklustre 3D on most of them.

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Nothing looks better in 2D on my TV. But I do agree Lion King and especially BatB (this one frankly looks layered) do not look that impressive compared to the Dreamworks movies. However Tangled and Frozen both look stunning in 3D.

bruceames said:

Nothing looks better in 2D on my TV. But I do agree Lion King and especially BatB (this one frankly looks layered) do not look that impressive compared to the Dreamworks movies. However Tangled and Frozen both look stunning in 3D.

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Why wouldn't BatB look layered? It's a 2D film, not CG like most Dreamworks films. It's precisely the "viewmaster" look to the 3D that gives both "The Lion King" and "BatB" their unique look in the 3D versions. The 3D conversions of "BatB" and "TLK" essentially create a multi-plane camera look for the entire film. The 3D in "BatB" and "TLK" cannot remotely be compared to a 3D conversion of a computer generated film. "Tangled" and "Frozen" are going to look like your typical 3D conversion because they are also CG films, not 3D conversions of 2D "flat" films.

Edit: Frankly, It thought 3D conversions of "BatB" and "TLK" were going to look like shit, but the guys who worked on those films did a pretty good job converting them, but I prefer depth to pop-out effects anyway. Pop-out effects almost never work for me. It has to be something done really aggressively for me to get the feeling that it is jabbing out of the screen.

Probably right that BatB 3D looks better than it deserves to. I've only had 3D for little over a month so, while I'm aware of which are native vs. conversions, I'm not as good a judge as others with more experience. But the layering of that movie did stick out to me just the same. Haven't watched it all the way through yet.

Edwin-S said:

Disney 3D flicks are even more expensive, around 40 bucks or more. 3D on home releases is already struggling and these studios want to see if they can kill it all together.

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Yes it seems that Disney 3D blurays rarely, if ever, drop in price. Then there is their schizophrenic policy on how to release a particular 3D title. I too am of the belief that the studios are trying to kill off 3D but for some reason they want to create the lowest sales figures possible to justify 3D's unpopularity prior to the axe. Rather than actually promote the 3D home releases like they half heartedly promote the 3D theatrical releases they just overprice and barely promote them. It seems releasing 3D blurays in a somewhat normal way is reserved only for Europe and Asia. I would love to see some actual sales numbers. As I've said before, I believe anyone of us on this board could do a better job promoting and developing a 3D sales strategy than these marketing "experts" at the studios.

John Maher_289910 said:

Does anybody actually want this film? Was it any good? I simply cannot imagine that it is; but then, this is from someone who purchased STEP UP 3D, and has watched it more than once!

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It's nice to know I'm not the only one re-watching that one.