Fox, the plot thickens... (1 Viewer)

[Daniel L]

I supposed SE's are on the way out, this note from Image Entertainment:

Fox will be discontinuing the following titles on June 1, 2002:

Abyss (Special Edition)FOX2000008DVD

Alien (Special Edition)4110430DVD

Alien 34110432DVD

Alien Resurrection4110433DVD

Aliens (Special Edition)4110431DVD

Cast Away (Special Edition)FOX2001790DVD

Independence Day (Special Edition)FOX2000045DVD

Planet Of The Apes (Special Edition/ 2001)FOX2002896DVD

Romeo + Juliet (1996)4110421DVD

Speed4109164DVD

Speed 2: Cruise Control4110400DVD

X-Men (Special Edition)FOX2000640DVD

I can understand Romeo + Juliet, Speed and Speed 2 since there's something in the works.

True, the Abyss could use an anamorphic transfer, but I don't see what good it does to cancel everything else.

I guess the major chains just don't want multiple inventories, unless it means the option of pan & scan.

Daniel L

 

[Inspector Hammer!]

Here we go!! I noticed that three titles from the upcoming full screen line is on that list. So what's this, the OAR versions of 'Cast Away', 'ID4', and 'The Abyss' will no longer be available, but the full screen versions will!?

 

[Dan Brecher]

I don't think they're pulling the WS versions off the market. I'd be physicaly sick if they did... Still, I'd like to know what Image has posted this for, Apes? That's only some four months old, the list doesnt make sense. Possible ADDITIONAL P&S releases maybe (ugh), but I don;t see them dropping all those titles.

Dan (UK)

 

[Robert Crawford]

John,

Take a chill pill! Who's to say another reissue or even a new special edition is not in the works? Also, Fox probably has a boat load of dvds from each of those titles in some warehouse ready to ship to any retailer that needs their inventory replenished.

Furthermore, the whole defensive and conspiracy inflicted attitude on HTF about every little dvd announcement by the studios is starting to border on hysteria.

Crawdaddy

 

[Patrick McCart]

I'd like to see Fox release a movie-only version of The Abyss for a low price so us with the SE can simply "upgrade" to the anamorphic version.

I think that list is the P&S edition list. Cast Away has only been out for a few months, so I don't think Fox is going to pull it.

 

[Brett Cameron]

Heres my guesses-

Alien series- New Special Editions

Romeo and Juliet- same as above

Speed/Speed 2- same as above

Apes,Castaway,Abyss,ID4- They will probably make the same special editions available just with new covers that have widescreen banners since their will be P&S rereleases.

 

[DanR]

I could be way off, but aren't those the titles that are being re-released as 1-disc Widescreen Editions? If that's the case, the 2-disc Special Editions already have sold through to the point where Fox feels they're saturated, and they won't press any more of them. So, they drop the price, cut out one disc, and re-package it to expand the customer base at the lower price. Remember guys, there are a lot of people out there who are not at all like us collectors. Let's not get paranoid. Widescreen releases are not going anywhere.

Regards,

Dan

 

[Nathan A]

I think Dan's right- I read somewhere that Fox is releasing movie only versions of Cast Away, Independence Day, and The Abyss (don't remember hearing anything about the other titles, though). The article mentioned that The Abyss was probably going to be the same non-anamorphic transer.

 

[LukeB]

I could be way off, but aren't those the titles that are being re-released as 1-disc Widescreen Editions? If that's the case, the 2-disc Special Editions already have sold through to the point where Fox feels they're saturated, and they won't press any more of them. So, they drop the price, cut out one disc, and re-package it to expand the customer base at the lower price. Remember guys, there are a lot of people out there who are not at all like us collectors. Let's not get paranoid. Widescreen releases are not going anywhere.

This is not re-assuring or better at all. Well, better than taking off all widescreen versions, yes. But DVD collectors like me will always go for the 2-disc versions, and already it's become difficult to find the 2-disc Patton, which is OOP. Good thing I already have Cast Away, but now I won't be so interested in those others if they're only available in bare-bones 1 disc form. Just cause you have a new version of a movie coming out doesn't mean you have to get rid of the 2-disc one!

 

[Jack Briggs]

Funny. I just sold off my Abyss DVD this week, thinking I'd be content to look at it again when it's remastered in an anamorphic edition. My move could prove prescient.

Yep, let's not get all worked up over this. Who knows what the Home Entertainment division is cooking up?

 

[Kwang Suh]

Hmm, sounds like the words "Special Edition" actually means something in this case

 

[DanR]

Just cause you have a new version of a movie coming out doesn't mean you have to get rid of the 2-disc one!

Actually, Luke, it makes perfect sense. If you take your own emotion and biases out of the equation and look at it from a business standpoint, it makes sense for Fox to stop pressing the 2-disc set once they make the decision to scale back the package and lower the price. Sorry, but you're wrong on this one. Why run a double inventory when the initial release (i.e. the 2-disc set) has already sold through to the point where Fox feels it's reached saturation?

And I just read elsewhere that Planet of the Apes (2001) was just added to the list of 1-disc re-issues @ $19.98. Obviously, we already know Speed is coming as a Five-Star, and I suspect Speed II is also coming as a Special Edition. Again, folks, this is borderline on paranoia.

Regards,

Dan

 

[Dave F]

Funny. I just sold off my Abyss DVD this week, thinking I'd be content to look at it again when it's remastered in an anamorphic edition. My move could prove prescient.

Jack,
Perhaps it was not so much prescient as it was actually the cause of an anamorphic release. If this is the case, please go ahead and auction off Titanic, Psycho, and Vertigo.
-Dave

 

[Mark_TS]

Dont forget FOX announced a 5-Star Edition of ALIEN for later (?) this year.

Im betting the rest are either being Anamorph-ized, 5 Star-ized, or perhaps taking tack from DISNEY, putting some of these on Moratorium. Until they become 'Special' again...

I dont think FOX will let us down...

 

[LukeB]

Actually, Luke, it makes perfect sense. If you take your own emotion and biases out of the equation and look at it from a business standpoint, it makes sense for Fox to stop pressing the 2-disc set once they make the decision to scale back the package and lower the price. Sorry, but you're wrong on this one. Why run a double inventory when the initial release (i.e. the 2-disc set) has already sold through to the point where Fox feels it's reached saturation?

It makes no sense to degress like this so that in 6 months maybe we'll get just the movie and at $17.99 retail price.

I'm not looking at this from a business standpoint, I'm looking at this from the view of a person who buys DVDs.

Just grabbed Cast Away prices from DDD - the 2-disc version is selling for $18.29 (it retails for $24.98), the 1-disc version is a preorder for $14.64 (it retails for $19.98.

How can you think it's good for Fox for if someone wants to buy the 2-disc version because they LIKE the movie and feel it's worth owning, but not in a pared-down 1-disc....to be forced to turn to eBay or Half to get the Special Edition. That's money that could have gone to Fox, but instead will got to someone who has an extra copy to unload.

Making Special Editions go Out-of-Print to make way for barebones editions that will cost at most $5 less than their double-disc counterparts is not a good thing for the customer, no matter what good is does for the studio.

When I finally get around to buying Patton, there's no way I'm getting just the 1-disc set. So I'll turn to eBay or Half, since Fox doesn't apparently want my money for the Special Edition, since it is now OOP.

The basis of your point is that you and Fox are assuming that the 2-disc editions have sold to their saturation and that's a big assumption, and not one that I would agree with. People are still just getting their first DVD players, and they're supposed to have already purchased all the Fox 2-disc SEs that they would have ever considered buying???

 

[Daniel L]

DanR

If the sales of these discs has already saturated the market, wouldn't that mean Fox has already broken even on them? Why waste the money on a new disc master for a widescreen movie-only edition when they could just do a limited re-press of the current 2-Disc set at the $19.98 price?

I did mention that Romeo & Juliet, Speed and Speed 2 have something in the works, and that the Abyss could use a new anamorphic transfer, but like any typical HTF thread certain people run with it, stating the sky is falling. (Admittedly, I could have used a better subject heading.)

I suppose the deal with the Alien series makes sense. Both Alien & Aliens were missing supplements from the original laser disc releases, and people have been pleading for a director's cut of Alien 3. Alien: Ressurection? I have no explination for that. I find it funny that the Alien box set is not part of the cancellations.

That being said, I just don't understand why Planet of the Apes, Cast Away and X-Men are being discontinued after such a short time, espcially since there are no other imprvoments needed on Cast Away & Apes.

Daniel L

 

[StephenA]

I would think they'd make a bunch of them at first, then just release a smaller amount after a year or two. Why make it go out of production, when people are still getting into the DVD bandwagon? It makes it that much harder for the persin to get their favorite movies. They may even stay with VHS if they can't find the movies they want on DVD. I have yet to get the Abyss, Alien, and Aliens, although I want them. Hopefully I can pick them up before they're harder to get.

 

[DanR]

People are still just getting their first DVD players, and they're supposed to have already purchased all the Fox 2-disc SEs that they would have ever considered buying???

The people who are just now purchasing their DVD players are not the same type of consumers as we are. Who says they want to buy the 2-disc $28 MSRP version? Obviously, Fox feels these comsumers are more prone to buy the $20 version as opposed to the $28 version. Fox is changing the value proposition of their previous DVD releases in order to entice people to buy. It's business, plain and simple. Since you said you are not looking at it from a business standpoint, when indeed Fox is running a business here, then why bother arguing with me and criticizing Fox in the process?

Regards,

Dan

 

[Andrew_Sch]

All I know is, I'm getting my hands on ID4 Five Star sometime soon.

 

[Jeff Kleist]

Planet of the Apes is probably changing it's SKU, since the first pressing had that free CD and such

The rest are probably just being pulled for a short time so that they can be re-promoted in some way. This is COMMON. I'm SURE that the 2-discs will remain available. You people didn't follow the VHS market very closely I can see, it's COMMON for certain titles to be pulled for 6-12 months at a time, just to keep inventory flowing.

Alien is indeed being 5-stared, wouldn't it make sense to re-promote the others at the same time? Same goes for Speed, Romeo&Juliet is getting an SE, and since X-Men 2 is due out soon, I'm betting that we're either going to see a new SE with behind the scenes stuff, OR we're going to see just a plain keepcase version, instead of that expensive shiny one, so basically the same deal as POTA

Cast Away, ID4,Abyss are all getting movie-only releases in P&S. Wouldn't it make sense to repromote the WS at the same time? You say to the customer "Gee, you can get this movie-only P&S butchery, OR you can get this nice widescreen version with all of this neat stuff!" Sounds like OAR encouragement to me.