JPIII in Widescreen at Blockbuster?!?! (1 Viewer)

[Shane Eastridge]

Yep, it’s true, every copy in my local BB was Widescreen.

Maybe they’re starting to see the light... NOT!

 

[SteveGon]

Yeah, it's a bit too early to break out the champagne. BTW, did you actually rent the movie? I was thinking perhaps they put fullscreen discs in widescreen cases ala Hollywood Video...

 

[Shane Eastridge]

No, I bought this one the day it came out. I just happened to see them on the shelf when I was in renting another movie. But you may be right. I did not know that they would go that low though.

 

[SteveK]

Shane- My local Blockbuster has 50+ copies of JPIII, all in widescreen. The same thing was true for Grinch. The local Blockbuster is a franchise operation rather than a company-owned location, so perhaps that is the reason. I've been tempted to write the owner a letter thanking him for carrying widescreen. Hopefully that will help ensure that he continues to do so.

Steve K.

 

[Joshua Moran]

That is really wierd here is the response I got from them:

Thank you for your e-mail. Customer feedback is very important to us and we are

glad you took the time to write.

The movie studios determine whether or not to release their DVDs in standard

(full-screen) or wide-screen versions. It is our preference, and the preference

of our customers that because of the versatility and storage capacity of DVD

technology, DVDs include both versions on one disc. In the past, when the

studios have chosen to release separate standard and wide-screen version DVDs,

it has caused confusion amongst our customers. To minimize our customer

dissatisfaction, we have chosen to carry only one version of a title on DVD, and

our research has shown that more customers prefer the standard than the

wide-screen version. We take your comments and suggestions as a welcome show of

interest and loyalty. We are forwarding your comments to the appropriate

department for their review.

At Blockbuster, we realize that nothing is more important than our members are

and we value your good will and continued support. Thank you for your interest

in Blockbuster. If you need further assistance, please contact your local

Blockbuster store. Our employees are empowered, authorized, and expected to

take care of customers.

Here is what I sent them:

I have stopped renting from your company because you refuse to

offer Widecreen DVD whenever the Pan & Scan Discs are available. I can't

figure out why a film supporter would only rent out butchered copies of

movies. Would you cut up the Mona Lisa so it would fit in your wallet? I

didn't think so. Film is an art and should not be butchered because some

people don't see it that way. I think it would be a huge influence if you

started to support Widescreen and explaining to people what it is. Heck

your commercials even show widescreen clips of the films yet you don't

offer them. In a way that is false advertising. You only rent and sell Pan

& Scan or Full Frame DVD versions when there are both Widescreen and Full

Frame versions available. DVD was started in Widescreen and should stay

that way. That is one reason why it got so popular. I will no longer rent

or buy from your company until you start offering Widescreen DVDs on a

regular basis. Thanks for you time and consideration.

 

[Dave Scarpa]

Not at mine they were all FS P&S:frowning:

 

[BryanZ]

The one I normally rent from (only due to the Shrek special, I might add) had JP3 only in Pan & Scam. Even then they only had 14 copies of it.

 

[Dave H]

I got the exact e-mail reply from Blockbuster that Joshua did, so here was my response to them:

Thank you for your reply.

Blockbuster needs to educate it's consumers so they understand that they are losing 20-40% of information or picture by watching a "full screen" DVD over the widescreen version. I have seen Blockbuster do NOTHING to promote this.

Furthermore, you are NOT catering to or satisfying all customers when you only carry the full screen version of the film. Just because some people are getting confused because they are ill-informed, doesn't mean my ability to rent the widescreen version I want should be sacrificed.

As a result, I will be cancelling my membership at Blockbuster video.

"Our employees are empowered, authorized, and expected to take care of customers."

This is obviously NOT happening.

Thank you for your time,

David Hirst

 

[Mark_wH]

Why would Blockbuster incur additional costs for the "education" of the consumer? What kind of program would you implement so that the additional revenues earned would exceed the extra costs. Whether its existing customer base rent widescreen or pan and scan, would have no affect on total sales. The increase in new customers would have to exceed the expenditures of the "education" program in order to justify their costs. Are there really that many people out there boycotting Blockbuster?

Mark

 

[CharlesD]

They had better be stocking widescreen DVDs of this movie: their TV ads show clips from the movie in widescreen and the DVD boxes shown in the ads are marked widescreen. Of course TV ads never mislead people ot distort the truth!

 

[Dave H]

Mark,

I wonder how much would cost to have a simple poster or comparision (full screen vs. widescreen) hanging up on the "New Releases" wall so people could see the difference - this would be similar to some of the images people from this forum have created. The extra cost is simply providing better customer service or allowing the average customer to see things a bit clearer. I know of people who simply just don't understand why those "black bars" exist.

I'm not sure how many people are boycotting Blockbuster, but the negative image of them is growing - very prevalent on this board and other places- and this widescreen issue is one reason why. This is something they surely don't want because eventually it may "cost" them.

 

[Mark_wH]

Dave,

A poster in each window would require design costs, manufacturing costs, and additional distribution costs. What would be the benefit to this in Blockbuster's eyes. Even if their customers are convinced by this poster that widescreen is better, they are merely shifting revenues of one rental product to another of equal value while incurring additional costs to do so.

If it is indeed true that boycotts become large and Blockbuster's costs of lost sales outweigh the benefits of stocking pan and scan, then they will respond accordingly. I hope they do, because I would like to rent AI in widescreen as well.

Mark

 

[Larry Gardner]

Mark:

I'm sorry but I disagree. BkBr is a membership oriented operation. They ARE suppose to provide information to their membership - not only for basic information on releases but also to provide information in order to grow as a company.

To believe that a company is to provide NO information - or in this case - WRONG information - to their clientele does not speak very highly of BkBr. The are providing a disservice to their membership - and in my opinion in violation of their membership aggreements.

Members are not DEMANDING BkBr to only carry WS. They are requesting BkBr to provide a choice - which basincally they are not doing - as well as passing mis-information onto their membership that it is out of their hands - blame the studios.

If the studios are to blame, then there would not be such an overwhelming difference between BkBr stores in the US - where some members can rent WS and others cannot.

What would be interesting is if franchise stores are the one's carrying WS - where the company stores do not. If this is the case, then basically BkBr is passing partial information onto their memberships when it is in their favor and blaming the studios when it goes against them.

All members are asking is that the P&S/WS ratio be other than 100%/0% when separate releases are involved. The studios could care less what DVDs are ordered by retail stores - a DVD purchased is a DVD purchased - whether it be P&S or WS.

BkBr should provide this information in their stores - whether it be to inform their members - or to inform their employees who seem to be passing mis-information about P&S/WS differences all over the place.

It is true that BkBr cannot take the burden on themselves to educate everyone - however they should at least be educating their employees.

As stated above, a simple mechanism would to display a P&S and WS version of a film in their stores ... They do have monitors in their stores - they should be using them.

They also provide advertisements on each release during release week, they can also provide information periodically on the leaflet. This is not a major cost since they are printing these leaflets each week.

 

[Darren Rowley]

Boycott blockbuster? Why have you delayed? I boycotted them a few years ago when Netflix showed up on the scene!

 

[Dave H]

They could always shift the costs away from the useless "discounts" they give you on three to four pieces of paper they hand you when they give you your receipt.

 

[Ryan Wright]

A poster in each window would require design costs, manufacturing costs, and additional distribution costs.

Design: There are many talented members here who would be happy to design the posters for free. I'd pitch in on the project for sure if Blockbuster (or any store, for that matter) promised to actually use the material.

Printing/distribution: Should cost $10 per store max. I just checked their web site, and they have 7800 stores. $78,000 seems like a lot of money, but it's nothing to a company like Blockbuster. Their marketing budget alone has got to be way into the millions, if not tens of millions.

If the company can't or won't finance it, I personally would be willing to pay the $20 for my two local Blockbusters as long as they promised to keep the material up for a few years and start bringing in equal numbers of widescreen DVD rentals. I'd even start renting there exclusively.

Best Buy, etc, should get into this as well. I wonder if someone here could come up with a great sales pitch for these executives - something to make it worth their time to do this. Tell 'em we'll do all the design for free, all they have to do is print 'em and hang 'em up.