Missing Trailers (1 Viewer)

[Bryan Tuck]

This may not seem like such a big deal, so I apologize if I sound like a whiny DVD geek. I don't mean to.

Something I always look forward to when checking out a new DVD is watching the original theatrical trailer for the film on the disc. I just enjoy seeing how the film was advertised, and the trailers are quite entertaining sometimes (for varying reasons, of course). But I've noticed a trend lately, most notably with Buena Vista (but now affecting Paramount, Sony, and now DreamWorks of all studios), of leaving the trailers off the disc.

Am I the only one that finds this odd? Trailers have been more or less a standard feature on DVDs since the inception of the format. I understand that sometimes trailers for older films cannot be found (which may explain most of the examples at Paramount), but newer films like The Rookie, The Count of Monte Cristo, Sweet Home Alabama, and now Road to Perdition and The Ring (all these among many, many others) are released to DVD without trailers.

What exactly is the deal here? I realize that a lot of people probably don't care, and would find it odd that anyone would want to watch a trailer for a film on that film's DVD, but this is such an easy thing to include that it doesn't really make sense not to. It can't possibly be a space issue, as most trailers are 3 minutes or less.

At any rate, I think most studios are doing a very good job with their DVD releases, but I just don't want this trend to get any bigger. If anyone has an explanation for why trailers for newer films are left off their respective DVDs, I would be glad to hear it (that's not meant as sarcasm; I'm serious).

Anyway, feel free to take me to task if you don't agree. And I apologize if it seems I'm making a mountain out of a molehill, but I just don't want this trend to continue. I know many other people that enjoy watching trailers, and because they take up so little space, and because we have become accustomed to seeing them on DVDs, I see no real reason for their exclusion.

Does anyone else agree? Or am I insane?

 

[Robert Ringwald]

You're not crazy, I was on my way here to write me own complaint after reading the SWIMFAN review.

It pisses me off that many trailers are getting the shaft these days. It's not just those movies you named, there are a ton of recent movies in the past 2 years that are getting the shaft. More often than not, it's DISNEY, who instead put trailers for every single other video on their shelf, but the one of the actual disc.

More studios are starting to follow the trend, but I am completely against it.

 

[Douglas R]

I totally agree. Trailers should always be included. If they are not, I feel cheated.

 

[Benson R]

I would guess 9 times out of 10 a trailer is left off due to the issue of music rights. If that is the case perhaps some people involved in dvd productions could comment on how much cost there is to a studio typically to secure the rights. I would have to think that in most cases the cost isn't high, but the studios think nobody cares that much if they aren't there. I for one love trailers, and they are my favorite extra. They might not keep me from buying a dvd I want but if they are included they might give me the extra push to pick that title up.

 

[Jeff Jacobson]

And I apologize if it seems I'm making a mountain out of a molehill, but I just don't want this trend to continue.

Well, this is the Home Theater Forum, so you're not really "making a mountain out of a molehill". Sure, there are much bigger problems going on in the world right now, but this forum is not the place to discuss them. So in this context, missing trailers and pan & scan only releases are very serious problems.

 

[GregoryP]

I am also a big fan of movie trailers and am bothered when they are not included on the DVD. Basically the reason I generally hear as to why they are not included is music rights. This excuse is fine for older movies, but for recent movies there is no reason why they can't secure these rights at the time the trailer is made.

COME ON STUDIOS! INCLUDE THE TRAILERS ON YOUR DVDS!!!

Gregory

 

[Jeff Kleist]

If it hasn't been cleared beforehand, I doubt they're going to drop 10K+ on music rights for a trailer

 

[Bryan Tuck]

To add to my earlier post, I did send Buena Vista an e-mail about this. DreamWorks' site didn't seem to have a customer service option, and I can't find a number for them.

Here is BV's customer comment page: http://video.go.com/support/home.html Remember to be polite if you do e-mail them. Maybe we can do something about this.

If they know people will want it, maybe they will be more willing to secure music rights ahead of time.

 

[Bill J]

I agree completely. The lack of the theatrical trailer(s) is one thing that can really ruin an otherwise good DVD release.

Examples:
The Ring
Road to Perdition
The Thin Red Line
Signs
The Rookie
We Were Soldiers
Black Hawk Down

 

[Aaron Cohen]

It's definitely starting to piss me off. The last 18 dvd's I have purchased did not include their theatrical trailers.....

 

[Robert Ringwald]

I don't think it's music rights, because it's happening more now. Or maybe because they were once willing to pay for the rights, but since the general public has stated trailers aren't as important (a poll a while back said deleted scenes and other features were higher on the general public's list than trailers/tv spots) perhaps the studio's simply don't want to spend the $$ anymore.

 

[Neil Joseph]

This is one thing I missed from the Matrix DVD although I know it was in the DVD rom material.

 

[Rob T]

The Spider-man DVD is missing the great trailer. It's a good thing that I have the Stan Lee biography disc.

 

[LukeB]

It's not music rights, because the trailers appear on other DVDs! Plus, at this point, I'd imagine that DVD is written into clearance contracts for obtaining music for trailers.

Disney is the #1 culprit of doing this. There has got to be a reason, and cost and space can't be it. Why they'll put DVD trailers for say, The Rookie, on all other DVDs, but not The Rookie...doesn't make sense. Except if they're trying to piss off people.

And just about all of the "movie showcase" line is missing the original trailers.

 

[Jeff Kleist]

Luke, yes it very well may be music rights

Frequently they buy the rights for say, 6 months and by the time the DVD comes out it's gone

 

[JeffMc]

It's not always music rights. Paramount doesn't bother with trailers for most of their secondary catalog titles just out of laziness. I love the back cover of their release of "My Bloody Valentine" --- "Special Features: Widescreen Version, English subtitles, Dolby Digital - English, French". Did I miss something - where are the "special" features???? Paramount is definitely losing MY money because of their lazy policy. I would have snatched up Friday the 13th Part 8 just for the hilarious "New York New York" trailer if they had included it on the disc, but no trailer in sight. Same goes for a lot of their other borderline horror titles like "Prophecy", etc. where the movie itself isn't that great - I'd buy them if they had a trailer or at least SOMETHING as an incentive, but just the movie? Forget it.

There are other bizarre "missing trailer" situations I've come across as well. One big one is the Criterion release of DePalma's "SISTERS". Where's the friggin' trailer??? The music in that trailer (which has been seen on countless VHS compilations over the years and is a really cool trailer) is the same Bernard Herrman music as in the film. So it's not music rights. You would expect more from a company like Criterion, but they definitely missed the mark on this one. Geez - I could have supplied them with a copy of that trailer.

JeffMc

 

[LukeB]

Frequently they buy the rights for say, 6 months and by the time the DVD comes out it's gone

But if they have the rights to put the trailers on other DVD, it makes no sense why they don't put it on the DVD of the actual film. Take for example, Snow Dogs (a dreadful example, I know). A trailer for it appeared on Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh (released a week earlier) and Oliver & Company (released a week later). Granted, the trailer was slightly modified from the theatrical trailer to mention the DVD release, but I think it's obvious that people who like the movie enough to buy the DVD would rather have A trailer than no trailer at all for that movie.

Clearly, music rights aren't the issue in cases like this where the trailers appear on other DVDs.

 

[Geoff_D]

Recent trailers tend to feature so much music nicked from other scores (Hans Zimmer's oft-used Crimson Tide and Gladiator scores for example) that it can be prohibitively expense to license this music just for a 90-second spot on the dvd. And even though some trailers have been rescored (like Buena Vista did with Pearl Harbor's trailers on the PH:Vista Series set) it's still cheaper to just leave them out. But if a trailer has been featured on other dvds, then there really is no excuse to not include it.

 

[Kami]

Yeah it really stinks. One thing I always liked to do when company came over is have them pick a bunch they're interested in, then I'd show them the trailers and they could decide what they want to watch. It's getting harder and harder to do that.

 

[Jeff Jacobson]

It looks as though Who Framed Roger Rabbit also will be missing the trailer, according to this thread:
http://www.hometheaterforum.com/htfo...hreadid=128475