News From the 2005 Home Entertainment Summit - "The (DVD) boom time is over!" (1 Viewer)

[Lane_S]

I think I represent a fairly large percentage of people in that I don't got to the theater as much as I use to, and only buy a fraction of DVDs each month as I did in the beginning.

I own a nice home theater system. Some on this board would laugh at it, but for about $1500 I carefully put together a TV, DVD player and audio system that looks and sounds really nice. In a normal house with sleeping kids when I'm watching *my* movies, it meets all of my needs. We own about 300 DVDs today (including several bought for my 6 year old over the years and my wife's "chick flicks"). I easily bought that many in the first 18 months out of the five years or so I've owned a player. However, I figured out a couple of years ago that the majority of the DVDs I was buying were only being watched once then filed, because (a) the film was OK but not great and/or (b) I only have so many hours to watch movies in any given week. I've since sold off a large part of my collection (and studios don't calculate "used" sales into their bottom line since they don't see a penny of it) and now use the "will I *really* watch this more than once" rule with each DVD purchase.

End result is that I have a good selection of films I really like that I can watch on my decent home theater system any time I like (or at least when everyone else is in bed or I have the house to myself). I will be buying some new titles from time to time, but I already own the older titles I want so I'm 90%+ done with backfilling my collection. I don't have enough free hours in the next year to watch every single DVD I own.


So, I don't *have to* put up with all of the negatives stated in other posts above with visits to a theater to watch mediocre films (although I will see War of the Worlds next week and Serenity in a couple of months) when I can pop in a movie in 5.1 surround I really like at home, and I won't be buying much in the way of DVDS until the Oct/Nov holiday glut of releases start hitting stores (and even then, not that many) because I alreay have a nice library of movies I want to watch over and over.

That's why I think this article was written in the first place, since I beleive my story is most people's story. Should I tell the studios that I will not be buying an HD DVD player until there is a single format (my Dad was burned on Beta VCR years ago) and that even then my DVD "re-buy in HD" list is already written and very, very short. Nah - that will give them something to cry about next year and the year after.

 

[Jeff_HR]

Nice to see someone else who shares my opinion. As to the boom being "over". So what.

 

[Joseph Bolus]

I will say that the CNN Money article referenced to above regarding the less-than-expected DVD sales of Shrek 2 and The Incredibles is *shocking*.

Those are both perfectly executed "family friendly" titles that you would expect 80% of all DVD player owners to purchase.

Not only are they both very entertaining, but they also make for terrific "demo material" for the new Home Theater.

If I was affiliated with a movie studio, I would be *more concerned* about that report than the current Box Office slump.

 

[CraigL]

There's a difference. 20-30 years ago, we didn't have a blockbuster movie premiering every weekend like we do now. There wasn't the choice and the massive amount of crap coming out on a weekly basis. Movies would stay on top for weeks at a time because they were either really good or nothing else was coming out and they were the best there was. Think about the movies that changed movie-making and when they came out. We don't have that kind of impact now because there is so much of it coming out. There will never be another Jaws or Star Warsn experience...ever.

 

[Jesse Skeen]

I bought both of those titles, though I'm extremely wary of buying another Dreamworks title now because of the forced trailers on the Shrek 2 disc. I'm avoiding both Shark Tale and Madagascar just because of the forced trailers for those on the disc- I actually LIKE having trailers on discs, but I do NOT like having my player controls disabled and being expected to watch them every single time I put the disc in. Forced trailers on DVD is the equivalent of showing commercials in movie theaters as far as contempt for the customer goes.

 

[WillardK]

I think Lane's well-stated experience is a predictable common-sense eventuality, one which I share a similar variation of. Though there are titles I can and do still anticipate, the frequency/quantity of those releases has decreased dramatically. As I mentioned in previous threads, I wonder what the after-boom will mean for smaller labels (has Fantoma disappeared or suffered excessively for their Forbidden Zone mistake?)

I'm confident that there will always be more exciting archival material to look forward to on whatever current format from whatever label or through whatever cable (Kino's Avant-Garde box, anyone?) and certain that not ALL new films will be "crap." It's the overall industry profit strategy that will be the biggest cause of worry to some.

Theaters? I still enjoy them and consider a live audience (loud or not) a true enhancement for certain film experiences. However, it's not just the lack of interest I have in most multiplex releases, but the overpriced tickets that also keep me away... sometimes to await a dvd rental or cable viewing.

 

[FrancisP]

If Hollywood wants to increase the number of dvds sold then they are going to have to increase their output. The titles that need no selling, like a Star Wars, are already out. The constant re-release of titles does not help sales at all. If average Joe Consumer wants Jaws then he bought it
when it originally came out. I guarantee you that he is not
going to buy the 30th anniversary edition and keep two copies. That means that studios that have a huge catalog of unreleased titles need to start looking at those.

Second, studios need to market dvd releases better. It seems that only when a movie remake is made do they know
how to market a film. Given all the ways there are to communicate with customers, studios need to do a better job of it.

 

[Mark Bendiksen]

That's true. At least it's true for the vast majority of major studio releases. One of the biggest exceptions this season was Cinderella Man, which apparently very few people went to see. That's pretty depressing, if you ask me, because it will probably encourage the big studios to continue to do what they do best: Churn out more CGI video games disguised as movies.

 

[Dick]

They could just out-source their entire DVD production/replication work, pay salaries of 25 cents an hour in some Third World country, and make those double-digit gains all over again. Everyone else is doing it, why not Disney or Fox?

Damn, I hope I didn't give them any ideas.

 

[Jesse Skeen]

A lot of DVDs now are made in Mexico, presumably because the labor there is cheap. I'm not sure how I feel about supporting that.
The really cheap (low-priced) electronics are made in China, where I've heard pays about slave wages.

 

[AndrewWickliffe]

I've had a DVD player since '98 and I had three or four at one time.

So I consider myself pretty firm in the 85%. Like in the first 10-15%, chronologically speaking.

I would not buy either of those movies. I wouldn't particularly want my kids seeing either of those movies.

I don't care if they're "family friendly." They need to be good first.

 

[Jeff Ulmer]

I don't think that announcing a successor to the format has helped things any. I'm sure many of the early adopter crowd is scaling back waiting to rebuy their libraries again in hi def. My purchasing has slowed to a trickle, there just isn't that much that I feel compelled to buy anymore after eight years of collecting, and seeing the vast majority of my discs collecting dust or rotting on the shelf (another unpleasant surprise). There just isn't time to watch everyhting that is coming out, let alone rewatch everything.

I don't care if I never see another film in the theater, and I'm sure there are a lot of families who would prefer to stay at home and rent a DVD than shell out for the kids and snacks for a crappy presentation. There are very few modern films I could give a hoot about, and most don't deserve a rental let alone purchase.

 

[Andy Patrizio]

I definitely don't care to go to movies any more. I hadn't gone when I was working at IGN because, well, I was gonna watch the movie anyway. When I left, I had the time, and went to see Episode III. Some jackass brought her kid, around 5-6 yrs, and at that age, kids don't talk, they whine everything. That kid would NOT STFU, and I had to hear him whine through every quiet scene. Drove me insane. Then there's the cell phones, people who INSIST on sitting next to you in a near empty theater who chew with their mouths open...

Forget it. I blew a small fortune building this home theater. Short of a movie on the scale of a Hero or LotR, there's no bloody reason for me to ever set foot in a theater.

Now, as for the prediction DVD growth will slow, I disagree. There was a story in variety talking about how TV series DVDs had grown from $100 million to $2 billion in 5 years, and it will keep growing. That market will continue to expand.

There is only one thing that will stunt the growth of DVD and that's the studios. The continued shameless double dips (Fox) and piss-poor quality of DVDs (Miramax) will do more harm than market saturation will.

 

[GarySchrock]

Every theater should allow one to bring and USE duct tape. It'd solve a large part of the reason I hate going to the movie theater. Hell, I don't even go to evening shows anymore. I catch an early show on the weekend, largely because it's less likely to be crowded (and it costs a lot less).

 

[Jeff D Han]

At the local Regal cinema, a matinee showing
costs $7, which is ridiculous, so it doesn't
cost a lot less to go early in the day in this
area.

Very high fuel costs could be another reason
that people are staying away from the theaters.