Paramount/Alliance: Please stop the bilingual blunders (1 Viewer)

[rhett]

Living in Canada, I find myself more and more frustrated with the recent trend of having only bilingual cover art included on most DVDs. Alliance and Paramount are the biggest supporters of this, including both French and English titles and plot descriptions on their DVD packaging. I realize that we are a bilingual nation, but the cover art, as a result, is unattractive and frustrating.
Is there any way that these bilingual covers could be changed in the following ways:
1.) Eliminated all together
2.) Made only available in Quebec, with the rest of the provinces receiving only the English packaging.
3.) Provide English packaging on the front, and French on the flipside, with a sticker on the shrink wrap stating so.
Call it a nitpick, but I know many people who dislike this type of packaging, and I really wish Paramount at least would return to their old ways of releasing the same packaging all over North America.
Here is a comparison of front cover packaging between Canada and the USA:

The back art is worse because the synopsis and features listing is split into both French and English. Now I don't want this to come off as an anti-French thread. I am bilingual and can speak and comprehend both languages very well, but I would prefer to have one or the other, not both.
So please Paramount/Alliance, can you please change your packaging ways and stop including the unappealing French translations on the DVD artwork.

 

[Walt Riarson]

I too am against bilingual covers.

I spend about two weeks per year with a group of friends I have up in Canada, and lately, they all have been complaining about how much they dislike discs with bilingual covers. They stopped buying Paramount discs, as a result of their switch.

I don't have to worry about it here in the states, but I have to warn companies, there are a lot of disgruntled people who want the bilingual covers to stop. I'd listen if I were them, wanting higher sales.

 

[Bjorn Olav Nyberg]

I wholeheartedly agree. I buy almost all my discs from Canadian online stores, but am considering alternate sources for releases with bilingual cover.
Two-sided covers that can be flippen are probably the best and most practical idea rather than separate releases (which would be ideal) but some of the bilingual releases I've seen that do this still have the french title on the front and spine. I say go for english only on one side, french only on the other side. (But I realize there are laws in effect here so the decision is not entirely up to the studio/distributor)

 

[Lafe F]

Studios don't realize that NOBODY in the marketplace wants bilingual covers. The Francophones don't want English on their covers either. It's poor composition to have two titles on the spine. It's distracting to have words that are not immediately understandable. Customers pay a lot for these discs, so more thought should go into the packaging.

Why do studios do it? Is it to save costs by not having to print two sets/sides of covers? I doubt there are language laws, because many other studios do not have biligual packaging in Canada.

BTW - I wonder if Amazon.ca ships the bilingual covers, or do they get their stock from US warehouses?

Jason Goes to Hell and Jason X are from New Line/Alliance, so they'll have bilingual covers in Canada also.

 

[Neil Joseph]

Please dispense of this feature immediately if at all possible.

 

[Rob T]

The bilingual covers look horrible.
I can't remember the last time I bought any Paramount DVDs.

 

[Bjorn Olav Nyberg]

Unfortunately this thread does not seem to get the massive amount of support I would have expected. I guess most here rely on american sources or stores outside of Northern America?

 

[Frank Sadler]

Get rid of it please.

 

[Bingo]

Count me as someone who really can't stand these covers.

I'm ordering more and more releases from the States so I won't have to worry about them.

 

[JulianK]

I order a lot of discs from a Canadian retailer, and bilingual packaging is now a consideration in my purchasing decisions.

For the couple of cents it would cost to print dual-sided sleeves (English only on one side, French only on the other), you're losing my business.

 

[Gui A]

I no longer buy product with bilingual covers. I find them aesthetically unpleasing, hard to read, and completely unnecessary. They also seem to be printed at a lower quality.
Things were fine before. English covers on one side, French on the other. By having both on both sides, these companies waste a lot of time and money.
The law only applies to product sold in Quebec.

Alliance Atlantis, Paramount, please change your policies, as I now buy all Universal, New Line, Miramax, Dimension, Artisan, Koch, Paramount, and any other studio I may have forgotten, product from amazon.com

Thank you.

 

[Chuck L]

Wow and I thought that the only problem with Friday 7 was that it was still the MPAA bastardized version...:b

 

[Marc Deslauriers]

I _despise_ bilingual covers. Please stop this practice.

The best solution:

Have both languages on the outside cover, but have only english on the inside cover. That way, the stupid retarded quebec law is not broken, and english people, like me, can just reverse their cover and have a nice looking dvd.

That way, I won't have to import a lot of my dvd's from the USA.

Marc.

 

[rbirk]

I thought it was only Universal... I have several Universal DVDs with both French and English on the cover. It is very annoying. When I noticed that the cover was indeed doublesided I had some hope, but surprise suprise, the backside was also double language, only this time French was first (or bigger). Can you believe this?

Ron Birk

 

[Jeff Ulmer]

I hate these bilingual covers too. Alliance was doing great for a while with English on one side and French on the other, but LOTR had French on the spine, which a the reason I went out of my way to buy US versions of every Alliance release back when they began making bilingual covers.

Packaging is important, and I do not want French on the covers or spines, it can be put on an entirely French flip side.

 

[Martin Fontaine]

Anyone know a site where I can download HiRes DVD Covers (Proper, Unpolluted ones) so I can print my own to replace the polluted ones. I'm buying a Color Ink-Jet printer soon so that could probably give me a reason to increase that in my priorities list.

 

[Jay Mitchosky]

I no longer buy product with bilingual covers. I find them aesthetically unpleasing, hard to read, and completely unnecessary.

Perfectly stated. Original cover art only, at least on one side.

 

[Gui A]

Martin, try DVDcoverart.com

 

[Artur Meinild]

I want to second everything said in this thread. And not only Paramount/Alliance, now also Dreamworks and Universal.

STOP THE BILINGUAL COVER MADNESS!!!
This might be the single worst idea ever. Why?

Ok, let's take Back to the Future as an example. The Canadian version has french on the cardboard slipcase, and on both sides of the inlay cover. And why exactly? Couldn't you just put french on the cardboard, or on one side of the inlay? What's the point in a flip cover if BOTH sides contain BOTH french and english?
What's the reasoning behind this cover design? Must be somethin like: Hey, let's make this cover as unattractive as possible to everyone, let's create a mish-mash of french and english all mixed up, hehe, let's see who's gonna buy it.
Hopefully none! Stop this silly trend, thanx!