Quick Draw McGraw and Wally Gator DVD release both posponed!!! (1 Viewer)

[george kaplan]

What they're comparing them to is whatever sales estimates were put in place when the dvds were greenlit. Now, who knows how those were derived, but the usual practice in most industries would seem to indicate mostly a combination of guesswork, and whatever numbers would be high enough to indicate an internal rate of return that gets those approved.

Those numbers are almost always optimistic overestimates, and a show that doesn't make them is 'disappointing'. But if show X had an estimate of 10,000 units, and show Y had an estimate of 3,000,000 units and show X sells 11,000 and show Y sells 2,700,000, show Y is going to be viewed as the one with disappointing sales.

Sales are not objectively disappointing or not, only in comparison with expectations. Whether the sales for Huckleberry were truly bad, or based on unrealistic expecatations is pure speculation, and unfortunately, pretty irrelevant.

 

[Michael Alden]

Well, a perfect example is how the shows themselves were all yanked off of Cartoon network and shunted onto Boomerang. I don't know how many fewer people get Boomerang on their cable (I don't). The problem here and virtually industry wide (and I know, having worked in the business for over 20 years) is that the majority of people in TV don't really watch TV and aren't really fans of TV. I don't want to tell you how many people I've spoken to in syndication divisions that I knew more about their shows than they did. Especially if they are younger then they really know little or nothing about properties from before their time. But if they don't know how or who to market these releases to it's not the releases fault. And no one wants to be blamed for giving the go ahead to something that doesn't "meet expectations". Because, I can tell you one thing from my years in the business. The two most seldom heard words in the industry: MY FAULT.

 

[Tory]

And Boomerang is going to lose them too as more and more recent shows are taking over that station. It is like there is some evil force out there trying to eliminate animation before the 80's.

 

[Ethan Riley]

See ya later, Wally Gator.

 

[FrancisP]

It probably will but the question is how realistic are the projections? It used to be that if you made money off of a release then it was a success. Now it's a failure if you make money but not enough.

I also agree that promotion is very poor. Most marketers don't understand how to promote classics. It's like once you're 40 you disappear from the face of the earth. I
certainly would have used Boomerang to advertise. Until recently I had forgotten about it. There were no ads in the media or weekly advertisements.

 

[george kaplan]

Yes, Francis is right. Animaniacs could sell 10 times more than those other shows combined, and still be considered an utter failure - if, for instance, their expecting it to sell 20 times as much.

In the bizarre world of big business (where making millions in profits each year isn't success, it's showing double-digit growth in profits that's needed for success), less popular shows could quite easily be more successful, just by exceeding their expectations, if such were set at realistic levels to begin with.

 

[Kevin Martinez]

Is that even humanely possible?

 

[Shawn_C]

I was really looking forward to the release of Quick Draw McGraw and Wally Gator DVD set. I hope WB will reconsider at least Quick Draw DVD set. Wally Gator to me is a cool show.

Well Hanna Barbera sets we can look forward to this year are
Flintstones season 5
Scooby Doo/Dynomutt Dog Wonder season set
Huckleberry Hound vol 2
Hong Kong Phooey the complete series and
Flintstones final season 6.

Still waiting for Josie and the Pussycats complete series DVD set. Come on Archie comics!!!

 

[James Reader]

It's not just a case of if the proposed now delayed/cancelled sets make money or not. I'm sure that most DVD released these days "make money" - it's just slower sellers may take longer to go into the black. After all, these DVD sets aren't just for America, but potentially the whole world (although to date, only about 1/3 of the Hanna Barbera sets have been released internationally).

The question is, by releasing something else, can they make more money, and make it back sooner. Warners is a business, and like any business the bottom line normally wins out. Easy money is generally preferred.

The fact is the 'toons most likely do need restoring. Imagine the outcry if unrestored footage was released. This times time and money. The fact is Animaniacs is more than likely going to sell many more copies - regardless of Warners promotions, good or bad.

Warner can't force retailers to put their products in their weekly flyers. Promoting TV releases is hard, because unless it's something "hot" most retailers don't get behind them. It's not Warners fault.

I don't see anywhere where it says these cartoons will never come out, and I know there's lots more Hanna Barbera stuff that can be released. Let's just look to the future and see what happens - either way, we can most likely enjoy more classics from HB on DVD.