The main thing Paramount needs improvement in, where's a trailer??? why no inclusion? (1 Viewer)

[ChristopherBlig]

their bare bones attitude towards key titles needs a serious readjustment. I'm dying for trailers or some small extra on these things (good or bad) and every opportunity that they've had, they don't take the full advantage...the whole Travolta package (with the exception of Grease which is a needs improvement disc all in itself) lacked any trailers as well as any music title (Flashdance, had a Behind the Music that showed evidence of a trailer, none of them are on the DVD) (Footloose, no trailer). What kills me the most is that these movies made money for the studios but they sure don't know how to make more money in return when it comes to the premier technology of DVD.
The treatment of titles recently by Paramount with trailers have been like Caesar's evaluation of how he felt about humans in 'Conquest of the Planet of the Apes' "There are no good humans, oh maybe a handful of them but not MOST of them.." Most of the DVDs have not gotten the true treatment on DVD, maybe a few of the Tom Clancy titles, but not most of the rest of them. Pop on with some thoughts on this subject[/size][/font]

 

[Michael Reuben]

Christopher, if you want anyone to read your posts, I suggest you change the font. I'm not straining my eyes to decipher it, and I'll bet a lot of other people won't either.

BTW, have you looked at the newly remastered Jack Ryan discs? They all have trailers.

M.

 

[Jeff Kleist]

Paramount did answer this question at one point. Basically if a trailer is missing there is usually a music right issue, and they really don't want to pony up $20,000+ for a trailer

 

[ChristopherBlig]

there's many that do get it and many that don't...how do you explain Popeye? how do we know it's music rights or another holdback? The worst part is Dreamworks is going down this very tunnel after Road To Perdition and Catch Me If You Can...not even any TV Spots..it's nice to have a representation of how it was going to be marketed rather than being treated like a laserdisc release with just the movie...with the technology of DVD and it's many inclusions, is a trailer inclusion asking too much?

 

[William Waits]

Paramount did answer this question at one point. Basically if a trailer is missing there is usually a music right issue, and they really don't want to pony up $20,000+ for a trailer

But what Paramount doesn't understand it that when it comes to selling, it is all about "Perception", and the perception is that Paramount doesn't care about its own work to include what is perceived as free advertisement for them. This frustrates customers like the gent above, and that perception has started to turn into dispise. Dispise, if allowed to fester, will turn into avoidance at some point. Maybe it needs another element to push it over the edge, but regardless, it has taken one step closer.

I could understand a $20 Million difference, but for a one time infusion of $20,000, it is next to nothing, and I would pay it in a heartbeat and wouldn't bitch about it considering the scale of magnitude of a popular DVD sale, all just to protect my perception to the customer. Beside, it would be written off as a business expense anyway, so I really don't see what their problem is.

I think that they told us that so that maybe they could help fester a change in perception to the askers of the $20,000 as being the villian in this scenario...

Bill

 

[Robert Crawford]

Don't be too surprised that Paramount doesn't understand about perception, but come on, not including a trailer is perceived as Paramount not caring about it's work. That's a stretch for me.

It's obvious that Paramount doesn't think inclusion of trailers on all of their dvd releases is economically feasible to them and that not including them doesn't overly effect their sales numbers in a negative way. Maybe, some of you don't agree with that thought pattern, but I haven't heard of too many people deciding not to purchase a particular dvd because it didn't have a trailer. Would I like all dvd releases to have trailers on them? Sure I would, but the lackof would never influence my decision to purchase a dvd that I wanted. To give Paramount some positive feedback. I'm glad they have reevaluated and lowered the MSRP of their catelogue dvd releases.




Crawdaddy

 

[AlanP]

there was no trailer with "THE CARPETBAGGERS"
either, explain that one to me ????????

 

[Robert Crawford]

 

[Jeff Kleist]

Exactly the formula is "Does having the trailer amount to $20,000-50,000 worth of additional revenue? The answer is pretty much no

 

[AlanP]

Well, if nothing else (TRAILERS) are adverisements for other
DVDs forthcoming or already released !!!!!
"Carpetbaggers" could have had "NEVADA SMITH" on it since,
it was the sequal and vice versa !!!
Sort of Bizarre, meanwhile it had an insert, which UNIVERSAL
did away with !!!!!!!!!

 

[Joe Caps]

I got the DVD of Paint Your Wagon. At the time of the film,there were TWO different ten minute "Making ofs" done for the movie, which I know that Paramount has. Too bad they are not on the DVD. There is one of these each for On a Clear Dzy, Darling Lili and they have one ( fantastic one) for Half a Sixpence.

 

[Brian McHale]

I guess I would ask the following question:

Q. How much more revenue would a DVD bring in if it included a trailer?

A. $0.00 (My opinion, of course ).

Is there really anyone out there that would not buy a DVD simply because it has no trailer on it? If it doesn't increase revenue, but it does increase costs, the answer seems simple.

I'm not saying I wouldn't prefer to have trailers and other extras on most discs, but it's the movie I'm interested in. As long as Paramount continues to put out good anamorphic (where applicable) OAR transfers, I'll keep buying their movies.

The only feature some Paramount discs lack that would increase how many I buy is a lower price. I don't necessarily think their discs are too expensive, but there are definitely movies out there that I will only buy if they're cheap, which Paramount's usually are not.

 

[Will K]

Is there really anyone out there that would not buy a DVD simply because it has no trailer on it?

Um, yes. It might sound silly to some, but it's true. I can surely understand others just wanting the movie, but for me, I value the inclusion of a trailer primarily for nostalgic purposes, particularly on older horror releases. I can think of a handful of Paramount I've passed on for this very reason(Pet Sematary, Silver Bullet, Graveyard Shift, among others). As a consumer, it just says to me "not much effort" when I examine the products in-store(that isn't to say OAR, 16x9, etc. aren't important).

 

[Thomas Hart]

Is there really anyone out there that would not buy a DVD simply because it has no trailer on it? If it doesn't increase revenue, but it does increase costs, the answer seems simple.

Count me as another bizarre consumer who would pass on a DVD without a trailer. I'm sorry, but if I'm buying 3 or 4 DVDs at one time (all of them I love equally) and can only afford 1 or 2. Guess which ones I put back? That's right; the ones without trailers, commentaries, or documentaries. Plus, I always watch the trailer first on a DVD to put me in the correct mood and mindset before watching a film (sort of like warming-up before a workout).

With the exception of Columbia and Paramount, ALL of the studios and distributors of DVDs include trailers 90% of the time (even Something Weird Video). Music rights for a trailer is arguable somtimes, but Paramount is releasing "Grease 2" and "Popeye" on DVD without trailers (or anything else). I've seen these trailers, and the only music in them is the original music from the movie itself, which has already been licensed and paid for (or else the film itself wouldn't be getting released).

So as minute as my opinion may be compared to everyone else's ("It's the film that's important....), lack of trailers does affect my buying choices.

Oh, and as an example, I recently purchased all the recent Universal and MGM westerns they just released (95% had trailers and were available for under $10). I haven't bought any of the new Paramount westerns yet since they were $5 more and included no trailers. Again though, my personal buying choice and opinion about trailers.