U.S. vs. European disc releases... (1 Viewer)

[David Wilkins]

Perhaps responses here can help me to better understand the differences between what's deemed worth distributing in Europe, as opposed to being not "market worthy", or whatever you want to call it, in the U.S. A particular difference that comes to mind is 3D titles, but also Blu-ray as a whole. Of course this applies to titles that are a U.S. release to begin with.

How can it be that the U.K., for instance, is a worthy market for releasing a title in 3D, but not the U.S.? We're a much larger market, even allowing for difference in popularity of 3D between the two countries. If they're going to bother at all, why not both countries? They're bound to sell more than strictly a U.K. release. The same applies to 2D discs. What is the egg-head reasoning? Are overseas divisions of any given studio that starkly separated from the U.S.? Whenever I ponder distribution, the only word that comes to mind is an over simplified "weird". Maybe one more, "frustrating".

 

[Ethan Riley]

It could be that streaming overseas is relatively primitive compared to the U.S. and that's why there's still demand for discs. It could be that fees and performer residuals are cheaper overseas as well.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

Basically, the overseas branches of a studio are run as separate departments from the main U.S. division, and they have different goals/priorities/sales objectives.

Right now in the U.S., major studios are not interested in small sales numbers. They're interested in moving as many units as possible as quickly as possible, and that's basically all that their current business model allows. They have made a decision that it's not worth the time, effort and expense to put out releases that will only sell small quantities here. This is why we've seen a rise in third-party distributors like Twilight Time, Kino and Olive (to name but a few) for whom it is worth the time, effort and money to put out small batch releases that gross small profits. To a small company with a handful of people running it, making a few thousand dollars here and there is worth it. To a major studio, they've made a decision that it's not worth the effort.

Or, to put it another way, Disney's release of Avengers: Infinity War just crossed the $2 billion line at the box office. That's the game they're playing. A release of an old catalog title that might only sell 2000 copies and that might only bring in a few thousand dollars just isn't where their focus is.

International divisions have different mandates and different goals. They're each servicing smaller markets and have the flexibility to put out releases which gross smaller amounts overall. There are a lot of smaller labels and distribution partners overseas as well that release catalog titles from U.S. studios, and it's the same principle for them as it is for the smaller labels here - for them, putting out a bunch of releases that each can generate small profits is worthwhile to them.

I think it mostly has to do with that difference of attitude between the domestic branches of studios and their international partners. The domestic studios right now are focused on releases that have the potential to have huge grosses, and generally aren't interested in anything that falls outside that scope. Their international partners have different goals and objectives, and still see the value of making small profits on multiple items rather than being interested in only getting huge profits from single items.

 

[Jesse Skeen]

At least it’s easier to order from other countries now. It used to be you had to go over there to get things, or if you were really lucky a local store might get a few import titles in.

 

[Angelo Colombus]

Bought most of the Ealing comedies from Amazon UK and they sure look great in Blu-ray. Also the UK was the only place to get the BFI Blu-ray release of Abel Gance's Napoleon.

 

[cinemiracle]

The Rogers and Hammerstein's collection comprised 8 bluray discs in the USA as against only 5 in Australia. We seems to suffer immensely whereby many blurays have little or no extras. 2001 -A SPACE ODYSSEY was only a single bluray disc in Australia as against 2 discs in the U.S.A. SHIP OF FOOLS had no extras in the USA but several hours worth in the U.K. Why aren't the same versions released exactly the same world wide? We also have a very limited range of dvds and Bluray discs (especially gay and Foreign films) . As a result one has to shop overseas if one wants the best in World Cinema. A multi- region player is essential .Lucky we can buy a multi region bluray player for less than $100. We have hundreds of Asian ( Thai/Indian/Chinese) dvd outlets in Sydney but their quality is woeful. Let's have the same editions released world-wide.It makes no sense to have different versions in each country.

 

[Alan Tully]

Yup, if you like movies, you just have to bite the bullet & order worldwide, it's no harder, just a click of a mouse, & a lot of the time not really that much more expensive.