Multiple Sets of Same Movie-Good or Bad Thing?

[derek]

sir steve,

an 84 inch TV? is that measured from side to side, or from corner to corner?

now my real question:

what's the deal with that new 12 inch anakin? it looks horrible. what have your sources told you about this one and padme? why is another jedi garb anakin being release so soon? there has got to be better photos of this up coming wave.

[Eternal Padawan]

I agree. I'd rather they did it right the first time with an in-depth DVD then rushing to release crap.

I hate "double dipping." I appreciate it when they announce that special editions are coming out later before I buy the first version. I especially hate the Put my hand up your butt editions.

And I honestly don't understand fullscreen at all. people really want that rather than Widescreen? Why? Must be a Lanny thing...

ROLLO!

[El Chuxter]

I'm with Steve and EP. There have only been a handful of discs I got that I wanted to be improved upon. Monty Python and the Holy Grail is the only one that comes to mind at the moment. Otherwise, if you can't put it out like it deserves, wait!

GSJ had a good point about CDs. How often have I gotten the complete (or mostly complete) works of a particular artist, only to find them remastered with bonus tracks a month or so later. Ozzy Osbourne, Queen, Stevie Ray Vaughan. . . . Only vintage KISS and Aerosmith really needed remastering, as the sound quality on the initial CDs was horrible! And my favorite case is David Bowie: they were remastered in the early 90s, and were re-remastered a year or so ago. . . without the bonus tracks! Talk about stupid.

[stillakid]

JT hit upon an important point, that of speed to market. Back in the old days, when theatrical release was the rule and home video was prohibitively expensive for most, there was no rush to get a movie out on Beta/VHS/Disk because the market just wasn't there as a motivation.

Now, with the average lifespan of a theatrical release being around 2 weeks, a significant portion of the projected net is required from the home market. More often than not, it is those projected earnings that finance the picture in the first place. So with interest accruing (on amounts upwards of 50 million dollars +) time is of the essence.

EPK's are typically produced (thrown together) fairly quickly after wrap (much of that footage is made available to outlets like ET and Extra), so that's an "extra" that's easy to just drop onto the DVD. Other items, like commentary and storyboards, etc. take considerably more time and energy. Sometimes producers are very proactive with the process, as in the case with The Fast and the Furious, where the first edition DVD is extensive, but on the whole, "Hollywood" is aware that people with an interest in the movie in the first place are likely to buy just about any version that is released (which is why the pan and scan abomination proliferates to this day).

Personally, I don't buy first releases anymore unless they appear to be "finished," as with The Fast and the Furious. The Professional was one of my first purchases and imagine my chagrin when just a few months later Leon the Professional was released. Bastards! I've learned my lesson. Let Joe Six-pack watch his full screen no extras DVD. I'll just wait it out.

[Mandalorian Candidat]

I want to throw in my $0.02.

I agree with SS on this one. When studios start releasing multiple versions of the same movie with different features it smacks of money grubbing. Let me explain my POV with one example: The LOTR DVD sets.

We're getting an initial set with certain features and extras that I'll call 'A.' Several months later a larger set will be released with deleted scenes and a wholly different set of features and extras, I call this 'B.' I may want to have some or all of the A features, but I'd rather have set B because I want the deleted scenes. The producers of the set could have very easily put the A features that aren't included on B on the B set. Instead they're putting different features. If I want access to all of A and B I have to buy both sets. Thus New Line or Peter Jackson or whoever is producing the sets are milking the fans for the extra $ to get all the features. They could easily put everything in one set and set it at a reasonable price so a consumer could choose to get everything in one shot rather than paying twice.

Originally posted by JarJarBinks
And don't tell me that regular people don't care about widescreen. That isn't true at all. The problem is that some people don't understand widescreen. They think they are loosing picture at the top and bottom. If you can get those people to listen for half a second, most would understand. I know, I have explained it to people in the past.

I have to agree with icatch9 in principle on this one, JJB. Of all the people I know who buy DVDs, only the hardcore videophiles make it a point to buy widescreen versions. Many of my friends couldn't care less about the wider picture over P&S. It's been my experience that they would rather have the whole screen filled rather than seeing the smaller images that widescreen produces on a conventional TV. Having the sides cut off doesn't matter, even after I've explained the advantages of seeing the whole picture on WS. It's just a personal choice of taste, like how one person opts for diet soda over regular.

[icatch9]

Thanks Mandalorian Candidat, that was the point I was trying to make. Sure a lot of people buy DVDs and a lot of uneducated people buy DVD's. So, if they were educated on widescreen they may change there mind. Still some to most people would rather see a pan and scam just becasue the focus of the sceen is what is on the screen the most. Again, People would like to see Arogon slicing an Ork cenered and big, rather than seeing Arogon slicing an Ork slightly smaller and to the left at the same time as seeing what the 3rd Ork from the left is doing.

Remember people are stupid, a person is smart. People will always buy what they see or fell is best for them. If they don't like the looks of the black bars, then they won't be buying it. Just like I bought a black car over a blue one. It's personal choice.

[bigbarada]

I will admit that for 90% of the movies I buy, I usually go with the P&S versions. Simply because it has little bearing on those films (who cares about a widescreen Joe Vs. The Volcano? - one of my all-time favorite films, but you're not missing that much with P&S). Now I try to get Widescreen for the big epic movies (like Star Wars and LOTR), but for the most part I really could care less whether the sides are chopped off or not.

As for the LOTR sets, I think the way they did it was perfect. If you plan on releasing a deluxe set later on then announce it before the regular version is out. This way people can plan ahead on which version they want. The standard version is the one that the casual moviegoer will buy. The deluxe version is for the movie enthusiast. Releasing both at the same time would confuse the marketplace and lose sales. The movie enthusiast tends to be more patient and will wait a longer time for the "perfect" version of the film.

Of course, the biggest offender of releasing too many versions of the same film is Lucasfilm itself. How many VHS releases of the original trilogy have we had since 1995?

I didn't know that the special features available on the standard DVD of LOTR wouldn't be on the deluxe set; but when I watch them it seems no big loss. They are simply repetetive TV specials and thinly veiled ads for merchandise.

As for me, I plan to wait for the 5-disc set and am content to watch my dad's copy of LOTR until then.

[Mandalorian Candidat]

Originally posted by bigbarada
As for the LOTR sets, I think the way they did it was perfect. If you plan on releasing a deluxe set later on then announce it before the regular version is out. This way people can plan ahead on which version they want. The standard version is the one that the casual moviegoer will buy. The deluxe version is for the movie enthusiast. Releasing both at the same time would confuse the marketplace and lose sales. The movie enthusiast tends to be more patient and will wait a longer time for the "perfect" version of the film.

I am glad that they had the decency to announce all three versions of the movie, but my beef is that they wouldn't augment the 4-disc set by adding the exact material from the 2-disc set along with additional scenes and extras. Maybe those 2-disc extras are crap and it wouldn't make a big difference to me in the end, but if I'm buying the deluxe set, I'd like to have the options from the lesser ones.

Yes, BB, you are so right about LucasFilms blatant rereleases. I stood firm and didn't go for the latest edition of the boxed trilogy, even with the EP2 preview. At my count we've had three different boxed editions of the OT: 1)THX edition 2)SE edition 3)EP2 preview edition

[stillakid]

While wandering through TRU in the past year, I've noticed several Batman boxed sets released one at a time, all with the same 3 (?) figures (Batman, Robin, ?) and one "new" figure. If you want to get Alfred, you have to get that boxed set. If you want the new girl villain, you have to get the boxed set. So the only way to get the newest figures anymore is to re-purchase the core characters over and over again. Now, I kind of understand the reasoning there. The company is assuming that Alfred, etc won't be a big enough draw to warrant his own "card," but on the other hand, I don't know too many parents who would spring for several nearly identical overpriced boxed sets just to get that one new figure. So depending on how you look at it, this is either good marketing (to sell lesser known characters, much like the Hasbro "exclusives" argument) or is a royal scam foisted upon "collectors."

In the above LOTR example, with version A containing things that version B won't, it is clearly a case for corporate greed. The B release has been advertised as being the more "definitive" one. But not all DVD releases are done this way. I don't think that there is a definitive one-complaint-fits-all argument for this issue. For instance, what is the reasoning behind there being no widescreen edition of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (as far as I can tell)? Arguably one of the best Production Designed films of all time can only be seen in a square box. Surely there are ample opportunities for DVD extras with that movie.

[Lowly Bantha Cleaner]

One good thing about having multiple sets of the same movies is that, when the time comes to move out, there won't be a big fight over who gets to take what.

I can imagine it right now, when the time comes for my brother and myself to move. He knows I got dibs on the SW VHS trilogy and the Ep1 DVD as well as the SD, Stand By Me DVD, and he gets to take the Shawshank Redemption and a few others but everything else will be settled by a flip of the coin. Or by a fistfight.

My parents just picked up a second LOTR, FOTR DVD and for some reason they opened it even though I told them we had one already. After I scolded them, I realized that my brother and I will have one each for us to view. ( :