This Disc is intended for Rental Purposes Only

[Terrapin]

Last night I watched Repo Men and after the film I went into the Bonus features and got this message

"This Disc is intended for Rental Purposes and only includes the feature film"

"Own it on Blu-ray or DVD to view these bonus features and complete your movie watching experience"

It's a Universal Studios release. Have any of you noticed this with other DVDs? Other studios?

I did run across this article about FOX http://www.avclub.com/articles/foxs-new-dvd-policy-no-special-featu...


If I enjoy a movie where I feel I could watch it a number of times I'll buy it. Sadly Repo men was not one of those films. Maybe studios should be thinking more about putting out better films than trying to figure out ways to force people to buy their crap. Not only would theatre revenues increase so would DVD sales. With the 28 day waits and no features on the discs... as far as I'm concerned all their doing is pissing me off :)

[Nicole]

Yup, I first noticed this when i rented the Disney movie "Up" from Blockbuster.

Now. I *do* find it mildly annoying that I cannot access the special feature, but with the market the way it is (and pirating as easy as *it* is), I cannot really fault these studios for trying to make money where they can (i.e. by trying to force us to buy the dvds ourselves).

[Ed8r]

I noticed it on Up and on something else I watched recently . . . something (I can't remember which one it was) that I had been hoping to see special features on too. Bummer.

In spite of my disappointment, I can understand why the studios would need to encourage us to actually buy DVDs.

[spiderpig]

Was it Kick-Ass? That was a rental disc with no features, too. Boo!

[sevenstars]

The Kick-Ass BluRay I just returned had special features.

[Ed8r]

Nope, not that one.

Probably Avatar.

[Slappy]

but with the market the way it is (and pirating as easy as *it* is), I cannot really fault these studios for trying to make money where they can (i.e. by trying to force us to buy the dvds ourselves).
The sad part is though that once out on disc of some kind piracy will have the special features as well. This has less to do with punishing piracy though as it does to punish value renters. BB pays huge royalties, and is why they have been exempt from 28 day delays and as far as I know rental copies. It is kind of like HBO pays more than basically all the premium channels to get first choice of movies when they hit that window for release. Different services, different perks to draw customers. BB pushes the newest releases immediately and NF/Redbox push being as cheap as possible per rental.

The part that I am the most interested in though is looking at the profits for DVD sales at key points.
1) when PPV got so easy
2) when piracy more or less became laymen easy
3) when NF hit the scene
4) when BB closed large amounts of brick and mortar stores
5) when recession hit
6) last quarter since 28 day delay/rental copies

Maybe even add in when DVR became prevalent and seeing as many may be catching up on movies that way also. I really still think that most people's lack of DVD purchase has most to do with higher unemployment levels than most other issues honestly, just speculation utterly but I am willing to bet it is the larger loss in sales than other events. Unfortunately either way I am sure each and every one took its toll and I can't blame a for profit company for trying to come up with more options to recoup the profit.

I also wonder how much movie companies have started to shoot themselves in the foot or if it helped to move movies from theater to DVD quicker? I would think it would hurt but after being around these forums for a bit I see how many people really can't seem to wait any longer to see a movie so maybe it helps that the longer window lost momentum for well selling movies that people would forget movies they were really fired up to see before. Either way it goes I still think that DVD sales going down is more than any one thing but they can make DVD buying vastly superior to rental easily with no money lost to them by punishing rental companies that don't pay them a premium.

[Spindaddydad]

WSJ: DVD Sales Continue to Decline; Studios Explore Alternative Revenue Streams
read more...


And in another article, here's what Warner Bros. had to say:
Early agreements from Netflix and Redbox to delay renting new titles until 28 days after they are first available for purchase in stores is already having positive results for Time Warner’s film segment, said CEO and chairman Jeff Bewkes. He said that Time Warner was able to take advantage of the 28-day window for big titles and Bewkes claims that releases for The Blind Side and Sherlock Holmes sold more briskly than they might have otherwise.* “Other studios that have taken advantage of the delay in rentals are seeing similar sales growth of DVDs, while other studios not using that window structure appear to be under-performing,” Bewkes said, though he did not offer specifics.

[Sock Puppet]

Yeah I was going to post that the other day, but the ning forum brain farted and erased my entire post.

I would like to say to Warner and the other studios "I TOLD YOU SO"! And just like I said, Netflix made a smart move because they got contracts that guarantee them lower costs for new releases and access to Warner's Library... Which means that Warner (and perhaps others) will lose out on even more $$ because they get lower DVD sales (It was like billions in like sales year to year) and they also get less $$ from Netflix and Redbox because they signed contracts to supply the movies at a deep discount. And we know blockbuster isn't going to carry them for that long...

[Knaldskalle]

Bewkes claims that releases for The Blind Side and Sherlock Holmes sold more briskly than they might have otherwise.

Might have. Might. And to top it off: he did not offer specifics.

That's very convincing. Or not.

[Sock Puppet]

Yeah and the Wall Street Journal had this to say... Studios Seek Out Backup to DVDs

U.S. consumers spent an estimated $2.26 billion on DVD and Blu-ray movies in the second quarter, down 14% from the same period a year ago, according to Nash Information Services LLC, a home-video market-data provider. That figure has been in steady decline since the third quarter of 2007—the year that spending in the category peaked at nearly $16 billion. Last year, the market shrank to less than $13 billion. 3 billion dollars is a lot of money to lose in 2 years, so it's no wonder that Epix & Revolution signed streaming deals with Netflix.

[Ed8r]

Yeah, Knalds. Thinking alike here.

[Sock Puppet]

So I was going to ask a different question, but its "Sort of" related.

Exactly how does Russia get access to the newest Hollywood releases before they even advertise them here in the US? Is Hollywood using Moscow to judge how popular their movies will be? I mean seriously... I know for a fact that you can get bootlegged copies of new films before they even hit the theater! And they are not always camcorder shot theater copies. Some are English dubs off of DVDs.

So really how dare the studios think we are the stupid ones when they must actually encourage piracy of their own films... Think about it...