I don't have the exact figures, but movie studios are selling orders of magnitude more DVDs than they ever sold video tapes.
Video tapes were priced to be sold to rental stores, and DVDs are priced to be sold directly to consumers.
Tracy: Well-- That call -- That call means you just murdered me. Mal: No, son. You murdered yourself. I just carried the bullet a while.
'The Message'
Buffista Movies 3: Panned and Scanned
A place to talk about movies--Old and new, good and bad, high art and high cheese. It's the place to place your kittens on the award winners, gossip about upcoming fims and discuss DVD releases and extras. Spoiler policy: White font all plot-related discussion until a movie's been in wide release two weeks, and keep the major HSQ in white font until two weeks after the video/DVD release.
Tom Scola - Dec 01, 2004 9:31:45 am PST #6489 of 10001
Remember that the frontier of the Rebellion is everywhere. And even the smallest act of insurrection pushes our lines forward.
Matt the Bruins fan - Dec 01, 2004 9:32:21 am PST #6490 of 10001
"I remember when they eventually introduced that drug kingpin who murdered people and smuggled drugs inside snakes and I was like 'Finally. A normal person.'” —RahvinDragand
Oliver Stone is a dick.
dies from shock
Jessica - Dec 01, 2004 9:34:19 am PST #6491 of 10001
And then Ortus came and said "It's Ortin' time" and they all Orted off into the sunset
It's making movies into supermarket-shelf items, which is probably the best you can get at Wal-Mart. ... It's hopeless.
I wonder why he thinks that people with a deep love for the cinematic arts do their primary DVD-buying at Wal-Mart.
§ ita § - Dec 01, 2004 9:36:34 am PST #6492 of 10001
Well not canonically, no, but this is transformative fiction.
I wonder why he thinks that people with a deep love for the cinematic arts do their primary DVD-buying at Wal-Mart.
I think it's that if we, the connoisseurs, discover DVDs can be bought at Wal-Mart ... nope, got nothing.
Video tapes were priced to be sold to rental stores, and DVDs are priced to be sold directly to consumers.
Hmm. I now realise I have no idea how much a movie on VHS costs. Will have to look.
Jessica - Dec 01, 2004 9:42:19 am PST #6493 of 10001
And then Ortus came and said "It's Ortin' time" and they all Orted off into the sunset
I now realise I have no idea how much a movie on VHS costs.
VHS tapes are generally released for rental (priced around $100 per tape) before they're released for sale (priced closer to $15-20). DVDs (I believe) are generally released for both rental and sale at the same time, and priced accordingly. (And I'm not sure if Blockbuster pays more for a DVD than an individual. I don't think so, but I have no actual information to back that up.)
Calli - Dec 01, 2004 9:49:58 am PST #6494 of 10001
I must obey the inscrutable exhortations of my soul—Calvin and Hobbs
It's also a lot easier to collect DVDs, just on storage grounds. This might encourage more people to shop for them, even at (act-ptui!) Wal-Mart. And I think that Netflix wouldn't have been possible with VHS due to mailing issues. So people have access to a lot more movies nowadays.
tommyrot - Dec 01, 2004 9:57:03 am PST #6495 of 10001
Sir, it's not an offence to let your cat eat your bacon. Okay? And we don't arrest cats, I'm very sorry.
VHS tapes are generally released for rental (priced around $100 per tape) before they're released for sale (priced closer to $15-20). DVDs (I believe) are generally released for both rental and sale at the same time, and priced accordingly.
I don't think that's true of VHS anymore. At least a lot of VHS tapes now come with the lower proce right off the bat.
Sue - Dec 01, 2004 10:00:21 am PST #6496 of 10001
hip deep in pie
I'm sure video stores are paying some kind of fee for rentals, even if they are paying the same retail price for the tape.
Matt the Bruins fan - Dec 01, 2004 10:04:25 am PST #6497 of 10001
"I remember when they eventually introduced that drug kingpin who murdered people and smuggled drugs inside snakes and I was like 'Finally. A normal person.'” —RahvinDragand
A per-rental fee sounds like it would work out better all around though - more money to the studios on high traffic rentals, and it encourages stores to stock riskier independent fare because they're not getting soaked for as much if people turn out to not be interested in that particular movie.
Connie Neil - Dec 01, 2004 10:05:05 am PST #6498 of 10001
brillig
Plus, with DVDs, you can just say to yourself, "I want to see that scene in The Mask where they do the big dance number in the street," without having to fast forward through everything