Nikki Finke: DVD Sales Plummet
Posted by Dirty Harry on Thursday, November 20th, 2008
It’s the rare film that squeaks a profit at the box office. DVD has kept the film industry alive for years now, but…
Insiders are telling me that end-of-year stats regarding DVD sales of 2008’s major movie titles are looking like a disaster areas. The guesstimates are that even blockbuster titles like Iron Man and Hancock will be down 30%.
It would be nice for me to be able to make some sort of case that quality or politics has something to do with lackluster sales but economy trumps all… Damn this intellectual honesty.
My personal DVD purchases are way down due to quality, however. But I only buy previously viewed at 4 for $20 so I doubt my buying power reflects much of anything. A few years ago I was buying 4 to 8 a month. This year I’ve gone months without buying any, and not for lack of bin-scrounging.
Blu-Ray only interests me insomuch as it can improve the look of the DVD’s I have now. Replacing anything is out of the question.
Filed in General |
Elizabetheon 20 Nov 2008 at 7:56 am 1Are we going to have to bailout the movie industry now too?
Paulon 20 Nov 2008 at 7:57 am 2If DVD’s go the way of VHS and we all have to go Bu-Ray, I will not replace my DVD films like I did with VHS. It’s just too expensive and I don’t want to be a bitch to the industrial entertainment complex. Of course, when discs go altogether, and you can’t buy players anymore…as the lady sang in NAKED GUN II: “I guess I’m just screwed”
Rather Readon 20 Nov 2008 at 8:03 am 3Hmm, I have a pretty decent collection of DVDs that I have picked up here and there. I plan to buy Prince Caspian and The Dark Knight, but that’s it for this year.
Michaelon 20 Nov 2008 at 8:04 am 4I think there are two main reasons; 1. There just aren’t that many great new movies worth owning, and 2. There is a huge wave of free downloading of films that make acquiring them incredibly easy.
The quality is probably harder to solve because you have to have really talented people to make great movies and there are fewer and fewer of them these days.
DVD’s are of the past, On demand, downloading and hard disk storage is the future of the film and TV business. The companies just have to catch up to the wave. Until they figure out how to copy protect their films on the internet sales are going to go down.
And of course they have to make better movies.
arminiuson 20 Nov 2008 at 8:08 am 5I only intend to replace my very favorites, like Seven Samurai or Once Upon a Time in the West. I’m surprised Criterion went with Third Man over Seven Samurai for their first wave of blu-rays. I suspect that a huge number of classic films will never end up on blu-ray, and that means I won’t be caring about it awfully much.
You’ll have to beat me with a stick not to buy Kino’s blu-ray of Metropolis with the newly found footage, currently scheduled for some time next year. And I do hope that older movies with great cinematography (Paper Moon, Umbrellas of Cherebourg come to mind) can make the cut.
I have A Clockwork Orange in blu-ray on my Christmas list, since I never bought it on DVD. Other than that, I have No Country for Old Men and The Assassination of Jesse James… as the only two films from last year that I would be interested in owning.
I can’t think of a single movie from this year that I would want to own. Yet, anyway. It’s almost December though, so they had better get it together.
Rodon 20 Nov 2008 at 8:09 am 6Most of our recent DVD purchases have been classic TV shows. The Kids love “Emergency”, although of all the Firemen, Chet (of all people!) is their favourite!
Of recent releases, the only one I’ll probably buy is “Speed Racer “, which is an incredibly well-crafted film with a comic book plot, but hey; it’s based on a cartoon!
Crison 20 Nov 2008 at 8:15 am 7I have to agree with michael, above-just not uch quality out there these days. Also, this DVD/Blueray BS keeps me away. OTOH, I watched the restored version of Lawrence of Arabia last night on Hulu. For free.
Bluejadeon 20 Nov 2008 at 8:20 am 8But DH, quality and politics DO have something to do with it. When you buy a lot of DVD’s, you can shrug off movies that aren’t up to par on several levels, so long as you enjoy them to at least some extent, or because you’re curious or whatever. But when the economy falls, you tightly edit your collection, and there’s ONLY room for the very top-notch. In the past, I’ve bought sale DVD’s of movies I kinda liked, just because it didn’t cost a lot and there were fun moments I could click through. Now, forget it. In fact, you couldn’t give these films to me for free — there’s something psychological about battening down the hatches that makes me want to jettison ALL the unnecessary stuff that’s weighing me down. Only kids’ movies and great classics from now on — Ratatouille and the John Adams boxed set.
Stickwick Staperson 20 Nov 2008 at 8:21 am 9When things started moving to HD I quit buying DVDs. I spent an ungodly amount of money replacing my VHS collection with DVDs, and I’m not doing it again with Blu-Ray. I’ll wait for movie downloading to become legit and start collecting movies again when I can store them all on a hard drive.
ScottDSon 20 Nov 2008 at 8:47 am 10As a recent Blu-Ray convert, I only replace DVDs with Blu-Rays where a.) I will see the movie many times, and b.) there is a noteable upgrade with all the bonus features from the DVD intact.
And I for one cannot wait for next year when Lawrence of Arabia, North by Northwest, and at least the first six Star Trek films come out on DVD.
ScottDSon 20 Nov 2008 at 8:49 am 11*I meant Blu-Ray in that last sentence, not DVD.
ArchiCrashon 20 Nov 2008 at 8:51 am 12Yeah, I haven’t bought many new DVDs lately either. And I’m gunna put part of the blame on the lack of backlog. In the early days of DVD, you went to the store and found a selection of new titles, as well as a selection of new-to-DVD older titles. Even if the new movies didn’t catch your eye, the new-to-DVD old movies did. There was an excitement in seeing the really cool older movies on DVD! That kept us interested, and kept us buying.
Now, that backlog is pretty much used up. There aren’t many big-name old movies to bring to market. That leaves us with only new movies and obscure old movies to look for in the isles. And with most new movies not being too good…..Well, that just means the DVD excitement level is waaaaay down….
ScottDSon 20 Nov 2008 at 8:55 am 13I realize I haven’t been buying many DVDs lately and the last DVD I bought of a new movie was Zodiac which came out last year. (I also picked up the Blu-Ray of Sweeney Todd which also came out last year.)
In the absence of many new DVD/Blu purchases, I find myself buying (of all things) CDs! I’m building up my film score collection and the specialty labels (Intrada, Varese Sarabande, and Film Score Monthly) have been on a roll with classic scores never before released. I’ve actually bought and/or traded more soundtracks in the last month than movies.
Stephanieon 20 Nov 2008 at 8:58 am 14Bought Tropic Thunder last night and may go skulk around and find more today before heading to the Gym. I so wish John Adams had a soundtrack for sale. Sighhhhhhhhhh
ScottDSon 20 Nov 2008 at 9:01 am 15Stephanie -
http://www.amazon.com/John-Adams/dp/B0016AK0NA/ref=pd_bbs_sr_3?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1227200472&sr=8-3
Michael Hutchisonon 20 Nov 2008 at 9:13 am 16Bought Tropic Thunder and Wall*E last night at Target, but I’m like you: usually it’s the four for $30 special at Hollywood Video.
soulpileon 20 Nov 2008 at 9:19 am 17The only DVDs I’m usually interested in are TV series, but they’re way too expensive. I somehow managed to get Psych season 1 for $20 at Target, but now it and later seasons are back up to $50. Heck, I’d buy them if they were $30 a season. But $50 is too much for my wallet. If they’d drop prices on TV series, I’d probably become a DVD consumer again. Some movies are too good to pass up, so I’ll search them out once in a while. It’s nice to find a good movie for cheap at the supermarket, so when I do, I don’t let those get away.
I still haven’t been convinced as to the “awesomeness” of Blu-Ray. The players are so expensive that it stunts any interest in the format.
My family will get some new DVDs every once in a while when we get tired of watching the same shows every night (news, Frasier, news….) and we don’t want to watch anything from our tiny DVD collection.
On the whole, though, I think if we were hooked directly into a download service that was fast (not like our cable on demand service…), we’d probably watch more movies and shows over that instead of on DVDs.
Kiton 20 Nov 2008 at 9:20 am 18Stephanie,
Fear no more, I have found the JOHN ADAMS SOUNDTRACK!!! (Sorry ’bout the superhero thing)
http://www.amazon.com/John-Adams/dp/B0016AK0NA
$13.99
Stephanieon 20 Nov 2008 at 9:24 am 19OMG KIT THANK YOU!
Rodon 20 Nov 2008 at 9:27 am 20Regarding DVD v. Blu-Ray, I recently replaced my DVD player with an upconverting one, and DVD’s look great on my 37″ HDTV. Is Blu-Ray that much better?
Ervon 20 Nov 2008 at 9:30 am 21I wonder how much Netflix has to do with the downturn. I personally have never purchased a DVD movie and I doubt I will. I have had a DVD player and now a Blu-ray player. I watch about 12-14 movies a month for under $2 each using Netflix.
If there was no service like Netflix I would have to buy them since I live way out in the country and a local movie rental place is many miles away.
Kiton 20 Nov 2008 at 9:32 am 22Stephanie,
You’re welcome.
Buggon 20 Nov 2008 at 10:35 am 23How much can anyone watch? Add in your DVR or Tivo, and sooner or later if there’s something i want to see I will see it. Even if I have to pay $5 on On Demand or pay per view. Even the stuff I cherish on DVD(”The Office”English, “Godfather” “Sopranos”, etc.) you see it so many times. If you happen upon it while flipping through channels, that’s when you’ll watch it.
Recently saw “No Country for Old Men” on On Demand. Am I missing something? When you get called genius as the Coens do so often, do you start to think you can fling anything onto film and call it great? Tommy Lee Jones mails it in, Josh Brolin stinks, Javier Bardem’s character is out there but implausible in the extreme,and we get a few moments of comic relief from Woody Harrelson. Where can I get those 2 hours back?
maatkareon 20 Nov 2008 at 11:47 am 24Bugg, you’ll get your two hours back when I get my three for Magnolia. Quality aside, with gas & food prices crazy this year, wouldn’t a generally crappy economy also account for a downturn in sales? Most people I know trimmed “luxuries” this year, which included dvd’s and music. I know I sure bought a lot less than I have in years past.
Ervon 20 Nov 2008 at 12:17 pm 25Bugg said “Recently saw “No Country for Old Men” on On Demand. Am I missing something? When you get called genius as the Coens do so often, do you start to think you can fling anything onto film and call it great?”
I heard all the hype and saw the movie…it currently holds the record for the worse and the dumbest movie I ever wasted time watching in 50+ years.
Ohio Wolverine Momon 20 Nov 2008 at 12:22 pm 26Steph–don’t forget to use DH’s link!
AveryBullardon 20 Nov 2008 at 1:06 pm 27Today I only bother with DVDs of rare movies, usually old French films from the 40s and 50s, that aren’t available through online rental places like Netflix, or ones that are so good and uncommon enough that I have to get my own copy.
Prior to TCM being available where I live a couple of years ago I’d purchase classic and rare American film noir stuff. Seeing them once every few years is good enough.
The extra features on DVDs interest no more than a small percentage of the public and so are unlikely to dissuade the typical consumer from getting a download of just the film itself. I’m guessing that of the 70 or so online rental films I’ve seen this year I’ve watched extra features of only about a dozen of them. And usually even then it is only for a five or ten minute feature. I doubt any of my relatives or friends ever bother with anything other than the movie and they are more typical of the general public than am I or the others reading this blog.
AveryBullardon 20 Nov 2008 at 1:08 pm 28As for replacing my DVDs with Blu-Ray? No way Jose. I upgraded hundreds of albums to CD and a couple of dozen VHS movies to DVD. As far I’m concerned ‘upgrading’ is a once a lifetime thing. I’d rather be entertained through book reading, travel, watching more sports, or consuming better food and alcohol (or more alcohol!) than spend the money renewing my entire collection. Only so much $$$ for each form of entertainment. With movies I’ve reached the max.
Growltigeron 20 Nov 2008 at 1:30 pm 29When movies were better than television, I bought VHS tapes and later DVD’s. Now with TIVO and movies getting increasingly political and thus increasingly sucky, I find I’m more interested in TV — “Bones”, “House”, “The Eleventh Hour”, the defunct “New Amsterdam”, “Lost” in its first two seasons. Hell, “The Dog Whisperer” is better than most movies these days.
I sound like (and am) a broken record, but even if films were well written (which most are not) the casting is so miserable, it’s impossible to get into the plot. That’s assuming there is a plot.
Like the handle of a poster above, I’d rather read. By the way, “Lone Survivor” was/is a GREAT read. Can heartily recommend it. Am reading “Tsar” now. Pretty good though the author is prone to head-hopping which can be distracting.
Carolynon 20 Nov 2008 at 1:45 pm 30I’m now unemployed - so buying anything gets a real hard look into my wallet first. And it’s saying NO loud and clear.
It just told me to cancel my NetFlix - which I did. But as I was doing that, I realized there were NO films in my queue waiting to be rented. None. And when I looked at my history of rentals, 80% were films made before the 60’s. So even when I could afford to rent or buy, it wasn’t worth it. I’ll just content myself with rewatching the shelf of DVD’s I’ve already got or surf the Net to find others.
Which leads me to another confession. Folks, I’m stupid. What’s ‘Hulu’?
Mr24pon 20 Nov 2008 at 1:51 pm 31As already stated I too have bought less DVD’s recently, partially because of finances, because there isn’t much I want. This year has had spurts for me. There would be a few weeks where every week there were several titles and then nothing for a month or so. There were some great titles (for me) in September and October but that’s it. With the exception of The Dark Knight there isn’t anything I must have before the end of the year. If there was I would get it. Even if it meant selling some older discs.
I can only speak for myself but there is not much out there right now. However, it looks like there is some great stuff in February. So this doesn’t mean much for me. Put out something I want and I’ll be there.
Scotton 20 Nov 2008 at 2:43 pm 32Sooo. My DVD is giving me error messages and, as we all know, replacement is usually as expensive as repair. Do I just buy another DVD player or should I jump into the whole blu-ray thing despite the negatives of a format that might not last?
whiskeyon 20 Nov 2008 at 5:20 pm 33Hulu dot com is a place where you can watch movies and TV series for free, but with a few ads. Worth it (flash-based movies). You need obviously a decently fast internet connection may need to tweak your Flash settings for unlimited storage to your hard drive for caching.
Which brings to mind two things, a commenter upthread noted that the economy brings a tougher mindset, pay movies in any form have to be entertaining and uplifting.
I think the future belongs not to Hollywood but new entertainment centers arising in other places, perhaps Australia or New Zealand or Ireland, making uplifting, feel-good stories either series or movies, for free on the Internet with ads against them.
Needless to say this would be a HUGE change to the industry, and blow away a lot of folks. DVD sales dropping is HUGE. Even Iron Man and Dark Knight doing poorly relative to historic norms means the shift is already underway, and the entertainment industry is competing with it’s past.
For example, you could probably watch “Christmas Vacation” instead of “Four Christmases” and get more laughs. If the former is on Hulu, it’s a no-brainer.
Also, this dynamic means niche stuff can no longer survive, it’s a return to the 1930’s-40’s model. BROAD comedies and feel-good action dramas. No more “quadrant” stuff like Twilight or Farrelly brothers comedies, or niche dramas like Coen Bros stuff.
ScottDSon 20 Nov 2008 at 7:18 pm 34I don’t know. Just because a movie doesn’t appeal to everyone (all four quadrants - young, old, male, female) doesn’t necessarily mean it shouldn’t be made. Of course, if one wanted to argue that studios shouldn’t sink $100+ million dollars into a movie that will only appeal to one group of people, then I will agree with you.
Forlournedon 20 Nov 2008 at 9:08 pm 35I was an avid collector of Japanese animation (Anime) that started back in the ’90s with VHS. Being young -meaning Poor- I couldn’t buy many. As I got older and when DVD started I bought those and a decade went by. I amassed over four hundred discs of grand movies like Laurence of Arabia, the Ten Commandments, Ben Hur, etc. and Anime like Fushigi no Umi no Nadia, Evangelion, etc.
I didn’t notice it, but since this article I reflected about all my purchases and found that I haven’t been buying much of anything now. I’ve become reliant on Netflix for everything and if I wanted to watch it again, I’d put it right back into the queue again.
I do feel nostalgic about those days past now. Wild purchases that where off the shelf out of the blue ones where fun…