Are audio commentaries dying?

[drees5761]

Excellent article written by Andrew Egan on the website Tedium about the death of the audio commentary because of services like Netflix etc.
I love a GOOD audio commentary even if they are hard to find at times and agree with most of the sentiments in this article, do you agree? Do you bother to listen to them? Here is the article - http://tedium.co/2017/02/21/dvd-audi...ntary-decline/

[Blu-21]

I tend to do a lot of skimming the few times I listen to them, there have been some when I've listened from start to finish usually when John Carpenter and Kurt Russel are involved, but otherwise I don't find them as interesting as I used to.

Yes I do feel they are dying, in fact special features in general aren't so special anymore to a lot of people. Not me though, I love making of docos, deleted scenes etc.

[I KEEL YOU]

There are plenty of new audio commentaries around... Just not nearly as many from the very key people, i.e. the director or leading actor. Which is unfortunate.

[vLScxv]

Filmstruck has an impressive list of titles with commentary. And some include supplements.

[babybreese]

I love a good commentary track, nothing breathes more life into a film I have seen repeatedly than a solid track bursting with information.

I don't use Netflix or any other streaming service, and it seems to me there are more tracks being produced now than at any other time before. The problem is dud tracks, with this newly branded 'film historian' brand, which more often than not is someone vaguely familiar with the film reading IMDB pages to me.

[xbs2034]

Other than extended/alternate cuts, commentaries are my favorite bonus features, and yeah I've noticed them, as well as films packed with special features, are not as common as they were 10 years when physical media sales were a bigger source of revenue.

We've also seen a bunch of films, like the latest Star Treks, as well as Eye in the Sky and Snowden, keep commentaries off the Blu release and make them ITunes exclusive, which is annoying (even if in those cases, the purchase of the Blu gives you an ITunes code).

[Region_unlocked]

I rarely listen to audio commentaries on movies, but I like listening to them on TV shows. I doubt audio commentaries will ever go away simply due to the fact that they're some of the cheapest supplemental materials to produce.

[StingingVelvet]

I don't think this is about commentaries specifically. Special features in general for new studio releases are taking a big hit due to lower sales and commentaries are just part of that. Label releases, which more and more dominate catalog movie discs, often contain new commentaries because they are relatively cheap to produce.

Commentary is literally the only special feature I really care about. It is extremely rare I watch a featurette, and while I do try and watch actual retrospective documentaries it often takes me many months or even years to get around to doing so. I'd rather just be watching the next movie on my pile.

[imsounoriginal]

Commentaries have definitely been on the decline, which sucks, cuz they're arguably my favorite type of extra (it's either commentaries or feature-length "from start to finish"-type documentaries).

[meremortal]

I'd imagine very few people listen to them. The average blu ray buyer is probably buying for picture quality first, audio second, and extras last. Sometimes I'll go several years without listening to a single one myself, even for movies I love. After I watch a movie I'm just not in the mood to sit through the film again. I might watch the supplements or read the IMDB trivia but commentary tracks are a rare listen for me these days. Early 2000s was a different story, though, and I listened to quite a few back then since they were new to me. I do want to sit through more when I have the time and motivation to slog through a bunch.

[bigshot]

The last thing I want is to listen to someone talking over a movie. If I want that, I can go down to the mall theater and listen to some know it all teenager in the audience chatting over the film. I did commentary once, and I regretted it. Never again.

I really don't need supplements unless it's an interview with the director or trailers. Anything else, I can find out for myself with a google search.

[meremortal]

Originally Posted by bigshot

The last thing I want is to listen to someone talking over a movie. If I want that, I can go down to the mall theater and listen to some know it all teenager in the audience chatting over the film.

I know how you feel. My girl is a type A extrovert who talks through every single movie we watch from beginning to end. People often complain that there are too many gaps of dead silence during commentary tracks -- not with my lady!

[master gandhi]

House of Cards season 1 has audio commentary.

[baheidstu]

I don't have much time for commentaries myself. There are a few good ones out there, like when Coppola does one because he's so informative and erudite and is obviously intimately involved with the film. But when it's just some "historian" spouting trivia I'm not interested, and even less so when it's a couple of stars just goofing around in the recording booth.

[MifuneFan]

Originally Posted by master gandhi

House of Cards season 1 has audio commentary.

Only on Netflix as far as I know.

[MJD64]

The effectiveness of a commentary depends entirely on who or whom is recording it; I will say I'm disappointed of late that on their more recent releases filmmakers I admire like Scorsese, Mann, Burton, Gibson, etc.seem to have abandoned commentaries altogether. And someone like Wes Anderson seems to save it for pricier Criterion releases.

At least Scott, Fincher, and Zombie ( say what you will about his movies, his commentaries are excellent) sill have at it...at least for now.

[nashcameronn]

I hope not. I just started getting into commentaries.

[shinobipopcorn]

I like them on episodic productions. The ones for the DCAU were great. Movies, eh. Text and pop-ups are a little better on those, as audio can drone on and get boring (especially when it's obvious they're filling for time).

[bigdaddyhorse]

Originally Posted by Region_unlocked

I rarely listen to audio commentaries on movies, but I like listening to them on TV shows. I doubt audio commentaries will ever go away simply due to the fact that they're some of the cheapest supplemental materials to produce.

Depends on who's on em. Remember when Arnold got $75,000 for doing the Total Recall dvd commentary? No way that cost less than an interview with anyone else!

[Markgway]

Originally Posted by bigdaddyhorse

Remember when Arnold got $75,000 for doing the Total Recall dvd commentary?

Schwarzenegger: "Naagh, dis is de scene whehah I go to Mahs... and dis is de bit whehah I pull de giant bogey out of my nose, naagh... and hehah is when Sharon Stone grabs me by de balls! Naagh!"

Verhoeven: "Zish ees entolerable!"