Fright Night (1985) (30th Anniversary Edition) (Limited Edition) - SOLD OUT

[Hek_qwerr]

Originally Posted by Fatty J

I'm sure this has been mentioned before, but this dude is selling one on ebay for $500. He's gotta be freaking high.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Fright-Night...item418db27a7d

i listed my spare that my friend did not want anymore.was only looking to get what i paid for...started at .01 and in 20min reached this,and with 20 watchers

http://www.ebay.com/itm/151538655371...84.m1555.l2649

[rdodolak]

Originally Posted by Fatty J

I'm sure this has been mentioned before, but this dude is selling one on ebay for $500. He's gotta be freaking high.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Fright-Night...item418db27a7d

He's a new eBay seller so he doesn't know any better. He sure won't be getting his first sale anytime soon.

[PuppetMasterBlu]

Originally Posted by bruceames.

Sorry, but you guys are under the mistaken illusion that catalog movies still sell at Walmart. Maybe they do to a small extent on DVD, but barely so on Blu-ray. Even a major studio (Warner) catalog release like The Time Machine (1960) will be lucky to sell 3000 units over it's lifetime. And just because a Walmart carries a copy doesn't mean it's going to sell.

Here's an informative post (see spoiler below) about how limited edition works. It was from a German distributor (Anolis Ent.), but the same logic applies here in the U.S.

[Show spoiler]Limitation vs. pricing is a delicate topic, which all the time leads to heated discussion on the german boards. There are three lessons that we had to learn the hard way:

1) Just because the price is low doesn’t mean the people will buy it. In our field there is a very limited number of people who are interested in classic genre films. Beginning of the new century we licensed a package of Hammer films for the first time, being convinced that the name “Hammer” is a brand recognized by lots of people and their iconic monsters a valid selling point. We released those films on DVD for the (back then) very decent price of 15,00 EUR, stuffed with bonus material and basically available in every store. Our distributor even managed to have most of the shops create a special Hammer section. Despite lots of advertising and amazing reviews in the press, most of the 20 titles did not sell more than roughly 2500 copies. Even worse, a box set in which we packed the first 5 titles (as they were otherwise available as single editions) for a much reduced price didn’t even sell 100 copies. Leaving us with a loss of nearly a 6-figure sum.

2) As I have just explained offering our products for prices comparable to those the major studios charge for their products does not work for us. But: If we would give the people the choice between one our products or two blockbusters for the same price (as our one product), people will always decide for the 2 blockbusters and tell themselves that they will buy our product later. Only, later usually never comes because there are always two blockbusters available for a cheap price. Hence, we have to give the people the incentive “buy now or it will be gone for good”. This is where the limitation comes in place. Without it, the turnaround of our stock will take ages and the little we actually gain from those titles will be eaten up by our monthly costs. Plus, very likely the worst case scenario will happen: In order to sell THEIR stock quicker dealer will lower the prices on our products, showing everybody: If you wait long enough you get it for a much better price. Which initiates a fatal (for us) spiral, because everybody who bought previous products for the initial price will next time wait until it drops.

3) The philosophy: As we expect our customers to pay lots of hard earned money for our products, we would like to at least “reward” them with the knowledge that our limitation is genuine (we will not manufacture more, even if we have miscalculated and there is still demand) and that the prices will not drop. Meaning, even years later you will be able to sell our special editions for the same price you bought it or very likely even way more. They usually don’t loose their value. In order to keep it that way, we “dismantle” re-releases. For example, the Universal titles that we now release on Blu-rays were previously available on DVD. More expensive, but also featured tons of bonus (for example, an exclusice commentary by Mick Garris for MONOLITH MONSTER). This bonus is not included on the Blu-rays in order to NOT bring the value of the initial product down. Because, one thing for sure: People really get pissed when they bought a high priced product and later an upgraded version is released for a cheaper price.

That the philosophy “limitation beats lower prices” is a fact that is nicely demonstrated by our current series of Hammer Blu-rays. The limited Mediabooks are usually sold out by the time the street date arrives. The unlimited version in a standard case (offered at a lower price) doesn’t even come close to the numbers we sell from the Mediabooks. We did decide to put out two versions, because a lot of people (or so it seemed) asked for an unlimited edition. But now “nobody” wants it. Leaving us with a bunch of unnecessary costs.

I hope that explains a bit why we use this high-price-and-limitation approach.
https://forum.blu-ray.com/showpost.p...9&postcount=53

That was interesting, thank you.

[PuppetMasterBlu]

Originally Posted by Fatty J

I'm sure this has been mentioned before, but this dude is selling one on ebay for $500. He's gotta be freaking high.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Fright-Night...item418db27a7d

Yeah I don't get it. Does he just want attention?

[schlock]

Seems like some people need to be hand-held all the way through their purchase, blaming that they didn't continue getting notifications on why they missed out.

For those people, I suggest getting a wall calendar (you know, the physical paper kind you can pick up for $1 at the dollar store). I have one and find it way more handy than my phone to keep on top of important things. Whenever I learn of the streetdate for a TT title or any other limited item I want, I write it in that date with a red sharpie with a big star next to it. Calendar is right next to my workdesk and it's impossible to miss and it simply takes a glance up every day to see what I need to do that day, if it's a doctor's appointment or Fright Night at 1pm. I say this in all sincerity, no sarcasm.

[Bk_Tan]

Not going to bother finding the posts to quote, but those who believe that catalogue titles will easily sell out at B&M stores for $20 don't live in the real world.

This is not DVD and a very way far away from the golden days of home video.

People wait until a movie is at $5 to get it and those are movies like Batman Begins not Fright Night. The longer time passes, the less copies most movies are able to sell, it's just the nature of the beast.

It is accentuated by the arrival of Internet/downloading and piracy which killed off a massive market, which is why you still see the studios fighting it. The day they finally kill piracy off, there will be an uptick in "sales" but they will probably be of the streaming and digital kind. Piracy not only funds the lack of creativity and reliance on brands we see in the cinema but all kinds of criminal activity, page views ya know.

thenumbers isn't 100% accurate but they do report some numbers and when you have movies like Edge of Tomorrow not making even 1m copies (only 620k at this moment) or Pompeii with 150k over a couple months do you really think Fright Night (or since you guys are enraged about TT, any title) will easily sell 20k in its first week? The movie is thirty years old. There are just so many things wrong with people who believe this that I just realised it's not worth my time pointing everything out when there are good articles and posts already here too. The longer you want to dwell in ignorance, the worse it is for you. Good luck.

The future indeed lies with limited module of distribution because most movies will become worthless in mass distribution, as already evidenced. People here complain about paying $10 instead of $5 or free (taking advantage of price errors). The amount of movies released each year should also tell you this as the larger the quantity that adds to the historical catalogue, the less each title gets to shine unless it really stands out. It's common sense. There is more value to a title in a 100 strong catalogue than one in a 100,000 catalogue. The only way to retain value in the future is limited distribution. The silver lining is, that if or when the studios wrest control back over piracy, and although they may seem lightyears away, the more the world does business online, the higher the chance laws, security and etc will catch up, movies, music, books etc will rise in value again, and while limited still exists, it'll probably be a lot more than 3,000 a title.

[dvdmike]

And yet it's out in other countries at not stupid prices

[bruceames]

Originally Posted by dvdmike

And yet it's out in other countries at not stupid prices

Which proves that people will pay more just because it's limited and expected to sell out.

[rdodolak]

Originally Posted by bruceames.

Which proves that people will pay more just because it's limited and expected to sell out. Never underestimate how much more somebody will suddenly want something when there is the threat of it not being available.

Sony doesn't release it in NA because they can't get a return on their investment but Sony releases it in other parts of the world (Europe, Japan, etc.) because they can get a return on their investment. Is the European and/or international market that much more viable of a market?

[bruceames]

Originally Posted by rdodolak

Sony doesn't release it in NA because they can't get a return on their investment but Sony releases it in other parts of the world (Europe, Japan, etc.) because they can get a return on their investment. Is the European and/or international market that much more viable of a market?

Sony can get a return on their investment in NA. The difference is that it won't be as much as what TT is willing to pay them for a license fee.

People will knock Sony and say it's not fair, and say that this movie deserves to be available to all at less than $20 for an unlimited time. But all Sony cares about is pleasing their shareholders, and their bean counters told them that the TT fee will give them the greater return.

As for the release in Europe, it hadn't been released there yet and Sony probably released it themselves because there wasn't an attractive enough alternative like there is with TT here.

[StingingVelvet]

Originally Posted by DoubleDownAgain

It just doesn't add up to me...

Most titles are limited to 3,000 and are priced at $29.95 for each title. (Ignoring S&H costs) the total revenue for each title, if it sells out, is $89,850. For both editions of Fright Night the total revenue would be (Again ignoring S&H) is $239,600... that is before the split between Sony & TT. Even in this example, it isn't a lot of money. In fact it is comparable to the change the average person loses in their couch cushions.

Well they make 100k from a few emails, so that seems like a good deal to me. The laserdisc model survived for years being a niche format with sales this low, and if we want physical media to survive we better hope studios are still willing to license out movies to small companies making limited edition discs. That's the only way this stuff is going to work when most people are downloading everything.

[Bubba_Hotep]

Do what I did and import a copy. The special features will be on youtube and you can watch them then.

[pEgLeG]

Originally Posted by wormraper

I hate to say it but we're a HUGE anomaly in the movie world. most people AREN'T glued to their monitors 24/7... the average film fan who's not an addict to the forums may check about their favorite movie once or twice every 3 or 4 months if they're really looking for it. the rest will just wait till it pops up for sale and go "finally"!

this mentality of "you had one month, it's all your fault" is one of two major reasons WHY people dislike the TT model so much.

I'm not glued to my monitor 24/7, but I do appreciate limited releases enough to check this site at least once a day in case any relevant information pops up. It really doesn't take longer than a few minutes to read the latest news section. Even the busiest of schedules allow for it.

The average film fan, who only inquires about a "favorite" movie once in a blue moon, obviously isn't interested enough in the movie to be prepared for it's release. That's all fine and dandy. I get that not everyone is as into their favorite movies as I am into mine. But I shouldn't have to be subjected to a person's seemingly endless pity party about how "it's not fair," and all of this other poor me attention seeking BS. The level of of some people's outrage (or feelings of unfairness) doesn't seem to match their level of interest in this film.

There have been a few members in this thread who I felt had a legitimate reason to be a little more perturbed than the rest of the people who missed out, but they didn't whine and whine and whine and whine about it. There's a few other select members who want to play this sympathy game though. "There was nothing I could do. I couldn't save 40 cents per day. There was no information about this release anywhere." If it was an important enough movie to get bent out of shape for missing, it was an important enough movie to save 40 cents a day for, or to do a "Fright Night" search in a forum that they're a member of.

[rdodolak]

Originally Posted by bruceames.

Sony can get a return on their investment in NA. The difference is that it won't be as much as what TT is willing to pay them for a license fee.

People will knock Sony and say it's not fair. This movie deserves to be available to all at less than $20 for an unlimited time. But all Sony cares about is pleasing their shareholders, and their bean counters told them that the TT fee will give them the greater return.

As for the release in Europe, it hasn't released there yet and Sony probably released it themselves because there wasn't an attractive enough alternative like there is with TT here.

Sure, Sony would get some return on their investment but how much and whether it would be profitable is unknown to us. Of course, this isn't the only Sony title that has been released in other parts of the world that Sony wouldn't release in NA. I'd be curious to know how much better the international releases are projected to sell compared to NA.

I remember reading the following post several years back, don't know the source that this information originated from, but I do find it interesting, if true.

Originally Posted by gpn

I just want to thank all those who have provided such an entertaining thread. I haven't been feeling well today, but reading all the hyperbole, straw grasping, character assassination and enough wild-eyed conspiracy theories to make Oliver Stone shake his head in disbelief, has brightened my day. Plus, I haven't seen this many hurt butts since the end of the cattle drive in Red River.

I forget where I read it, but apparently one of the big reasons Sony has relegated so much of their back-catalog genre titles to companies like Twilight Time and the others was due to Night of the Creeps. Sony went above and beyond to put out a full-featured blu-ray release with a quality encode and lots of extras, and it sold very poorly, so they saw not enough of a market to be worthwhile to them.

For NOTLD '90, it would have been nice to get some screen shots ahead of time, and hopefully Twilight Time will do that going forward, but seeing that the transfer was done with the original DP, and the Director thinks it's "Fantastic", that's good enough for me. I haven't had a chance to watch the BD yet, but I have a feeling watching it with the lights off will alleviate any darkness concerns (and heighten the horror factor).

One positive I see from this fracas is that the ones who seem the most put out are the ones who complain the most about TT's business model and pricing, so if we don't have to look forward to their "contributions" in future TT threads, yay!

Keeping the DVD along with the BD is a good idea. I had to do this with Bram Stoker's Dracula as the DVD's coloring matched what I saw in the theater (yes, I do remember thinking the vivid colors heightened the OTT theatricality of the film while watching in the theater). And I've also had to do it when the BD did not include the extras from the DVD, so it's not that big of a deal (at least to me).

I'll still keep buying Twilight Time titles (received Enemy Mine, Swamp Water and Big Heat with NOTLD'90, to go along with the other titles I already have), and I'm looking forward to Christine and any other genre titles they want to release. Go Twilight Time! Give me more Harryhausen!

According to the above, Night of the Creeps, which had a theatrical debut a year after Fright Night, faired poorly on home media. As far as I can tell, this was the first time Night of the Creeps was ever released on DVD or Blu-ray. Nor do I recall much fan fair or advertising for this release. However, according to Box Office Mojo, Night of the Creeps only earned a domestic gross of ~$592K. Hence, I wonder what made Sony think this title would sell well. I sure as hope Sony didn't use this release to decide that all catalog releases were no longer worth it.

http://boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=...fthecreeps.htm

[Scarriere]

This is the 2nd time I've missed out on this movie, dammit.
If it comes out again, I'm going to be more diligent and make sure I get it.

[Sodslaw]

Not tempted by the region free releases available?

[Ben_R]

Originally Posted by Sodslaw

Not tempted by the region free releases available?

Or the recent Japanese release, although the price alone will put most people off.

[Cliff]

Originally Posted by wormraper

Anything over $20 is considered exorbitant to most people. Why do you think the weekly ad threads erupt with laughter and anger when new releases go over $19.99, and that's for new releases which are considered "premium"...

The entire Blu-ray format should have been considered "premium" as it was originally intended. Laserdisc survived for decades as the "premium" format for collectors. It had a relatively small, but devoted customer based who purchased titles, new and old, every single week. Blu-ray could survive the same way, but it would have to do so with the premium pricing Laserdisc enjoyed. There were entire stores that survived with almost nothing but Laserdisc for YEARS... until the advent of DVD and it's race to the bottom pricing. Just because some people feel buying titles over $20 is exorbitant doesn't mean they are entitled to it lower. $400K for a Ferrari is probably considered exorbitant, but that doesn't mean Ferrari is obligated to sell all of their cars for $20,000. I've said it before, but it's still true- people wanted to enjoy the highest quality presentation home video had ever seen, but were also only willing to pay the lowest pricing home video had ever seen.

That's unsustainable.

[Mark Smith]

If TT didn't think anyone would want special features, they would not have produced them.

Considering the main bonus features are 2 audio commentaries with the cast and director, I would be surprised if it ended up on Youtube.

[Page14]

Originally Posted by dvdmike

And yet it's out in other countries at not stupid prices

Originally Posted by bruceames.

Which proves that people will pay more just because it's limited and expected to sell out.

Well, and maybe for the special features.