Twilight Time Discussion Thread

[MassiveMovieBuff]

Originally Posted by RalphoR

To each their own if they want to buy or not from TT. You have valid reasons for why you're doing what you're doing. If you can wait on releases then that's cool. As for me I'm more of "I want the movie now" and am happy to continue my purchasing from TT mostly because I think they do an excellent job with their releases. I don't have any really significant issue with reissues so that won't stop me from buying. One thing I won't do is miss out on any release just to boycott a company. I love movies way too much to cut off my nose to spite my face

Great post! I agree completely

[78deluxe]

Originally Posted by bensunt

I just had a look at my last order from screenarchives and noticed it was... November 2015. Before that I was buying their titles almost every month and owns as of today around 120 of them.

The fact that they decided to destroy the "Limited Edition Series" concept by reissuing previously released - and sold out titles - seems to have had a serious impact for the collector inside of me .

I have no regret building a small collection of their titles and still cherish proudly my bluray copy of Journey to the Centre of the Earth, my favourite film. It was also nice trying to order at 03:59 pm hoping to get an autographed copy.

But well, now that other labels started to release the same titles with extras for 1/2 the price, the heavily discounted titles after a few months and the "treason" on the limited edition thing made them lose me as a consumer.

And I would like to give a big thank you for oildude for all his work on the first post, it was very useful.

Don't spread misinformation.

Yes, they re-released a small number of titles but they are not doing that any longer and have stated emphatically that they won't.

Which labels are half the price (including shipping to the US?)

The only ones that get that low that I've seen are the very few titles where the company that owns them finally decides to release it them-self to a mass market (Christine, Guess Who's Coming to Dinner)

[jayembee]

Originally Posted by evoxturbo

I thought TT wasn't repressing any more titles?

They aren't. I think bensunt was referring to when they had been doing it before.

[mja345]

Maybe bensunt is referring to Indicator releasing some titles TT already released, but, in fairness, they are a UK label. The only TT release I've double dipped on with Indicator is "The Last Detail" because of the extras. The rest, I'm fine with my TT discs.

I'm not sure what the beef people have with TT is anymore. They release a lot of really obscure gems that don't sell out quickly. If you don't want to pay $30, you can wait for a sale and pick them up cheaper. It's pretty easy to predict which films will move a little quicker, i.e. "Moby Dick". I think people are still harboring resentment from the early days with "Fright Night" and "Night of the Living Dead" selling out so quickly.

[78deluxe]

Originally Posted by mja345

Maybe bensunt is referring to Indicator releasing some titles TT already released, but, in fairness, they are a UK label. The only TT release I've double dipped on with Indicator is "The Last Detail" because of the extras. The rest, I'm fine with my TT discs.

I'm not sure what the beef people have with TT is anymore. They release a lot of really obscure gems that don't sell out quickly. If you don't want to pay $30, you can wait for a sale and pick them up cheaper. It's pretty easy to predict which films will move a little quicker, i.e. "Moby Dick". I think people are still harboring resentment from the early days with "Fright Night" and "Night of the Living Dead" selling out so quickly.

That is what I assumed, but Indicator is not 1/2 price from the ones I looked at with shipping to the us

[mja345]

Originally Posted by 78deluxe

That is what I assumed, but Indicator is not 1/2 price from the ones I looked at with shipping to the us

You're right, they end up being about 20-22 bucks.

[jcs913]

Originally Posted by bensunt

I just had a look at my last order from screenarchives and noticed it was... November 2015. Before that I was buying their titles almost every month and owns as of today around 120 of them.

The fact that they decided to destroy the "Limited Edition Series" concept by reissuing previously released - and sold out titles - seems to have had a serious impact for the collector inside of me .

I have no regret building a small collection of their titles and still cherish proudly my bluray copy of Journey to the Centre of the Earth, my favourite film. It was also nice trying to order at 03:59 pm hoping to get an autographed copy.

But well, now that other labels started to release the same titles with extras for 1/2 the price, the heavily discounted titles after a few months and the "treason" on the limited edition thing made them lose me as a consumer.

And I would like to give a big thank you for oildude for all his work on the first post, it was very useful.

Frankly, I pretty much agree with this guys post. I am now in the same boat and do not pre-order anything from them anymore. I understand people have to have it 'now' and purchase right away, but once a company starts discounting a so called "limited/premium" product, there is no need for the frenzy anymore. TT puts out some great titles, but obviously they cannot sell 3000 of 95% of the titles they put out. So they started discounting this 'limited' product. I won't even get into the repress situation, which frankly tightened the noose around their company. I will continue to purchase a few titles here and there, as I wait for sales, but no where near the pace a few years ago.
I really wish they would have slowed down their output years ago and released 2/3 titles a month, but make those A/B titles and release the 'obscure' titles I know they love to put out there on occasion. Lately, they have been releasing too many $30 C/D titles and then may wonder why they do not sell and have to be discounted. I would really like to see them slow the output down, I think it will benefit them in the next few years. If I remember, Nick or someone from TT posted he though physical disc sales were going to be dead by 2020, which I think is wrong and short-sighted. Unfortunately, they may not make it that long to find out.

[baheidstu]

Oh wow, thread's been a bit dormant for the past few weeks so someone decides to bring up the old business model discussion again. Yawn.

[StingingVelvet]

Originally Posted by 78deluxe

Which labels are half the price (including shipping to the US?)

I don't want to stoke the fires of this discussion too much, but other labels are definitely offering more for less most of the time. Maybe not "half the price" but close to it a lot of the time. We can be honest about that and still support TT when it makes sense to us for our own reasons.

[s7e]

TT puts out a high quality product. The films they get are top notch and the transfers are all very well done and natural looking. They might not be loaded with features (not like I watch them anyways), but not once have I ever regret any of my purchases. Not even the releases that I paid the full $30 price that later went on sale for $10. They now offer deals as early as pre-orders and sales all the time, so you can't even complain about price anymore.

Here are some of my personal favorites that I got to discover and watch for the first time thanks to TT (in addition to the countless other releases I rewatch all the time):

[lesco]

Originally Posted by baheidstu

Oh wow, thread's been a bit dormant for the past few weeks so someone decides to bring up the old business model discussion again. Yawn.

Tell me about it. For a break I can always visit the Warner Archive thread which keeps falling back to people bleating "WAC, why don't you release ------ on Blu-ray ?"

[baheidstu]

Originally Posted by lesco

Tell me about it. For a break I can always visit the Warner Archive thread which keeps falling back to people bleating "WAC, why don't you release ------ on Blu-ray ?"

And wishlists. Endless wishlists. Wishlists, wishlists, all the time wishlists.

[jayembee]

Originally Posted by baheidstu

And wishlists. Endless wishlists. Wishlists, wishlists, all the time wishlists.

Wishlist:

(1) No wishlists

[The Great Owl]

I have always hated Twilight Time's business model, but I still pre-order the titles that I want as soon as they go live on the pre-order dates.

Ahhh...the duality of man. I'm a rollercoaster of contradictions, I guess.

Actually, the truth is that I simply don't overthink it. I just buy movies that I want to watch, as my finances allow, regardless of whether or not I agree with a studio label's decisions.

[Aclea]

Every label, whether it's TT, Kino, Criterion or Warner Home Video, works within the different limitations imposed on them, be it capitalization, licensing, distribution costs or minimum sales targets, and none are free to act the way they necessarily want to: it's all about finding a financial model that works for them within those limitations. It's never a one size fits all situation. And every label gets kvetched at for whatever model they adopt not being what some punters want in an ideal world. Let's face it, if every single release was mastered in 4K and came with two discs of newly created extras, people would still find something to complain about - probably that they could never support a label that doesn't pay them to take their titles off their hands. It's just the nature of the beast.

[jbieste]

Originally Posted by The Great Owl

I have always hated Twilight Time's business model, but I still pre-order the titles that I want as soon as they go live on the pre-order dates.

Ahhh...the duality of man. I'm a rollercoaster of contradictions, I guess.

Actually, the truth is that I simply don't overthink it. I just buy movies that I want to watch, as my finances allow, regardless of whether or not I agree with a studio label's decisions.

And that's also not a bad way to live your life.

[Brad1963]

OMG....could we move on from the TT bashing already? If you hate it that much start your own label, charge $15 a title and see how long you are in business.

[Rory]

The only thing I'm interested in reading about TT is what titles are upcoming.

Long live TT!

[AKORIS]

Originally Posted by Brad1963

OMG....could we move on from the TT bashing already? If you hate it that much start your own label, charge $15 a title and see how long you are in business.

I agree that this needs to stop... yet another subject on these forums that serve no purpose at all anymore.

The fact of the matter is that most Twilight Time titles can now be had for $15 to $20 during sales... which is perfectly reasonable.

[The Great Owl]

To Sir, With Love is showing on TCM right now.

"If you want to dance wif me, you bleedin' well ask proper!"