Scream Factory Blu-ray Discussion Thread

[rillog]

I am so upset about this. I spent such a lot of money on Shout Factory discs and now this greedy company is trying to squeeze even more money out of my pocket. They should be happy that people preorder discs and reward them, instead they are trying to take advantage of customers who preorder. They must be out of their minds.
I definitely won't buy their discs from the Shout Factory Store or amazon and I am done with preordering.

[ryanmj1993]

Hopefully they are being honest about this and are actually looking into things. They have to be losing money.

[Jay Mammoth]

Can’t wait for my Halloween 2 and Creepehow Pre-Orders

[moviezrule]

Originally Posted by zbinks

The DVD appears to be OOP and it's no longer available for streaming, as far as I can tell, so I think the distribution rights may have reverted back to Coquette Productions (David Arquette and Courteney Cox) from 20th Century Fox. If it's still with Fox (Disney), then I'd say the chances are currently close to 0%.

thanks for the reply, it's a shame that Disney is purchasing FOX, just so many great titles that will be buried.

I really wanted a re-release of Airheads

[Michael24]

I already asked in the Tinger/Strait-Jacket thread but I'll ask again here since it's more active. Is this "off limits to other retailers" stuff just for pre-orders? Once the street date for their releases arrive, they'll then be available to order at other places as usual?

[DaveyJoe]

I have the Army of Darkness and Lifeforce steelbooks arriving tomorrow. Here's hoping they don't get damaged in the Amazon bubble mailer...

[DenOfEarth]

i hope they announce the extras to Brain Dead tomorrow

[JupiterMission]

I wonder if this Amazon/pre-order thing is somehow related to how so many titles would drop to like $14.71 for a day or two in the pre-order phase. I never understood what was going on with that or how Amazon was making any money in those situations, but I don't know a ton about how this all works anyways.

I remember people saying that Wal Mart was gaming Amazon, dropping their price so that Amazon's bot would match, knowing full well that more people would order from Amazon, causing Amazon to lose more money than Wal Mart on the deal. But then, it's not like Shout/Scream is moving thousands and thousands of copies of single titles, so what? Wal Mart's dinging them for a couple grand for every Scream Release? So that theory never made sense to me. But then the titles would drop lower in pre-order than they practically ever did even months after coming out.

So, yeah. None of it makes sense to me. I barely ever buy from Amazon anymore though, because for me it's not worth saving a few bucks just to wind up getting broken cases and all. I bit on some of the super-cheap pre-orders a couple of times, and I have the crunched slipcovers to prove it.

[TripleHBK]

Originally Posted by Michael24

I already asked in the Tinger/Strait-Jacket thread but I'll ask again here since it's more active. Is this "off limits to other retailers" stuff just for pre-orders? Once the street date for their releases arrive, they'll then be available to order at other places as usual?

We'll find out tomorrow with Return of the Living Dead II, but yes, that has been the running theory based on comments made very early on before this process was fully recognized as having the impact that it would. We should see all titles pop up on other retailers online shops tomorrow morning. (Though I wouldn't put it past places like Diabolik and other smaller retailers to post the listing tonight at midnight.)

[TripleHBK]

Originally Posted by JupiterMission

I wonder if this Amazon/pre-order thing is somehow related to how so many titles would drop to like $14.71 for a day or two in the pre-order phase. I never understood what was going on with that or how Amazon was making any money in those situations, but I don't know a ton about how this all works anyways.

I remember people saying that Wal Mart was gaming Amazon, dropping their price so that Amazon's bot would match, knowing full well that more people would order from Amazon, causing Amazon to lose more money than Wal Mart on the deal. But then, it's not like Shout/Scream is moving thousands and thousands of copies of single titles, so what? Wal Mart's dinging them for a couple grand for every Scream Release? So that theory never made sense to me. But then the titles would drop lower in pre-order than they practically ever did even months after coming out.

So, yeah. None of it makes sense to me. I barely ever buy from Amazon anymore though, because for me it's not worth saving a few bucks just to wind up getting broken cases and all. I bit on some of the super-cheap pre-orders a couple of times, and I have the crunched slipcovers to prove it.

If this was the case then it would have made more sense for Shout Factory to just cut Amazon out of the pre-order mix. As it stands, even if your scenario was in fact the real reason behind the current issue, why stop places like Diabolik, deep discount, bullmoose etc from listing pre-orders as Amazon won't price match them. This goes beyond whatever price matching issue may or may not have been causing issues... Perhaps that was part of it, perhaps retailers sending out discs early was part of the issue, perhaps the distribution facility utilized has some weird arrangement with Warner/Sony or is unable to create discs at the rate they used to... who knows? All I know is that it would be nice if Shout Factory would just be up front about it. If this is their decision, then own it so we can stop speculating. If this is a licensing agreement thing, then just say so and most of us will understand. Leaving this out there without reason though has been frustrating and just makes them look really bad. It's unfortunate that if it turns out it's not their fault they are going to take the hit to their reputation all because they didn't address it directly with the folks that have made them successful.

[DetroitSportsFan]

ROTLD2 now up at Walmart.

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Return-of...ype=10&veh=aff

[TripleHBK]

Originally Posted by DetroitSportsFan

ROTLD2 now up at Walmart.

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Return-of...ype=10&veh=aff

"Arrives by Friday September 7th".

Seems Amazon might have some timed exclusives in addition to the Pre-order exclusivity lockdown.

The Unborn is now up as well on Wal-mart and it appears that Amazon has already price matched them. (Though this release is scheduled to arrive by Friday, so no timed exclusivity on this one.)

https://www.walmart.com/ip/The-Unborn-Blu-ray/436353326

[darkness2918]

Originally Posted by TripleHBK

If this was the case then it would have made more sense for Shout Factory to just cut Amazon out of the pre-order mix. As it stands, even if your scenario was in fact the real reason behind the current issue, why stop places like Diabolik, deep discount, bullmoose etc from listing pre-orders as Amazon won't price match them. This goes beyond whatever price matching issue may or may not have been causing issues... Perhaps that was part of it, perhaps retailers sending out discs early was part of the issue, perhaps the distribution facility utilized has some weird arrangement with Warner/Sony or is unable to create discs at the rate they used to... who knows? All I know is that it would be nice if Shout Factory would just be up front about it. If this is their decision, then own it so we can stop speculating. If this is a licensing agreement thing, then just say so and most of us will understand. Leaving this out there without reason though has been frustrating and just makes them look really bad. It's unfortunate that if it turns out it's not their fault they are going to take the hit to their reputation all because they didn't address it directly with the folks that have made them successful.

I have a feeling its the early shipping thing. Only because that negates ordering direct from SF. Sure you won't get it 2 weeks earlier or have a poster but you still get it before release & at cheaper prices. When I'd pre order SF titles from Diabolik I'd get it at most 1-3 days before release. With the upcoming titles I wanted I just cancelled my Amazon pre orders & ordered them from SF, at least I was able to get free shipping.

[TripleHBK]

Originally Posted by darkness2918

I have a feeling its the early shipping thing. Only because that negates ordering direct from SF. Sure you won't get it 2 weeks earlier or have a poster but you still get it before release & at cheaper prices. When I'd pre order SF titles from Diabolik I'd get it at most 1-3 days before release. With the upcoming titles I wanted I just cancelled my Amazon pre orders & ordered them from SF, at least I was able to get free shipping.

When the initial comments were made by diabolik that was my gut reaction as well, though that still doesn't explain why places like Best Buy and Wal-mart were also cut out of the loop. The only possible scenario I can come up with would be that Shout Factory uses two distribution sites which prepare discs. One location produces disks exclusively for Amazon and Shout Factory themselves to sell, where as the other prepares for everyone else. If this is correct, then it would explain how/why Amazon has continued to get stock and has been allowed pre-orders while everyone else, both large and small were cut out. Perhaps a contractual dispute between Shout Factory and these pressing facilities has lead to lower/slower numbers of titles being pressed. As a possible fail safe to prevent exhausting supply Shout Factory has limited who can place orders. If this were to be true it would explain how/why Shout Factory would be "Aware of the issues and attempting to work through them" while also being unwilling to speak publicly so as not to damage the relationship between the two parties as they come to an agreement on price/allocation/materials/etc (Whatever the issue has been).

With the way that everything has played out this would also explain how/why titles like The Wasp Woman remain exclusives to Amazon despite the fact that Shout Factory now owns that film outright. In other words, despite it appearing that some of the issue is studio interference this corman title seems to refute that idea and provide further evidence that a) it really is as simple as you stated and has to deal with early releases or b) is a sign of a larger issue with materials/creation of the discs themselves perhaps.

[jmat91]

I am furious that titles are amazon exclusive. Amazon give THE WORST packaging, slips are guaranteed to be smashed, dented and creased,
I want to deal with a retailer like diabolik that packages them well.

[surfinhank]

Unborn is also up on Best Buy for 22.99. It has the release date for tomorrow, but a shipping estimate of mid-September. I just placed an order and if it ships any sooner I'll report back.

[Member-222782]

Originally Posted by surfinhank

Unborn is also up on Best Buy for 22.99. It has the release date for tomorrow, but a shipping estimate of mid-September. I just placed an order and if it ships any sooner I'll report back.

Waiting for an Amazon price match

[RedHarvest]

Originally Posted by surfinhank

Unborn is also up on Best Buy for 22.99. It has the release date for tomorrow, but a shipping estimate of mid-September. I just placed an order and if it ships any sooner I'll report back.

Really enjoyed the rewatch of this film.

[WKoA13]

Diabolik DVD just posted to their FB page an update regarding RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD 2, and sorta touching on Scream Titles in general.

Apparently all non-Amazon retailers just got the OK to list it with a release date of 9/3/18. They only discuss ROTLD 2, but it seems to indicate that it might be the same for several other Scream titles, regarding non-Amazon retailers getting it 3 weeks after Amazon's release date.

They then go on to say not to spend time bashing Scream Factory, as there are good people who work on their titles, and these decisions likely aren't theirs....but, no info on what those exact decisions are or why.

So...there's that?

[Cutter_]

Well it's encouraging that BestBuy and Wal-mart are releasing these at somewhat reasonable prices on release day. If I have to wait another month to get the blu-ray, then it is what it is. I'll be unhappy, but at least I'll still buy it. So Shout might still have a customer; just a unhappy one.

Although, I have canceled my two pre-orders of Halloween II and Halloween III steelbooks, and I will not be ordering them ever. I was thinking of double-dipping and getting the 4K remasters, but after all this garbage. I'll be keeping my original Scream releases. So, you can chalk up two lost sales to this garbage.