Petition of the Week idea

[mjarina]

Ive been following Blu-Ray.com since its inception and don't post on here often. If I do, it's usually just to ask a question about a blu-ray I'm interested in. There are many threads concerning movies that we all want but convincing studios to release them is an uphill battle. The most frustrating part about being a movie lover is some of my favorite films are only available on DVD and VHS. I jump for joy every now and then when sometimes a studio does it right for a change. Most of my faith is now in independent labels like Shout Factory and Arrow who are releasing blu-rays I never thought would see the like of day. So I've been kicking around an idea that us Blu-Ray.com peeps can do something about it.

Petition of the week will be an on-going thread with email links included to bug the shit out of studios holding our favorite films hostage. Every week a new film or films will be selected to flood someone's inbox with. This can also include Director's Cuts, extended, or unrated versions of films that may already be available in theatrical blu-ray. I'm not sure if this is plausible, but wanted to throw this out there and see what everyone thinks. If there's enough support, I would like to dedicate some spare time to see if we can finally get the movies we've been begging for. Off the top of my head, here's a few examples I'm interested in myself.

The Double McGuffin 1979 (4:3 GoodTimes DVD)

Scavenger Hunt 1979 (VHS)

Disney:
Midnight Madness 1980 (4:3 Disney DVD)
Candleshoe
Something Wicked This Way Comes
The Watcher in the Woods
Hot Lead & Cold Feet
The Black Hole

Paramount
Friday the 13th part 3 3D Blu-Ray
Cheech & Chong's Up in Smoke/Still Smokin
Dragonslayer
Explorers
Foul Play
Funeral in Berlin
Grease 2
The Dead Zone
Kids in the Hall Brain Candy
Pretty in Pink
Silver Bullet
Young Shelrock Holmes
Best Defense

Sony
Cheech & Chongs Nice Dreams/ Things are Tough All Over
Iron Eagle
The Merchant of Venice
Murder by Death
Mary Reilly
Real Genius
Vibes

Universal
Cheech & Chongs Next Movie (both cuts)
Baseketball
Cloak & Dagger
DC Cab
Fahrenheit 451
Gotcha!
The Haunting 1999
K-Pax
The Nude Bomb

WB/ New Line
Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare 3D Blu-Ray
Battlefield Earth (guilty pleasure)
Critters
Deal of the Century
Fiendish Plot of Dr Fu Manchu
The Frisco Kid
The Hidden
It
Little Nicky
Midnight in the Garden of Good & Evil
The Mosquito Coast
Nuremburg (2000)
Conspiracy (2001)
Pump Up the Volume
Return of the Living Dead 2
The Shining 1997
Spawn HBO series
Time After Time (TV series remake coming)
Young Guns 2
The Changeling 1980
Delores Claiborne
Freejack

Fox
The Lone Gunman (TV series)
Solaris 2002
Porky's 2&3
Revenge of the Nerds 2,3,& 4

MGM
The Heavenly Kid
Stargate Universe Season 2


Whoever owns these now? (Many old Anchor Bay DVDs)
C.H.U.D.
The Eye 1&2
Grand Tour a Disater in Time
House
Phantasm 3&4 (Phantasm I think is coming)
Opera (Dario Argento)
The Stand (m.o.o.n spells blu-Ray)
Trauma (Argento)

All Godzilla movies still on DVD

Honestly, I just copied most of the DVD's I still own and hope to see on Blu-Ray.
I left out a bunch like Don't Torture a Duckling and many other Giallo's because I'm not sure to harass. The studios have many more titles we can add to the list and bug them all at once for a week.

What does everyone think?

[willo007]

Sure, why not.

[dvdmike]

How many release X petitions have ever worked?

[xander]

Originally Posted by dvdmike

How many release X petitions have ever worked?

From what I understand, execs look at each one and react appropriately.

[Doctor Jack]

you can make all the petitions you want. It won't influence anything unless A profit can be made.

[Professor Echo]

Originally Posted by Doctor Jack

you can make all the petitions you want. It won't influence anything unless A profit can be made.

Or unless it's a particularly favorite movie of one of the execs at the Blu-Ray company.

[benricci]

Your petitions are pointless are flat-out annoying for the intended recipient. If anything, "flooding their inboxes" will just alienate them, and make them less inclined to release a title.

Look, we all have wish-list titles. But obnoxious internet behavior isn't an indicator of future sales potential, and that's the metric home video companies use when planning releases.

"Bugging the shit" out of people is childish, immature, entitled behavior that'll get you absolutely nowhere. If you don't already work for a major studio's home video division, you have absolutely no influence over their decision making process. No matter how many stupid petitions you post.

You'll have better luck by connecting with smaller labels like the ones you mentioned through their social media channels. Shout and Arrow like to engage with fans. They want a passionate user-base because this is all they do. Universal Studios does not care about you or your opinions on their upcoming slate.

[Wernski]

Originally Posted by Doctor Jack

you can make all the petitions you want. It won't influence anything unless A profit can be made.

Well, petitions, emails and requests are at least a small indication to the studios that there is a demand/ profit to be made... I think all the noise fans made about Nightbreed's "Cabal cut" helped push Warner Bros into giving it to Scream Factory (and adding the DVD into the Warner Archive collection).

But if we pestered every studio about every movie we could think of that still needs a good blu, we'd probably dilute ourselves. Maybe if we all voted and decided to collectively push for the one movie that came out to be the most desired title amongst us, we could blip a couple radars.

I dunno, just throwing an idea into the pot, anyway.

[mjarina]

Thanks for the feedback. Instead of a petition, what about a request? Maybe I didn't word this correctly the first time, but yes I understand they're in the business to make money. Hypothetically speaking, if Paramount get enough request for a specific title, wouldn't that tell them there's money to be made? At the end of the day petition or request, you can't ignore several hundred or thousands of emails of customers begging to throw money at you. That's the idea anyway. Without awareness of the demand, how do they know if they're leaving money on the table?

[The Prowler]

Yeah, I'm just gonna sit and wait. See that wishlist in my signature? They're still trickling out at a good enough pace without me having to sit around shooting off e-mails that won't get read anyway. I got The Burbs this week and Hardcore, Midnight Run and Raising Cain coming soon. I'm happy enough. The others will be coming eventually. Nobody is holding anything "hostage". Besides, plenty to watch in the meantime.

[jarrod_inf]

Requests doesn't mean the people will buy (certain Scream/code red titles). I'm waiting to see if Psycho IV is going to sell after being requested so much (I'll buy it). People waiting for rock bottom prices in a dying market aren't making things better either.

[JHolliday]

People "request" random titles daily on Criterion's Facebook page. They might get one like, but rarely does anyone show interest.

The requests get tiresome quickly.