Blockbuster Rental Blu-Rays

[OneWayFilms]

It IS sad for those of us who have been use to waiting a couple of weeks and buying previewed copies of movies instead of paying full price at Best Buy.

But I can see where the studios were getting ripped off with so many people doing that.

SO.....it makes perfect sence to offer them RENTAL ONLY versions, so people who REALLY want that movie and the suppliment features will HAVE to buy it and pay full price.

[BluOgre]

Originally Posted by werewuf

I rented "Where the Wild Things Are" last Friday and "The Blind Side" yesterday from Blockbuster. The discs are imprinted with the word "Rental" on them and there are no supplemental extras of any kind (No "making of" etc.)
When did they start this ridiculous practice? I also rented "Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs" and that disc had supplements. What's up with these rental discs?

Since I work with the stuidos let explain how it works. You have Warner, Fox, and Disney that "make" any rentailer purchase a rental only copy. This accomplishes two things:

• Stuidos want you to have an incentive to buy their product, not rent it. Since most of the time they don't get a cut of all the profit we get when renting the produt they want to make sure people know if they buy it they will get something special.
• It's also in their best intrest to remove ANY extras like digital copy or Free DVD because that is somthing again that rentailers can actually either sale or rent (and stuidos don't see a dime of it).

It comes down to greed. They want to make as much money as possible and certain studios are trying everything, which includes making any rental operation take a slimmed down barebones movie version. That way when they resale it as used it still doesn't compare to their sell-thru at normal retailers. Now some stuidos don't care from what I noticed, Universal and Sony pretty much just give us the retail version however it could always change. Warner by the way is the WORST stuido by far when inforcing these "you must by rental sku's" rules. Expect the same thing when Sherlock and Alvin & Chip 2 come out next week......even Fox's Avatar will have a rental version.

[BluOgre]

Originally Posted by ArmyOfDarknessAW

Its a studio made up thing but my local video stores seem to all get the retail versions so Blockbuster must buy the rental version to save $.

Most of the time both the rental version and retail version cost EXACTLY the same. Which is ridiculous....not only do you lose any extra's like the making of the movie and such but you also lose out on stuff like the free DVD or Digital Copy. I've calculated in March alone my company LOST $14k alone on Warner titles because they refused to let our distributor sell us the retail version.

And let me tell you if my distributor did sell us the retail version Warner would cut them off completely. That's how they get around the free sales doctrine. It's technically legal for us to buy the retail version and rent it....however our distributor won't sell it to us because of Warners threats. If you ever wonder why Wal-Mart or Best Buy have that rule that you can only buy a maximum of 2 or 3 at a time of the same movie.....this would be one of the reasons. To prevent rental operations buying the product and circumventing the stuidos "rules".

[DrasticPlastic]

The only problem I have with this practice is that if a movie contains a theatrical and an unrated version or directors cut, the Rental version will only include the theatrical release. I generally prefer to watch the unrated or directors cut, but now I won't be able to unless I buy it.

[BluOgre]

Originally Posted by DrasticPlastic

The only problem I have with this practice is that if a movie contains a theatrical and an unrated version or directors cut, the Rental version will only include the theatrical release. I generally prefer to watch the unrated or directors cut, but now I won't be able to unless I buy it.

And this specifically is something studiso have told me why they want retail copies to be like this. If it forces you to buy it, it's better for them.

Most of the stuidos would rather rental didn't exist. They would outlaw renting if they could. They want you to be forced to buy their product so they can keep all the money.

[ArmyOfDarknessAW]

Originally Posted by BluOgre

Most of the time both the rental version and retail version cost EXACTLY the same. Which is ridiculous....not only do you lose any extra's like the making of the movie and such but you also lose out on stuff like the free DVD or Digital Copy. I've calculated in March alone my company LOST $14k alone on Warner titles because they refused to let our distributor sell us the retail version.

And let me tell you if my distributor did sell us the retail version Warner would cut them off completely. That's how they get around the free sales doctrine. It's technically legal for us to buy the retail version and rent it....however our distributor won't sell it to us because of Warners threats. If you ever wonder why Wal-Mart or Best Buy have that rule that you can only buy a maximum of 2 or 3 at a time of the same movie.....this would be one of the reasons. To prevent rental operations buying the product and circumventing the stuidos "rules".

Thanks for the informative information. I cant believe they charge the same price for rental copies that just does not seem ethical. I understand them not wanting the rental places to get the bonus DVD because they could rent that out but leave on the extras.

[Henry T]

Originally Posted by ArmyOfDarknessAW

With what studios keeps doing with rentals makes me think there next step is to rent out the first 30 minutes of a movie so if you get into it you have to buy it. J/K but that would really suck.

Dont give them any ideas please ..LOL

And its not like rentals are dirt cheap either!

[Minimejer05]

I see why they cut out all of the bonus features. But it annoys me when you cant do scene select. Sometimes I forget where I left off when I stopped the movie!

[werewuf]

This practice doesn't compel me to buy, it compels me to rent from a local store that still continues to rent the complete discs.....

[Codyblaze]

Originally Posted by werewuf

This practice doesn't compel me to buy, it compels me to rent from a local store that still continues to rent the complete discs.....

But do you still have a local store? Portland, OR is the only place I know of that still has some independents...I don't know of a single independent rental store in the greater Miami area (with the exception of those targeting a niche cultural/language market). I moved here from Dallas last year, and I can't remember any in the big D either. Of course, Blockbuster is HQ'd there.

The lack of independent rental stores paired with the incredible drop in the price of used DVD's is the reason I no longer rent, just blind buy on DVD and upgrade those that are worth it and available to Blu.