Does anybody else find it weird that US FOX region locks most catalog titles?

[mredman]

While FOX overseas is making the catalog titles Region ABC.
Even the movies that is not available overseas and other places in the world is locked like Boondock Saints, Unfaithful and i believe there is more.

Why would US FOX even do that when FOX UK or others are making them Region Free

Hope this is the right place to post this because i find this vey weird

"PS got suspended the other day for taking my anger out of US FOX. I belive this is more civilized"

[steve_dave]

Fox is not the only one that uees region codes in the US...

Disney/Buena Vista
Criterion (which makes The Curious Case of Benjamin Button the only Paramount BD to be region locked)
Sony
Showtime Home Entertainment (Titles are distributed by Paramount Home Entertainment)

[jasonicus]

It is a very common practice in the States. Not sure why.

[koontz1973]

The US releases tend to have different extras, codecs, audio. Not always but for some titles. This leads them to lock those titles, the rest seem to be out of habit. The reasoning behind these changes and region locks has always mystified me.

[mredman]

yeah its really weird when the same company doesn't do it in other countries. Only in the US they lock catalog titles. Just think its a selfish move because they are the only ones that does that.

[Buddy Christ]

Originally Posted by jasonicus

It is a very common practice in the States. Not sure why.

Dolla Dolla Bill Y'all

[steve_dave]

Why region coding exists:

1. To protect distribution deals.
- Ex. Braveheart is a Paramount Pictures and 20th Century Fox co-production. Paramount distributes in the US & Canada while Fox handles Latin America, Europe, Australia, and Asia. Lets assume Paramount region locks their titles. Well, this protects Fox from losing money to imported titles authorized for sale in specific countries.

Now think for a moment that you own a well respected movie theater chain in the UK and the latest Disney movie, say Toy Story 3, were fast tracked to BD in the US but its just been in UK cinemas for two weeks. You wouldn't want to lose potential customers to imported home video products.

2. To recognize the rules and regulations of censor/certificate/ratings boards.
- Some countries do actually ban films from cinema exhibition and home video release. In Thailand, you are not able to purchase The King and I or Anna and The King as these films have been deemed offensive. If the imports show up on shelves or in the post/mail, it would cause legality issues between Fox and Thailand.

Some films also have a special "localised" release made for ther country which is only authorized to be shown or sold in that country. This goes back to the Distribution Deal issue.

3. Economy
- Let's face it, a few dozen people buying the import is not going to really hurt the economic state but as Hong Kong proved with "street bootlegs," getting films on home video from another source other than the local distributors nearly resulted in the collapse of the Hong Kong film industry in the late 1990s.

The mentality is that the money is going to the same place. Not so. For those of us who either A)Got Starship Troopers Trilogy UK free or B)Gor Starship Troopes UK for $20, your money didn't all go to Sony Pictures Home Entertainment. Oh no, it went to Sony Pictures Home Entertainment UK with a partial amount going to Buena Vista International. But how can "my money" go to these companies if I got it free...welll, someone had to pay them if it wasn't you.

Oh sure, some companies can offer all-region discs but they still can "lock" them with content that is incompatible with US & Canadian equipment. Simon Pegg actually begged his fans to buy the import of How to Lose Friends and Alienate People for all the extras through his blog posts, so do you think its odd that this is the only Paramount BD to have PAL formatted content? I sure do not since I'm sure MGM (who distributes this title in the US) had to put some pressure on Paramount to protect their distribution deal.

And then there is the ulttimate way of protecting your distribution deal and Warner did it. To ensure New Line would not lose anymore money to imports of the Jackie Chan films they owned, Warner "picked up" the distribution for these films in Hong Kong, Korea, and Thailand. Sure Warner included the original Cantonese/Mandarin tracks but no English subtitles and the films are now the cut US versions. This could be a coincidence but then again...

So even without region locking in place, distributors are going to find ways to protect themselves from importing/exporting.

[steve_dave]

Originally Posted by mredman

yeah its really weird when the same company doesn't do it in other countries. Only in the US they lock catalog titles. Just think its a selfish move because they are the only ones that does that.

The US is not the only country who region locks thier titles. Alliance Canada uses region coding, Pathe Entertainment and Entertainment in Video in the UK region locks catalog titles.

Universal UK has also region locked a catalog title, Step Up since Disney has yet to release it in the US & Canada.

[LuckyKnight]

Yes it is damned annoying. FOX (US) are losing out because I can't buy their titles.. e.g. Cast Away (no UK release)

[mredman]

The same with Boondock Saints. Anyone know if it slated for a release overseas?

[Stu123]

Originally Posted by mredman

While FOX overseas is making the catalog titles Region ABC.
Even the movies that is not available overseas and other places in the world is locked like Boondock Saints, Unfaithful and i believe there is more.

Why would US FOX even do that when FOX UK or others are making them Region Free

Hope this is the right place to post this because i find this vey weird

"PS got suspended the other day for taking my anger out of US FOX. I belive this is more civilized"

Some uk fox titles have been region free

[koontz1973]

Originally Posted by steve_dave

Why region coding exists:

1. To protect distribution deals.
- Ex. Braveheart is a Paramount Pictures and 20th Century Fox co-production. Paramount distributes in the US & Canada while Fox handles Latin America, Europe, Australia, and Asia. Lets assume Paramount region locks their titles. Well, this protects Fox from losing money to imported titles authorized for sale in specific countries.

Now think for a moment that you own a well respected movie theater chain in the UK and the latest Disney movie, say Toy Story 3, were fast tracked to BD in the US but its just been in UK cinemas for two weeks. You wouldn't want to lose potential customers to imported home video products.

2. To recognize the rules and regulations of censor/certificate/ratings boards.
- Some countries do actually ban films from cinema exhibition and home video release. In Thailand, you are not able to purchase The King and I or Anna and The King as these films have been deemed offensive. If the imports show up on shelves or in the post/mail, it would cause legality issues between Fox and Thailand.

Some films also have a special "localised" release made for ther country which is only authorized to be shown or sold in that country. This goes back to the Distribution Deal issue.

3. Economy
- Let's face it, a few dozen people buying the import is not going to really hurt the economic state but as Hong Kong proved with "street bootlegs," getting films on home video from another source other than the local distributors nearly resulted in the collapse of the Hong Kong film industry in the late 1990s.

The mentality is that the money is going to the same place. Not so. For those of us who either A)Got Starship Troopers Trilogy UK free or B)Gor Starship Troopes UK for $20, your money didn't all go to Sony Pictures Home Entertainment. Oh no, it went to Sony Pictures Home Entertainment UK with a partial amount going to Buena Vista International. But how can "my money" go to these companies if I got it free...welll, someone had to pay them if it wasn't you.

Oh sure, some companies can offer all-region discs but they still can "lock" them with content that is incompatible with US & Canadian equipment. Simon Pegg actually begged his fans to buy the import of How to Lose Friends and Alienate People for all the extras through his blog posts, so do you think its odd that this is the only Paramount BD to have PAL formatted content? I sure do not since I'm sure MGM (who distributes this title in the US) had to put some pressure on Paramount to protect their distribution deal.

And then there is the ulttimate way of protecting your distribution deal and Warner did it. To ensure New Line would not lose anymore money to imports of the Jackie Chan films they owned, Warner "picked up" the distribution for these films in Hong Kong, Korea, and Thailand. Sure Warner included the original Cantonese/Mandarin tracks but no English subtitles and the films are now the cut US versions. This could be a coincidence but then again...

So even without region locking in place, distributors are going to find ways to protect themselves from importing/exporting.

Even though what you say is probably correct, I can think of numerous arguments against what you have said. But I will only do one for each.

1.The OP was talking about catalogue titles and not new films. These have been released already throughout the world. Even with new films, there are very few that do not get a release worldwide within a few weeks. No BD has come out that fast. I can tink of only two films recently (DOA and Mutant Cronicals) that did not get the WW release, then America was behind Europe. We got the DVD/Blu before you got theatrical release.

2.Thailand is RA/1 and therefore within America's region. Just because they ban the King and I, you should not get the release and RB/2 should. Name one country in Europe that has banned the titles you mentioned.

3.Bootleg copies may nearly of destroyed the HK film industry, but was it ever that strong. If bootlegs/imports hurt the studios that badly, then all films would be locked to countries and not regions. No big studio is in any way going to go bust by a few imports. With you examples of ST and Simon Pegg film, make the extras and the rest the same and no one would bother with imports apart from SE/box sets.

Rant over