Posted on 10/14/2009 8:02:11 AM PDT by AreaMan
Maybe DVD Sales Collapsed Because Movies Suck
Posted By John Nolte On October 13, 2009 @ 2:31 pm In Entertainment, News | 163 Comments
Everyone seems to have an opinion as to why DVD sales have cratered since hitting their peak in 2006, but no one’s looking at the obvious answer. Plunging sales have been blamed on piracy [1], competing technologies such as video games [2]and low-priced rental outlets like Redbox [3]… everything but the quality of the actual films.
First and foremost, I’m a movie lover. Nothing competes for my attention in this regard, including dollar rentals and the like. But I’m just not buying anywhere near the number of new releases I did just ten years ago. Obviously, this is anecdotal evidence, so make your own comparisons:
1998 [4] – I purchased 15 of the top 20 money makers…
1999 [5] — 18 of the top 20.
2000 [6] — 16 of the top 20.
2001 [7] — 14 of the top 20.
And nothing’s changed. My tastes are the same. I still enjoy and don’t regret a single purchase (well, maybe “Planet of the Apes” — but I keep watching thinking it will get better). Now flash-forward to the last few years and the numbers collapse:
2006 [8] – 5 of the top 20.
Excerpt...
(Excerpt) Read more at bighollywood.breitbart.com ...
I have probably not watched more than one or two of them more than once.
I can rent movies from Netflix for about seventy-five cents apiece.
Why would I buy any more movies?
My wife and I use Netflix. Mighty hard to find a movie worth ordering. Most of it is drivel.
I’m home with the flu, so I went to Blockbuster yesterday to rent some movies. I walked up and down the New Release wall, hoping to find something that would be entertaining. With the exception of a few that I had already seen, they were all crap.
Forget buying...there are very few movies out there worth the $5 rental.
Watched “Downfall” from netflix last night with my two older kids, great movie.
I have to somewhat agree - I haven’t seen a recent movie in years. Ive bought several DVD’s over the last several years but they are old movies. Cary Grants, John Wayne’s and some of the old tv shows that are now boxed. I just bought Green acres, Hogans Hero’s and As Time goes by from England.
I learned a long time ago in Hollywood that the only person I should vote for is myself. - Jack Nicholson
Haven’t been to too many movies at the theaters or bought DVDs with movies, lately. Some DVDs I bought recently were stuff like old Underdog cartoons, and an edition of “Cinematic Titanic” (with cast members of Mystery Science Theater spoofing Santa Conquers the Martians). But, new?
I got a couple movie passes won off a radio show; admittedly some of the theatres of the chain are slightly far from me but I can’t think of any movies I want to use the passes for.
I do remember seeing what I think was an indie release last Feb., at a theatre down the street from me (an old time theatre that features weekly magic shows, too)—it was
Cadillac Records, loosely based on the story of Chess
Records. It was okay...but not enough to make me want to buy the DVD.
How nice of you to give the gift that keeps on giving. I sure the Blockbuster employees thank you too.
It’s getting to the point that I’ve not seen any of the lead actor/actress movies put up for an Oscar.
Have to get down to the Special Affects to find at least one movie I’ve seen.
Hollywood and I don’t see eye to eye on what a good movie is.
P/C Red Dawn? Just say - No!
This year has been dreadful really for movies. The last good ones were The Dark Knight and No Country for Old Men. However, I was really happy with Paranormal Activity, probably the best movie of 2009 so far.
The only good movies these days seem to always be foreign movies.
I turn on my TV and I see "The Bachelorette" and shows like that, and I see endless re-runs of "The Andy Griffith Show". That's about it.
I for one, cannot watch these liberal millionaire idiots, pretending in front of a camera anymore. I think half the population of America is conservative, and generally speaking, we are tired of the communists in Hollywood, calling their propaganda art.
I just snorted my diet coke with that comment!
There’s YouTube too; recently while in Miss. I visited a museum dedicated to the movie My Dog Skip which was filmed there. Figured I’d want to catch that movie for the second time so I watched it, divided into segments, via YouTube
(fairly short film) a week or two later, back home. No rental cost, no return. (Some movies pop up on my cable’s On Demand but they were movies from the past, presented for free; “I never did get to see Coal Miner’s
Daughter—ah, here it is, for free” (well, of course, actually part of my paid cable package.)
No trip to the DVD store.
Al Martino just passed.
Where’s The Godfather’s of this century?
Y’know, movies with plot, character development, intrigue ... not just flashy special effects ....
Netflix.
And market saturation at home. People now have sizeable libraries of movies and tv shows in boxed sets that they still need to pour over.
Plus economy.
And I can buy “remaindered” titles new at Half Price Books for a fraction of the retail price ($50 4 disc King Kong/Son of Kong/Mighty Joe Young boxed set is available new and unopened for $10).
When you calculate the number of DVD’s (and VHS tapes) that are out there, wouldn’t a logical conclusion be that we’ve started to reach a saturation point?
I mean, how many more copies of “Grand Prix” and “Bringing Up Baby” do I need? Do I really need more Disney movies in anticipation of coming grand kids, since I still have the entire collection from when my kids were young?
I also suspect that there was some confusion as the whole BlueRay DVD war thingy was fought out.
AT&T U-Verse has plenty of movies "On Demand", and their DVR function is awesome.
It will really come in handy when the NFL owners lock out their teams in 2011.
geez, maybe we could all get together and make our own independent film(s)??
FRmail me! (got cash? experience? lol)
Good. We’ll have to look more thoroughly. :)
Also people with Cable or Satellite literally have hundreds of movie channels with HBO, Showtime, etc. to choose from.
Depends on what you rent. If you are just looking at modern films and "blockbusters", yes. There are reissues of older films as well as documentaries. And why buy? Some titles will go out of print and eventualy disappear from the Netflix library. If you DO want to go back to a disc, it may not be possible. Hollywood will sit on a film even if there is a market for it. Can't say I'd buy The Path To 9/11 but there are plenty of people on record saying they would. I taped it off air but missed the first part of the second episode because of a speech from Bush.
Hollywood is a lot like Washington.
They tell what you should like instead of listening to the people.
They act surprised when movies like Fireproof or the Passion of Christ are successes and can’t believe it when 100+ million dollar action flicks flop.
All directors should be forced to watch a dozen or so Hitchcock films before they attempt to make a movie. Sometimes, less is more when it comes to explosion, violence, etc., etc., etc.
Hey, complain to the pharmacist at Walgreens. They’re the ones that take a minimum of 30 minutes to fill a prescription!
Maybe PPV? Actually i think movies the past few years have actually gotten better.
This is something I have been saying for a LONG time. Every week, my family sits down and we decide on the new movies that are going to be in the Theaters. We have four ratings: want to see in theater, want to see on DVD, don’t care if see it and NO! More often than not, it is NO, or wait till it is on DVD; I can’t remember the last time I went to the theater.
Once we watch a movie, we have a ratings system: bad, good and get a copy. Now, other than some kid-rated movies for the grand-kids and my youngest daughter, the last few DVD movies that we purchased were “Full Metal Jacket,” “Road to Rio” and “The Quiet Man.” All of these were purchased in the last six months.
The only recent movie that we have even thought about purchasing was “Gran Torino” while the rest of the stuff coming out is simply not “epic” nor “impressive” enough to warrant a home copy.
Newer technology (like Blu Ray, NetFlix though, is the big reason. Why spend $7 to $30 on DVD when you can rent it for less than a buck?
The Lives of Others.
Cable one our provider has pay per view but there has to be almost 20 channels of adult pay per view.........I asked if I could have them removed from the que and the tech laughed and said nope, one of our biggest money makers.
Hows that for a comment on our state of society?
No Country for Old Men? Are you kidding? That movie was seriously creepy. Sheer depravity for what purpose? I realy regreted watching that movie.
Blame Hollywood's constant revising of the copyright code to extend it.
Unless you want to see a lot of silent films and the occasional rare good PD horror (White Zombie, Carnival of Souls, etc) or noir film (DOA), the bulk of recorded media in the modern era (1930+) is still owned by a handful of corporations. The actors and musicians don't see a dime.
Never did understand why Jimmy Stewart made the appeal for it. It's A Wonderful Life BECAME a perenial classic BECAUSE it built up a cult following through repeated television broadcast (because it was public domain). Congress worked legislative magic and RETROACTIVELY restored the copyright (an impossibility) to this work and others that had lapsed.
In Europe you can now legally get boxed sets of music with everyone from Elvis to Little Richard to Frank Sinatra to Louis Armstrong. I wonder when the customs inspectors will prohibit the importation of these public domain boxed sets.
Even though the insufferable Martin Sheen was in it, that WAS a great movie.
Oh! I didn’t know that was available. Cool, thanks for that post!
Psst. Hollywood gets enough money to cover the losses on the latest cultural drek from the billions earned on works from past decades.
If they didn’t have a protected nest egg (that is different than the industries before it) they would’ve gone bankrupt financially long ago.
That was a good movie, and very realistic as far as the Navy goes. I had a recruiting partner one time who was in the movie as an extra.
That was one of my favorites and my kids both liked it as well!
I haven’t had any premium movie channel in years.
I miss old Wally...
Hollywood has nothing to worry about. The federal government will eventually just bail it out.
“We cannot allow the entertainment business to fail!”
Tanks! I just ordered from Amazon.
Yeah, the entire crew appeared in the film as extras, doing the jobs they normally do (or did).
My last Blu-ray purchases were The Wizard of OZ, Braveheart and Snow White.
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