DVD Sales way down

[rijir2001]

I will not watch or rent anything from Seagal, Van Damme

Wow surely you do know the 90's are long gone & these actors are no longer active.

What do you mean? What about JVCD and The Onion "CockPuncher"? :P

[videobread]

Seagal and Van Damme are both still making cheap straight to DVD crap movies. Look it up on IMbd.com

Lionsgate is making cheap rip off westerns using the set from 3:10 to Yuma. They also make crap kids horror/slasher films straight to DVD. Lionsgate, like Seagal and Van Damme, has no pride and are just ripping off people every Tuesday - new release day. They put more money in the packaging than they spend on the film.

[fritzi93]

How many movies do you actually watch more than once?

Not many, but a few. :P

What I watch more than once are my HD captures. (Wouldn't be any point to it otherwise). On Palladia, they're still occasionally running "Jeff Beck Live at Ronnie Scott's". Damn, that one's good.

[sammie]

For us, two simple reasons:

Red Box: My wife pics up a rental or two everytime she goes to the grocery store.

Crapola: Despite the reason above, there is little I want to see anymore and almost nothing I want to own. The last several current movies we've watched I would best describe as painful. I'd rather dig out one of my old classics or watch DVR'd reruns of MASH, Quantum Leap, Raymond, etc.

[freebird73717]

I'd rather dig out one of my old classics or watch DVR'd reruns of MASH, Quantum Leap, Raymond, etc.

Same here.

[Nitemare]

My son and I just had this discussion. I noted that we hadn't been to the theater in a while and he sort of snorted and said "Look what's in them!" Pretty astute for a 16-year-old.

I mentioned this thread and he agreed with me that there are no new "classics" out there. We watch Jaws once a year. There are dozens of straight to video shark movies that weren't worth watching even once. (though we've seen them all...)

[Video Head]

I buy fewer DVDs now - mainly because I've already collected most of the old stuff that I wanted. Now I'm just filling in gaps and adding the occasional new item. I'm even buying fewer blank DVDs, for the same reason.

Words spoken could never be so true.

Hollywood needs to produce something that people will actually want to pay money for. They blamed file sharing for a while, but that excuse has run out...maybe they just need to look in the mirror and say "now I see the problem!".

[videobread]

I feel like a good rant today:

Hollywood is living in the past and quickly becoming just a part of it. I've been to the show once in the past ten years. I saw 300 (2006). Ticket/concession prices are insulting. Currently, Redbox is getting the blame. Rupert Murdoch (Fox) says, "Do we like Redbox coming in at a dollar? No, we don't, but it's not going away." (from Video Business 9.21.09) (Murdoch is the same guy who thinks he is going to put the WSJ on a subscription basis. Ha! Ha! Also, a creepy old man should not own Facebook.) The "free market" has valued movies at one dollar. Hollywood has devalued it's own product by putting out crap to make a fast buck. It's time they take responsibility and stop blaming ripping, Redbox and downloading.

Here is an example of the lack of respect Hollywood has for the movie going public. Fight Club (1999), which I have never seen, is being released, again, for it's tenth anniversary. (Like it's Gone with the Wind or something! Next, they'll be making Fight Club II and then III!) Murdoch/Fox has hired taggers to design the box and is promoting it as, "a collectable piece of art in it's own right". (from Video Business 9.21.09). I guess we dumb Gomer's just can't get enough of that Brad Pitt!

Another example of Hollywood's contempt for the movie going public was Beowulf (2007) with Angelina Jolie. The movie sucked. Hollywood saw that Beowulf and Grendel (2005) was a great film and they thought they would make a quick knock off and a ton of money. That's an "old" Hollywood formula - put one of their egomaniac stars in a crappy film and we lemmings will all rush out and pay to see it. You know us dumb Gomer's can't get enough of that Angelina Joilie!

Wake up Hollywood. Your days are numbered. Your being outsourced.

Remember the art. The money will follow.

[Lawbringer]

Maybe if movies didn't suck as much, they'd sell better. If I rent a movie, or am enticed enough to see it in the theater (which is rare these days), and like it, I'll buy it. Same with TV shows.

I buy DVDs and BDs for one reason and one reason only - multiple viewings. If I like something, but don't ever want to see it again (like 300), I won't get it.

Which is why Star Trek (BluRay) is pre-ordered, and Tru Blood on its way back to Netflix.

[filmboss80]

Like Nitemare, I have a 16-year old who can't stand the substandard stuff being issued from Hollywood. He really loved The Third Man, Casablanca, and all the Marx Bros. movies.

Too much inbreeding in the US film industry. They live in a bubble and have completely lost touch with the human race.

[videobread]

I'm still on a rant:

Not to single out Brad and Angelina or anything but, I can't wait to see Inglorious "Basterds" on DVD for a buck. I watched the original Inglorious "Bastards" about a year ago. It was made in 1978. When I returned it to my video rental guy I commented that it was the worst movie I have even seen, next to Brother from Another Planet. He just laughed.

Why remake one of the worst movies ever made? Is it a big in your face you dumb Gomer's from Tarantino and Brad? Maybe so. It has grossed $103,903,469 to date at the box office.

[DKruskie]

At least 90% of the movies that comes out is complete and utter crap. I would rather spend my money on a book to read. I think I bought like 3 dvd'd last year and probably will buy 2 this year.

[jagabo]

At least 90% of the movies that comes out is complete and utter crap.

As Theodore Sturgeon noted over 50 years ago, “Ninety percent of everything is crud.”

[fritzi93]

At least 90% of the movies that comes out is complete and utter crap.

As Theodore Sturgeon noted over 50 years ago, “Ninety percent of everything is crud.”

I always wondered who said that. But saying only 90%... is being charitable. More like 95%. :P

[PhoneMatt]

Jagabo, wasn't that Isaac Asimov, who said that?

[jagabo]

Jagabo, wasn't that Isaac Asimov, who said that?

Not according to Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sturgeon%27s_Law

[Ai Haibara]

Crapola: Despite the reason above, there is little I want to see anymore and almost nothing I want to own. The last several current movies we've watched I would best describe as painful. I'd rather dig out one of my old classics or watch DVR'd reruns of MASH, Quantum Leap, Raymond, etc.

Same here. Although, I'd rather buy the DVDs (and I'm not saying that because I just got around to buying the complete-series MASH set two days ago... ). That way, I don't have to put up with the 'condensed' versions of shows - where they hack up old shows primarily so they can run even more commercials - AND the bit where they shove the credits aside to run more ads and previews. They do that more with older shows like MASH, but I'm not sure about Quantum Leap... haven't watched any recent airings (including ION's), just the DVDs.

Most of the DVDs I buy are TV series sets, of course. Like most of the people who have posted in this thread, there really hasn't been many movies in the past handful of years that I've even thought about buying.

[Nitemare]

This begs the question: If the problem is so obvious, why can't they see it? Sometimes I get paranoid. They HAVE to know what the problem really is... so what are they actually after with their propagandized press?

Sometimes, they bone themselves. I liked Transformers. When I heard that Transformers 2 had so many plot holes, I decided against going to see it. They "almost" had me. Same with the new Terminator... a missed opportunity if there ever was one.

Both movies will be worth seeing from Netflix... but if they're as bad as I've heard I'd never actually buy them. I "used to be" a completist. I own every Godzilla movie. I have every Nightmare on Elm Street... even the bad ones. Lately, the sequels and remakes are so horrible that I've abandoned my completist ways. Instead of "getting them all", I give away the one I had to begin with.

PERFECT EXAMPLE: I hear they're going to remake "Harvey". I'll rent it but not buy it or see it in theaters. I own the original on DVD. I'd have gone to see THAT in a theater, but not a modernized remake.

[G)-(OST]

I will not watch or rent anything from Seagal, Van Damme

Wow surely you do know the 90's are long gone & these actors are no longer active.

Man! I still love watching Steven Segal movies, the most recent good one (IMHO) is Against the Dark (2009)
Van Damme is also still pumping out movies.

[dadrab]

I have to agree with many of the assertions put forth in this thread:
1. Times are tough.
2. Access via streaming is easy.
3. People are lazy.
4. Theatre prices are friggin' stupid and insulting.
5. (Most importantly) Hollywood releases shit. I'm going to harp on this one for a few lines because I can't be the only one who thinks folks like Will Ferrell, Ben Stiller, John C. Reilly, Jennifer Anniston and their ilk are basically no-talent bums. That's not to say there's no talent in Hollywood. Far from it, but there are several "superstars" who consistantly release movie after movie which are acclaimed to be"hilarious," "great," "deep," "highly emotional," "sensative"...on and on when, indeed, the word "shit" pretty applicably describes them all. Hell, Ferrell even showed up on an episode of "Man Vs. Wild," which in itself is a travesty on the notion of survival in the wild by oneself - it's just him...and his camera crew, and his director, and his producers, and his writers. I wouldn't be surprised to find out his mom was there with his pajamas, too.

Say what you will about guys like Tom Cruise, but Valkyrie was a good movie and he was good in it. I paid money to see it and would, indeed, watch it again. There's even hope for Matt Damon (i.e. Saving Private Ryan). But, beyond the actors' ability to do their jobs, these guys had good material to work with.

Herein lies the rub. Compare Talladega Nights with a real classic like Stripes. One is mindless garbage and the other is a pretty funny movie AND there's a real story line.

If I had all the answers, I wouldn't be typing on this forum, but perhaps if those who THINK they do have all the answers paid a little attention to places like this, we'd have a lot less to type about and a bit more to watch.

[fritzi93]

"Man Vs. Wild," which in itself is a travesty on the notion of survival in the wild by oneself - it's just him...and his camera crew, and his director, and his producers, and his writers. I wouldn't be surprised to find out his mom was there with his pajamas, too.

Can't pass up this one.

Man Vs. Wild. Totally asinine show, a damn fool doing stuff like climbing down a waterfall, telling you at the same time how dangerous it is, and well, you probably shouldn't try it. :P

Survivorman is much better, if he's gone hungry for a few days, having no success in finding food, he doesn't bullshit you. If he's reduced to eating a semi-rotten fish, you see it. No false heroics.

But apart from Survivorman, I despise so-called "reality" shows, and it sure seems like there are a bunch of them these days. And cop shows, some of which are okay I suppose, but man, there are a lot of them too.

Anything that's successful gets imitated ad nauseum. Which applies to movies as well, not just TV, maybe not to the same degree.

[ZQX]

People will buy DVDs of movies THEY LIKE. Full stop.

I may watch a pirated bootleg copy of some movie that's being passed around at work... if I LIKE it, I will go out and buy it (good quality, extras etc).

Funny thing is, the movies I am buying on DVD aren't American/Hollywood releases. They are from Asian countries = where all the great cinema is coming from.

(Though I did buy recently Sony's BRILLIANT 3-movie Toho release of Mothra/H-Man/Battle In Outer Space... anamorphic widescreen, subtitled, plus English dubs... what more can one ask for? Well done, Sony!)

Apart from things like that, I look for anything from mainland China and South Korea. Thailand has become a serious cinematic contender also.

Hollywood sucks shit, basically. It used to be good, right up to the '80s. But then it disintegrated. I think I read some other poster here who suggested that the reason Hollywood sucks is because the new generation of the old jewish '70s producers/directors have taken over and they don't have a clue, they are focused on the money angle and THUS regurgitate the same ol' formulaic rubbish. Whereas pre-80s Hollywood literally BLOSSOMED with edgey/radical jewish directors who took risks and made radical/classic cinema. But now, however, it's all rubbish. They (the younger inheritance generation) are marketing formulaic rubbish to a common-denominator audience in the quest for a quick (million) buck... not realizing that the "common denominator" market is shrivelling away to nothingness. The human race is getting more savvy. The jewish studios will blame "piracy" for the downfall of profit, but really it is the fact that the general "populace" is sick and tired of their utter, unaldulterated, uncreative/unimaginative SHITE.

Films like "District 9" get a ridiculous over-enthusiastic applause because everyone is so sick of the "Hollywood Formula" (ie rom-coms/CGI animations/CGI action etc). But even District 9 sucks! But everyone is so desperate, District 9 gets a good rating!

This planet needs a major shake-up.

[dadrab]

Survivorman is much better, if he's gone hungry for a few days, having no success in finding food, he's doesn't bullshit you. If he's reduced to eating a semi-rotten fish, you see it. No false heroics.

You're right. He even takes his own camera gear.

I'm really not very good at much, in the great scheme of our world, but I am good at a few things. Survival is one of them. Les Stroud is pretty close to the real deal. Fact is, I've picked up a few tricks from him (could have given him a pointer from time to time, too 8) ). He does a good job.

[lordsmurf]

Say what you will about guys like Tom Cruise, but Valkyrie was a good movie and he was good in it. I paid money to see it and would, indeed, watch it again. There's even hope for Matt Damon (i.e. Saving Private Ryan). But, beyond the actors' ability to do their jobs, these guys had good material to work with

Cruise is a douchebag's douchebag, but he was excellent in Valkyrie.
Good review http://www.superheroes-r-us.com/2009/your-grandfathers-super-villain-a-valkyrie-blu-ray-review
Probably the best movie from 2008, along with Dark Knight.

[festmaster]

Another factor for DVD sales decline was reported 2-3 years ago, and that is that people are running out of shelf space for discs. The DVD package was designed for rental stores and is bigger than it needs to be. Both HD-DVD and Blu-ray used smaller cases for this reason. None-the-less, I am not going to perpetually add racks for more disks. I have become much more particular about which movies I am going to buy versus rent just because I don't have the room.

[Video Head]

"Man Vs. Wild," which in itself is a travesty on the notion of survival in the wild by oneself - it's just him...and his camera crew, and his director, and his producers, and his writers. I wouldn't be surprised to find out his mom was there with his pajamas, too.

But apart from Survivorman, I despise so-called "reality" shows, and it sure seems like there are a bunch of them these days. And cop shows, some of which are okay I suppose, but man, there are a lot of them too.

Cop shows have been a mainstay of the television industry since its creation: Car 64, Adam 12, Kojak, Columbo, Baretta, Miami Vice, and the list goes on and on and on. Courtroom drama has always made the $'s too. I think people enjoy watching it because it is so far detached from anything they have ever experienced. Which might also explain the unexplainable fasination with watching other people do things in these non-reallity shows. More people should go out and walk, run, ride, paddle, row, climb or fall down something. It really is more fun to do it yourself. That also brings the adult movie industry into question.

As one poster here suggested, they have lost their roots. Maybe they need to go back to WWII and westerns. Gunsmoke had a pretty good run and probably made a buck or two. A Band of Brothers was a well done war show. But that was a couple of guys doing something that they believed in and wanted to do for themselves after Saving Private Ryan, also a well done war movie.

Then look at something like Zack and Miri Make a Porno. What a complete and total waste of everyones time and effort. Even Traci Lords couldn't save that piece of crap. Why didn't the producers just go out and stand on the street corner asking for spare change. People would have been less irritated. And then there is Pelham 123. Why would I pay for a bad remake when I can just get the cult status original? But the Hollywood execs will be crying to the US Congress that file sharing is responsible for the poor returns on Zack and Miri and that it really is a quality piece of work.

[Ai Haibara]

Oh, so that's why we'll probably have at least one or two CSI variants running on network TV every year from now on. (runs)

Why do studios seem reluctant to make Westerns, these days? (Not that I'd watch them, but there does seem to be a general reluctance.)

(Edit: because I was stupid and forgot to add the last part of that first sentence. What good is a joke if you don't include the whole thing? Sheesh. :/)

[usually_quiet]

Oh, so that's why we'll probably have at least one or two CSI variants running on network TV. (runs) :lol:

Why do studios seem reluctant to make Westerns, these days? (Not that I'd watch them, but there does seem to be a general reluctance.)

The old westerns were generally speaking, not politically correct, showed too much gun violence, and romanticized a decidely rough period in US history. I suspect that is part of the reason they don't make them anymore, along with the cost of the sets and costumes.

Don't think I hate them, I don't. I grew up with them and have some fond memories. My favorite old western is "Maverick." I would love to watch that one again if it ever shows up on RTV.

[Ai Haibara]

That could be applied to a number of other TV series/movies, based on period (or otherwise), though.

[Abas-Avara]

The main reason for this is the recession.
More people are downloading illigal
I only buy the movies that I liked the most (like the most of people) wich are mostly classics.

Is there any good movie released this lately?
It's all pure money just like the new music industrie.