Fox to remove all extras from rental DVDs

20th Century Fox Home Entertainment has announced that they will be creating two classes of DVDs for now on, a "premium" version with extras and digital copies and a "rental" version which removes all extras and will be available for rental only.

Beginning March 31st with the release of Slumdog Millionaire, "wholesalers will be authorized to sell rental accounts only the rental SKUs and to sell retail accounts only the retail SKUs,� said Fox senior VP of sales Don Jeffries.

As an example, the Slumdog rental DVD only has the movie and trailers while the premium disc included special features such as deleted scenes and director and actor commentary.

There will be variations however, as the upcoming Marley and Me DVD will have special features on both the rental and the retail version.

�We have developed product variations to feed different consumer consumption models and behaviors,� read a Fox statement. �For rental customers, we�re delivering a theatrical experience in the home while promoting upcoming releases; for retail [or sell-through] customers, we�re offering a premium product that expands the entertainment experience of that particular property to further enhance ownership.�

Fox did note that rental retailers can purchase retail copies to sell, "but only in amounts that are consistent with the account�s sales history on similar titles."

Let's see how rental companies and consumers feel about this latest move.

Written by: Andre Yoskowitz @ 15 Mar 2009 13:43

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44 comments

gogochar

That won't deter pirating since the only thing one wants is the main movie itself. Also, this might actually promote rental sales (a good move for rental stores) for the above reason. Hopefully, they'll remove all advertising on the DVDs and up the quality a little bit since you have more room on the DVD now to put your movie on.

15.3.2009 13:55 #1

5fdpfan

This is bullcrap!

15.3.2009 14:00 #2

wrules

Originally posted by gogochar: That won't deter pirating since the only thing one wants is the main movie itself. Also, this might actually promote rental sales (a good move for rental stores) for the above reason. Hopefully, they'll remove all advertising on the DVDs and up the quality a little bit since you have more room on the DVD now to put your movie on.
I agree with you totally

15.3.2009 14:13 #3

wolf123

�We have developed product variations to feed different consumer consumption models and behaviors,� read a Fox statement. �For rental customers, [color=red]we�re delivering a theatrical experience in the home while promoting upcoming releases[/color]; for retail [or sell-through] customers, we�re offering a premium product that expands the entertainment experience of that particular property to further enhance ownership.�

DId you read the whole thing they are going too ad advertising.

Plus I heard they are adding it too the movie itself advertising.

Who cares in a few years they will phase regular DVD's out all together for BD am I right or am I right.

15.3.2009 14:31 #4

Mik3h

To be fair, who actually watches the special additional features? Unless your extremely bored or a hardcore fan you probably wouldn't.

15.3.2009 15:49 #5

ZippyDSM

Well with BR repalceing DVD bit by bit this is not to strange but with the add production costs I doubt they could do this with blu ray discs...

It would be funny if they did the only forced advertisement on rental copies.... I am sure rental places would start losing customers...

On a side note it would be interesting to have acouple dozen or so 1 minuet or less previews then make something that could randomly play 3 or 4 at the start of a disc or a moive(shippable of course).

15.3.2009 16:09 #6

RippDogg

Sounds like bare minimums with regard to the rentals. That's cool in some cases, but I like the bells and whistles on some of the new releases.
Addressing piracy is probably a factor but I think their focus is more about getting you to buy than rent. Also, if you think they're going to "up the quality" and remove advertising on the rental version, think again. The whole idea is to get you to buy, not offer a KIA alternative.

15.3.2009 16:28 #7

bobiroc

What do the plan to achieve from this besides rasing their own costs by having to manufacture different discs for sale and for rental. What about the customers that like to purchase previously viewed discs. If their goal is to detour alleged pirates of the movies they will be sorely mistaken. I would suspect that 80% of the people that rent or purchase a movie just care about the movie itself. I cannot think of the last time I watched the extras on any disc.

15.3.2009 16:56 #8

ZippyDSM

Originally posted by bobiroc: What do the plan to achieve from this besides rasing their own costs by having to manufacture different discs for sale and for rental. What about the customers that like to purchase previously viewed discs. If their goal is to detour alleged pirates of the movies they will be sorely mistaken. I would suspect that 80% of the people that rent or purchase a movie just care about the movie itself. I cannot think of the last time I watched the extras on any disc.True I mean all it will do is make the rental discs cheaper when they sell them off unless they make it part of the contract all of these rental only discs are to be destroyed and the rental industry wont like that.

Fallout 3 has stole my soul, for about 30 hours till the paint wore off.... even if its a action focused FPS RPG, at least its a FPS RPG not a under deved shooter like Bioshock!

15.3.2009 17:26 #9

EricCarr

This is a waste of money. They are going to * hurt their own pockets with this.

15.3.2009 18:08 #10

RippDogg

Language, dude.

15.3.2009 18:37 #11

Tecbot

every rental store ive ever been to ends up selling rental copies...so wonder how thats going to pan out.

I never really even watch the special features ive watched them on like 5 dvds out of the 2,000+ ive seen.

15.3.2009 19:06 #12

ZippyDSM

Originally posted by Tecbot: every rental store ive ever been to ends up selling rental copies...so wonder how thats going to pan out.

I never really even watch the special features ive watched them on like 5 dvds out of the 2,000+ ive seen.If the industry lowers the the cost of buying dvds then it will be a worth while trade off but frankly this plan is full of holes.

15.3.2009 19:11 #13

bomber991

Originally posted by Tecbot: every rental store ive ever been to ends up selling rental copies...so wonder how thats going to pan out.

I never really even watch the special features ive watched them on like 5 dvds out of the 2,000+ ive seen.This will just draw down the price of the DVD's with the special features on them. Like you said, you don't watch them, and like many others here have said too, they don't watch them. So that would make most people chose the featureless ones over the one's with features. Anyways, don't they pretty much already do this with all that "Super Special Edition" crap?

It'll be like buying a used Chevy Cobalt or Dodge Caliber. Those are rental car fleet cars, so when you want a used one you have a crapload to choose from that are all falling apart.

15.3.2009 21:28 #14

AXT

they should start selling two versions of the movie to customers. A more expensive "premium" version and a "movie only" version for a cheaper price. That way if you don't usually watch the extras then you could save yourself the money. They should definitely do that with blu-ray as well.

16.3.2009 09:43 #15

bobiroc

16.3.2009 10:14 #16

mithu_120

Quote:Originally posted by gogochar:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
That won't deter pirating since the only thing one wants is the main movie itself. Also, this might actually promote rental sales (a good move for rental stores) for the above reason. Hopefully, they'll remove all advertising on the DVDs and up the quality a little bit since you have more room on the DVD now to put your movie on.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I agree this would increase the video quality and you would not have to sit there and delete it yourself.

16.3.2009 11:06 #17

gallagher

In many cases, they will only encourage piracy. Yeah . . . let's punish the customers who actually fork up money every month as a subscription to watch our movies.

Now, if someone wants this and is too cheap to buy the movie . . . hello Mininova and Pirate Bay where someone who has bought the movie will post the extras since there will now be a demand for them.

Way to go industry. They were way behind on offering digital media, and now they think they know best for it.

16.3.2009 11:11 #18

LILBUCK

Why do you knucklebeaks think this is to prevent pirating? I think this is to increase sales by making a premium version only for sale. (which in my opinion will not work). I'm pretty sure 20th century fox realizes that pirate's only want to copy the movie not the extra's. I don't think I've ever watched extra's on a burned movie nor a real one.

16.3.2009 12:43 #19

pirkster

I see a lot of agenda and misguided opinion driving a lot of people to misunderstand the situation here.

What they're doing is putting value back into ownership of DVDs.

When you rent a movie, you're wanting to watch the film - that's it.

When you buy a movie, you want all the bells and whistles because you already know you have enjoyed the film and want to add it as part of your library. If you can access all the same content through rental as you can buying, then there's no benefit in owning.

They likely would have created different versions from the beginning, had it been cost effective. With today's technology, there is likely little (if any at all) setup cost involved between batch running the different versions. Tick a box or two on a GUI and voila... they are pressing the alternate version. Perhaps even simply selecting a different target source folder - which they do anyway between title runs.

I think it's great. It's exactly what I want as a consumer. If I'm renting - give me only the movie. That's all I'm concerned about. If I like it, I'm going to buy it and add it to my collection - and to top it off, going to get extras. I don't see the problem at all.

There is also obviously confusion over "advertising." What they're talking about is the "comming soon to home video" intro trailers, which will not be removed. Only the special features and expanded content. Some folks really do live in the land of black helicopters and fear the creatures under their beds. ;-)

It actually saves them money by not having to go back to retool and re-release special editions, director's cuts, etc. because they did not include those extras the first time around. Now that storage is available via DVD-9 and BluRay, they can release a light version for rental and a full blown version for retail simultaneously.

16.3.2009 12:53 #20

ZippyDSM

Originally posted by pirkster: I see a lot of agenda and misguided opinion driving a lot of people to misunderstand the situation here.

What they're doing is putting value back into ownership of DVDs.

When you rent a movie, you're wanting to watch the film - that's it.

When you buy a movie, you want all the bells and whistles because you already know you have enjoyed the film and want to add it as part of your library. If you can access all the same content through rental as you can buying, then there's no benefit in owning.

They likely would have created different versions from the beginning, had it been cost effective. With today's technology, there is likely little (if any at all) setup cost involved between batch running the different versions. Tick a box or two on a GUI and voila... they are pressing the alternate version. Perhaps even simply selecting a different target source folder - which they do anyway between title runs.

I think it's great. It's exactly what I want as a consumer. If I'm renting - give me only the movie. That's all I'm concerned about. If I like it, I'm going to buy it and add it to my collection - and to top it off, going to get extras. I don't see the problem at all.

There is also obviously confusion over "advertising." What they're talking about is the "comming soon to home video" intro trailers, which will not be removed. Only the special features and expanded content. Some folks really do live in the land of black helicopters and fear the creatures under their beds. ;-)

It actually saves them money by not having to go back to retool and re-release special editions, director's cuts, etc. because they did not include those extras the first time around. Now that storage is available via DVD-9 and BluRay, they can release a light version for rental and a full blown version for retail simultaneously.But most expanded content is already on a 2nd disc, the cost of pressing out a whole extra line of discs seems to contradict any cost saving measure. Not to mention when rental puts those discs up for sale they are going to sale at a loss to the rental store.

It seems to me they would save time/money by just releasing the normal "DVD" when it hits the theaters, then release a collectors/directors a few months later to re serge interest.

They could press out DVDs for rental and not do BR films but that would damage BR rentals and money gained, the only alternative is to replace normal DVD releases with the rental only ones but that hurts the rental stores more unless they offer them at a price that makes up their re sale of the discs later on.

16.3.2009 16:11 #21

scorpNZ

If anyone here actually rented movies that had a 2nd bonus feature disc you'd know it was never watched,all the rentals i've hired have had mint condition bonus dvd's ,can't say the same for the movie disk,so it makes perfect sense & more than likely was brought about by rental franchises asking for it to be done

16.3.2009 20:03 #22

DXR88

It will Never Happen and if it does Long live the Bay.

16.3.2009 21:08 #23

limelight

Oh no, now i have to make a decision, buy the movie with the extra features or rent the movie by itself WHICH IS THE WHOLE REASON WHY I WOULD PAY MONEY IN THE FIRST PLACE.

16.3.2009 22:13 #24

SProdigy

Originally posted by scorpNZ: If anyone here actually rented movies that had a 2nd bonus feature disc you'd know it was never watched,all the rentals i've hired have had mint condition bonus dvd's ,can't say the same for the movie disk,so it makes perfect sense & more than likely was brought about by rental franchises asking for it to be doneNo kidding fellas. I have all 6 Star Wars DVDs and I'm a hardcore fan... couldn't tell you if I've seen all of the special features of EACH movie or not... so what does that say for Slumdog Millionaire and countless other movies I may watch once in a blue moon?

Once again, I'm not stupid, nor are most consumers. If I really want to see a movie that badly, I'll hit the theater. If I miss the theater, there's a "hell or high water" chance of me paying FULL price to own what could turn out to be a stinker; special feature or not, I can wait 6 months to a year to get it for $5-10 cheaper than it's release date price.

17.3.2009 00:15 #25

ematrix

This "new move" to release "exclusive barebones rental editions", may be unusual within USA and may sound ridiculous, but this is old news for the past years, in other parts of the world like in Europe, Latin America, etc. where this is a common practice, and has worked well.

When rental editions of new titles are released months before than retail editions, it actually helps to boost rentals, specially when released a few months after their theatrical release, which is ideal for those that missed those movies in theaters, and gives a headstart to all movie rental stores.

While offering "exclusive special retail editions" adds value for those who liked the movie, and wish to adquire them specially when packed with extras, even unrated uncut extended versions of the film, that aren't present in the rental editions.

17.3.2009 01:01 #26

DXR88

I will not pay the full rental price for a water downed version of a movie, i watch the extra feature once in a blue moon.

you guys act like its a good thing, when its the same people that would put your 98 year old grandma in federal prison. nothing good can possibly come from this except more money for them.

17.3.2009 01:27 #27

SProdigy

Originally posted by ematrix: This "new move" to release "exclusive barebones rental editions", may be unusual within USA and may sound ridiculous, but this is old news for the past years, in other parts of the world like in Europe, Latin America, etc. where this is a common practice, and has worked well.

When rental editions of new titles are released months before than retail editions, it actually helps to boost rentals, specially when released a few months after their theatrical release, which is ideal for those that missed those movies in theaters, and gives a headstart to all movie rental stores.

While offering "exclusive special retail editions" adds value for those who liked the movie, and wish to adquire them specially when packed with extras, even unrated uncut extended versions of the film, that aren't present in the rental editions.Which is the way it worked with VHS... back when a handful of movies would last months in theaters and take years to travel to HBO and network television.

Flash forward to today, and Hollywood basically throws a bunch of crap at the wall and sees what sticks! They're trying to regain that profit margin they had with VHS, back when the rental chains were charged over $100 a copy, because they had "exclusive" access to the film as the retail street date was typically 4-6 weeks behind, as was the PPV window.

The studios have been losing money, obviously, because DVD copies are the same cost for rental and retail, AND street the same date. I think this is a crap way for them to extort money from the consumer and the businesses that uphold their model (Blockbuster, Best Buy, etc.) It's been collapsing for years and only a matter of time before it caves in entirely.

17.3.2009 10:35 #28

DVDdoug

Quote:Let's see how rental companies and consumers feel about this latest move. Right! I'd like to see Netflix response... I think Netflix wants to give the customer more, rather than less.

I do sometimes watch the special features. It's one of the things that sometimes makes the DVD better than the theater.

17.3.2009 14:19 #29

pirkster

Originally posted by DXR88: I will not pay the full rental price for a water downed version of a movie, i watch the extra feature once in a blue moon.

you guys act like its a good thing, when its the same people that would put your 98 year old grandma in federal prison. nothing good can possibly come from this except more money for them.I find it absolutely hilarious that you think it's a bad thing.

So, by your logic - perhaps you feel you should have gotten a portion of your "full" rental price back because you only watched the extras "once in a blue moon." Good luck with that.

Psst... it's THEIR property, not yours. You aren't entitled to it. They can market it any way they see fit. What they're doing is putting value back into ownership. Nothing wrong with that whatsoever, and it's really a good idea on their part. It separates their rental from their retail business, as they should. They are two separate customers with separate needs, thus *should* be marketed separately.

17.3.2009 14:26 #30

DXR88

Originally posted by pirkster: Psst... it's THEIR property, not yours. You aren't entitled to it. They can market it any way they see fit. What they're doing is putting value back into ownership. Nothing wrong with that whatsoever, and it's really a good idea on their part. It separates their rental from their retail business, as they should. They are two separate customers with separate needs, thus *should* be marketed separately.when *there product* is in my hands, i can do with it as i so well please to including not watching the extras.

there not two deferent markets. just one Movies except now they want to rent out half the product to you and expect full renters fee.

you have confirmed what was quoted more money in there pockets.

17.3.2009 15:03 #31

SProdigy

Originally posted by DXR88: there not two deferent markets. just one Movies except now they want to rent out half the product to you and expect full renters fee.

you have confirmed what was quoted more money in there pockets.The funny thing is, they (being the studios) probably think that excluding these extra features will prevent piracy through rental chains, ie. Netflix. What they can't get through their brain is:

1. Most of us don't care about the "extras" or "super ultimate mega fantastic unrated director's cut" edition of the movie.

2. Anything "extra" worth seeing will be pirated anyway... and for those who already paid to see the film, but don't want to purchase the movie, guess what they're going to do? (I also see the amount of YouTube protests going through the roof as well.)

17.3.2009 23:46 #32

ZippyDSM

Originally posted by SProdigy: Originally posted by DXR88: there not two deferent markets. just one Movies except now they want to rent out half the product to you and expect full renters fee.

you have confirmed what was quoted more money in there pockets.The funny thing is, they (being the studios) probably think that excluding these extra features will prevent piracy through rental chains, ie. Netflix. What they can't get through their brain is:

1. Most of us don't care about the "extras" or "super ultimate mega fantastic unrated director's cut" edition of the movie.

2. Anything "extra" worth seeing will be pirated anyway... and for those who already paid to see the film, but don't want to purchase the movie, guess what they're going to do? (I also see the amount of YouTube protests going through the roof as well.)I do like my movies "whole" though.....

Fallout 3 has stole my soul, for about 30 hours till the paint wore off.... even if its a action focused FPS RPG, at least its a FPS RPG not a under deved shooter like Bioshock!

17.3.2009 23:50 #33

ptb4649

For those of us (likely the vast majority)who curse the film companies for including utterly unnecessary so called extras, this is welcome (and its about d..n time) news. Most of us are "just the facts, ma'am" viewers. Even those who want all the added fluff (if they are honest) will admit they rarely if ever view them.

Paul.

18.3.2009 08:58 #34

champman

Originally posted by AXT: they should start selling two versions of the movie to customers. A more expensive "premium" version and a "movie only" version for a cheaper price. That way if you don't usually watch the extras then you could save yourself the money. They should definitely do that with blu-ray as well.In the UK we always get ripped off with pathetic extras. Very rarely, we get 'treated' with padded out versions but it takes many months after the US versions - how I wish I lived there. So I doubt less extras will affect the UK residents as much as it would the US who have everything to lose.

And I seriously doubt the rental charges will come down at all once rentals only DVDs are produced. It makes sense to charge us less if it costs less for them to buy them in the first place. Name and shame them here if they don't, but praise if they do.

On added value; I hope from now on when you do buy DVDs, it actually has a decent picture on the disc instead of a blank gray background with just the title printed on it. Come on, it doesn't take that much skill/effort to design one. At least blu-ray has excellent images on them.

21.3.2009 07:42 #35

ng6

I suppose they should be congratulated. No way am I going to start BUYING DVDs or Blu-rays under any circumstances, certainly I won't pay for BM ever, and now I won't have to feel like I have to watch all that BM. Out of sight, out of mind! When Slumdog comes out, all I will have to do is watch the movie! What a relief! Thanks, Fox!

21.3.2009 16:36 #36

fasttoon

I think it's a bad idea unless they allow all channels to sell all the variety. Give everyone a choice.

I stopped going to one video store because they only carried standard view and only added some wide screen versions in the last few years. The same with video stores that rented only the movie and didn't have the extra discs or made you pay another rental for each extra disc.

I rent movies on a regular basis, every so often it's the extra's that get me to rent it. Examples would be Static, Premonition, Sixth Sense and those types of movies as the extras usually have mini documentaries on the subject. And within the last few years I do a quick view of the extras menu to see whats on there and will usually watch the deleted scenes, bloopers, and any mini documentaries if the movie really got my attention.

I also buy movies that I like, some of them, without actually seeing them in other channels (ie. cable, rental, theatre, etc).

Here's where they could really make it shine, redo the auto insert to either jump straight to the main menu/play movie, and/or remove all the extra legal warnings in other languages, and or remove all the user prohibitive operations. Most DVDs today if you let it run will be up to 15 min before you can even start watching the beginning of the movie. If I remember I'll jump straight to the scene selection to start the movie which will save a few minutes of foreign language warnings and other studio propaganda.

Give people choices in their rental/buying channels and you'll sell more product.

22.3.2009 05:02 #37

champman

Originally posted by fasttoon: Here's where they could really make it shine, redo the auto insert to either jump straight to the main menu/play movie, and/or remove all the extra legal warnings in other languages, and or remove all the user prohibitive operations. Most DVDs today if you let it run will be up to 15 min before you can even start watching the beginning of the movie. If I remember I'll jump straight to the scene selection to start the movie which will save a few minutes of foreign language warnings and other studio propaganda.This is called Prohibit User Operations that cancels any key input so I agree with being able to bypass this with rentals. You know you can just fast-forward through the trailers if you can't skip them?

But I fear with the extra space, there'll be more adverts (Maltesers is common), trailers and half a dozen legal warnings. At least with blu-ray you don't get nagged as much and can jump straight to main menu on most movies I've played.

People who pay for rentals or buy them endure quite a bit of hassle on their enjoyment so this may drive some to torrent sites. Since they are getting rid of DRM on most music downloads now, why not do the same to rid every DVD of repetitive legal warnings and Prohibit User Operations?

22.3.2009 18:20 #38

DXR88

Most DVD players have a Skip to DVD Menu. to allow you to skip that nonsense anyway

22.3.2009 18:37 #39

shummyr

I Provide My Self With my Own Digital Copy
And Keep The Original Out Of Little Kids Hands in Our House
Any Way Heres what i do

Steps
1. Insert Dvd into Drive and wait for anydvd to scan it
2. Use Clonedvd2 from slysoft to take all menus features and warnings out
3. Now I Have A Copy Without DRM and User Prohibitive Operations
4. Handbrake
5. Real Copy and Digital Copy With out DRM or User Prohibitive Operations and No Warnings Just The Movie Only

Been Doing it that way for years no need to buy ultra spectacular special edition with digital copy now for 5 or 10 USD more

And I Am Completely Happy Not Having A Studio Do It For Me

22.3.2009 19:33 #40

vidserv

So people like me, a Netflix renter, will be treated as a 2nd class citizen. It sure won't inspire me to purchase a title. I consider most titles a waste of money to purchase, anyway. Wonder how Blockbuster customers will feel about this? Half the fun of a disc are the extras, but they aren't worth the extra dollars I would have to pay to see them.

23.3.2009 11:26 #41

shummyr

Originally posted by vidserv: So people like me, a Netflix renter, will be treated as a 2nd class citizen. It sure won't inspire me to purchase a title. I consider most titles a waste of money to purchase, anyway. Wonder how Blockbuster customers will feel about this? Half the fun of a disc are the extras, but they aren't worth the extra dollars I would have to pay to see them.Yea Thats What There Saying Is That Renters Will Be Second Class Citizens Compared To Those Who Buy The Ultra Super Duper Fancy Edtion

23.3.2009 20:48 #42

mackdl

I wonder if this is going to hurt them? We rent movies to make an informed decision on whether to buy or not. We know the studios marketing of putting out numerous editions ie. Special, Ultimate, Anniversary, etc.

Case in point.....we rented Slumdog Millionaire...went to watch the special features.....NOTHING. Oh well, I thought, we'll wait until the NEXT EDITION is released. It wasn't until I read a review in the paper that I realized the rental didn't have the special features it usually has. Ahhh, FOX, I remember reading something about this at AD! What if I hadn't read the review in the paper?

I personally want the best value for my money and I sure won't be buying something that I think has the movie only.

Google: Slumdog Millionaire and apparently Fox, with their decision has totally messed up this release. Both rentals and RETAIL STORE BOUGHT releases have the discs with no special features. WTG FOX!!!

2.4.2009 11:23 #43

bc_grl

I guess I must be one of the few people who like the extras and watch them because I am interested in that stuff - not because I am bored! But I also happen to buy alot of the previously viewed dvds because that is all I can really afford. So I think this is really to drive an even larger separation between the society ladders.

And I would much rather rent the movie than take a chance to purchase it only to find out it was a lousy movie anyways. And I would never ever go into a movie theatre because it is too friggin noisy and bothersome. When I watch a movie, I want to hear what is going on in the movie, not the person beside me giving his run down of the movie, or hear the other person on the cell phone. etc etc.

Nothing good will come out of this but to make the movie distributors more money.

23.5.2009 14:41 #44

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