One of my favorite contributions to H-E has been the Most Wanted on DVD and Blu-ray listings found on every page of the site. It's a blessing and a curse to update, thanks to the explosion of studio Manufacture On-Demand programs. The most prominent, of course, is the 550-title-strong Warner Archive, which has its own subsection on WB's WBShop site. MGM and Universal "Vault" titles are found exclusively on Amazon. If you're a regular reader and notice something has come out that I've missed removing, please email me at the link in the Most Wanted box.
I'll be honest, though, there are monolith-like roadblocks out there that need to come down before buyers will get on-board in a big way.
It's lovely that many more titles than ever before can now be obtained, but I'll be damned if it's easy to know they're out there. Outside obsessively checking multiple sites for specific titles you have in mind, your long-awaited favorite could have been out for a year and you wouldn't know. How it's so hard to send out a simple press release listing titles and release dates is beyond me. It takes nearly as much time and effort just to unearth the week's MOD releases as it does to write my entire Disc Roundup column each week. As a result, I generally skip covering them or mentioning that they've just come out. Week of release is the golden opportunity for awareness, and I wish it were easier to bring this stuff up.
Don't get me wrong, I love that these programs exist, but isn't something fundamentally wrong when it's impossible for your target audience to know your product exists? On top of that, the pricing plateaus they've stuck with a full year after opening Warner Archive are helping further drive down demand. $20-$25 is way too much for a movie-only release, remastered or not. MGM and Universal stick to the same price scheme. Occasional "20-30% off" sales don't match what I'm talking about needing here.
Why can't I buy 5 for $50 and "Make My Own Box Set"? I understand that things like Gross Profit Margins affect these things, but I can't imagine them moving much product what so ever at present. I try to recommend sets I really, really like to pals, like the Dogville Shorts Collection, or the Our Gang set. For some reason, it's easier to convince friends to shell out for a $30-$40 Criterion Blu-Ray than a $40 collection of unremastered, SD novelty shorts.
Now at $20, I could guarantee you about 20 sales on the spot, if not more. The studios are afraid that they're going to make less money at lower prices than they'll continue to at the current prices and existing (I'm assuming) pitiful volume. Hollywood is a risk-averse culture, especially when it comes to home video or technology precedent. This is why true On-Demand TV options scare the shit out of cable networks and operators...but that's another rant for another day.
Warner Archive just today announced three releases that required significant remastering work. As a result, they will come at a higher price tag. They're available at a "reduced price" pre-order rate of $19.95 (as opposed to $24.95 normally). They include: Five Star Final, Two On a Guillotine, and Verboten. They are, respectively: Edward G. Robinson as a tabloid journo solving a murder; a William Conrad-directed, whacked out house of horror cult classic; and finally, a 1959 Sam Fuller drama set in post-WWII Germany, where an American GI falls for a native frau. I would buy all three for $30 right here, right now, but $60? You've got to be kidding me!
The MOD programs are important, and I want them to succeed. I just wish they were easier to not only advocate, but to support with my own money.
I love that this month, I can finally get Robert Altman's Brewster McCloud. I'm glad that I now own the MacLaine/Caine-starring Gambit. And god damn it all, I'm ordering Saint Joan on Friday, glaring aspect ratio issue be damned. The next time I have a bit too much to drink and $20 to blow, I'll probably become the owner of The Last Remake of Beau Geste or Mammy (or, let's face it, both).
I'd love to see these programs integrate some sort of "Demand It" feature, where you could mount your own campaign for some little obscurity whether you're in New York, New York or Missoula, Montana. They could gauge direct interest and even let people put their money where their mouth is. "You want Title X? If we can get Y people to pre-order it at Z price, then it will happen!" They could also leverage this system to make sure that the Monks of St. Aspect Ratio are happy with the picture matte job in advance of releasing something that the taste-makers in the critical community will reject. Engage that populist consumerism and you've got another (free) layer of Quality Assurance and a gold mine of viral publicity, right?
I've been thinking most of the above for a while, but I wanted to give the MOD world time to get settled before I started rocking the boat.