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Maybe it's just been bad luck or a dry patch, but lately it seems like a lot more of the movies I like come out on DVDs that I just don't feel the desire to buy. Either they're significantly more expensive, almost totally lacking in bonus features, or both. Perhaps it's an industry plot to get people to give up on DVDs and finish migrating to BluRay so we can re-buy all our collections.
Now, the higher cost may just be chalked up to things like RedBox and NetFlix...stores have decided that the impulse buyer who used to be lured by $13 week-of-release pricing no longer even buys DVDs, most just rent. So sales are now targeted at the people who really want to own, and they may have figured that $20 was what that market would bear.
Thing is, if it's a movie I just saw a few months ago, I don't really want to just watch it again. Not in full, anyway, although there's often a couple scenes I want to rewatch either because they're really good or because I think I missed something the first time (i.e. slo-mo a fight scene to figure out what actually happened). What I buy DVDs for is content I haven't seen yet, which in the case of movies I saw in the theater means deleted/extended scenes and new-for-the-DVD story content. Featurettes involving interviews and making-of stuff rarely interest me, though.
It used to be that just about every movie I wanted to buy in DVD had at least some of this content, even if you had to buy a Special Edition 2-disc set to get it. But lately there's been a serious dry spell. Sherlock Holmes only has a single featurette (and it looks like even buying the BluRay only gets you serious bonus content with some sort of online hookup or something), and I KNOW there were deleted scenes in that movie (one ended up in a TV ad). Fantastic Mr. Fox likewise just has a single featurette. Astro Boy does promise some new scenes, but the opening week price of $20 was a bit more than my interest level would warrant. District 9 had a few more extras, but doesn't seem to have the one that would really interest me: the original short. And so forth. My list of "wait for it to hit the cheap shelf by the checkout" DVDs is getting longer every week. Most of what I actually buy now consists of TV series sets (mainly of shows like Iron Man Armored Adventures that don't show on my cable plan, or of shows old enough I've forgotten them like Bakshi's Mighty Mouse) or direct-to-DVD things like the DC animated movies or Shaun the Sheep. Mind you, I've been getting enough of those lately that my To Be Watched stack is still thicker than I'd like. :)
It's like they've decided that the difference in sales between stripped down DVDs and fully-featured DVDs isn't enough to warrant putting in anything beyond a perfunctory interview featurette (which may itself be recycled from promo footage shot for web content). Disney DVDs are still good in terms of extras, although a lot of that content is geared towards using the DVD as a babysitter (still, plenty of deleted scenes/animatics on Princess and the Frog).
Anyone else noticing this, or have Industry Source Information confirming or refuting my suspicions?
Now, the higher cost may just be chalked up to things like RedBox and NetFlix...stores have decided that the impulse buyer who used to be lured by $13 week-of-release pricing no longer even buys DVDs, most just rent. So sales are now targeted at the people who really want to own, and they may have figured that $20 was what that market would bear.
Thing is, if it's a movie I just saw a few months ago, I don't really want to just watch it again. Not in full, anyway, although there's often a couple scenes I want to rewatch either because they're really good or because I think I missed something the first time (i.e. slo-mo a fight scene to figure out what actually happened). What I buy DVDs for is content I haven't seen yet, which in the case of movies I saw in the theater means deleted/extended scenes and new-for-the-DVD story content. Featurettes involving interviews and making-of stuff rarely interest me, though.
It used to be that just about every movie I wanted to buy in DVD had at least some of this content, even if you had to buy a Special Edition 2-disc set to get it. But lately there's been a serious dry spell. Sherlock Holmes only has a single featurette (and it looks like even buying the BluRay only gets you serious bonus content with some sort of online hookup or something), and I KNOW there were deleted scenes in that movie (one ended up in a TV ad). Fantastic Mr. Fox likewise just has a single featurette. Astro Boy does promise some new scenes, but the opening week price of $20 was a bit more than my interest level would warrant. District 9 had a few more extras, but doesn't seem to have the one that would really interest me: the original short. And so forth. My list of "wait for it to hit the cheap shelf by the checkout" DVDs is getting longer every week. Most of what I actually buy now consists of TV series sets (mainly of shows like Iron Man Armored Adventures that don't show on my cable plan, or of shows old enough I've forgotten them like Bakshi's Mighty Mouse) or direct-to-DVD things like the DC animated movies or Shaun the Sheep. Mind you, I've been getting enough of those lately that my To Be Watched stack is still thicker than I'd like. :)
It's like they've decided that the difference in sales between stripped down DVDs and fully-featured DVDs isn't enough to warrant putting in anything beyond a perfunctory interview featurette (which may itself be recycled from promo footage shot for web content). Disney DVDs are still good in terms of extras, although a lot of that content is geared towards using the DVD as a babysitter (still, plenty of deleted scenes/animatics on Princess and the Frog).
Anyone else noticing this, or have Industry Source Information confirming or refuting my suspicions?