Film Format Pandemonium
The current landscape of film formats and delivery suggests that libraries lending DVDs are in a very good place—for now, at least Nov 15, 2010Every day, Americans borrow 2.1 million DVDs from public libraries. Barely beating libraries out for the top spot is Netflix, at 2.2 million daily rentals. This is according to the OCLC 2010 survey “How Libraries Stack Up.” (Redbox vending-machine rentals lag behind at 1.1 million, while DVD rental chain Blockbuster is no longer in the running, having filed for bankruptcy protection in September.)
In today’s tentative economic climate, a more financially discerning public is opting to borrow rather than spend. With Netflix augmenting its streaming offerings—in October, the company announced plans to move from “mostly DVD to mostly streaming,” what many speculate is part of a long-term strategy to transition exclusively to streaming content—and with Redbox, too, soon adding subscription streaming to its services, the road appears paved for libraries to become the primary lender of DVDs to U.S. consumers.
But are DVDs going to remain relevant much longer? That depends on the direction of competing film formats and delivery methods as well as the elusive processes of DVD production and distribution.
DVDs R.I.P.?
Don’t believe the hype. In reading/listening to all the media coverage of the inimitable demise of DVDs, check the author of the obit. Marketers often try to dictate and influence the public by sending urgent messages to shift gears, but retail sales, library circulation, and usability statistics have yet to verify the imminence of such a shift, suggesting, to the contrary, that the future of streaming isn’t “now,” just yet. DVD sales have been in decline since 2007, but the market is stabilizing, and retail sales of Blu-ray disc players and HDTVs are rising.
Further attesting to the durability of the disc is that DVDs still have a lot going for them: they’re portable, easy to operate, enjoy broad use, and offer tried-and-true playability. They are also the perfect accumulative showcase for uncut editions, blooper reels, “making of” featurettes, deleted scenes, voiceover commentaries, alternative endings, and other “extras” that viewers have come to expect and that studios count on to resuscitate titles for second-life marketing. With streaming—at least, the nonenhanced, basic streaming experience currently available to the consumer market—dismembered à la cart add-ons simply wouldn’t be the same and certainly not nearly as appealing to historians and catalogers.
No need to panic
Netflix’s 2010 deal with Epix to stream first-run, studio-quality theatrical movies (see "The Netflix Edge," below) is groundbreaking inasmuch as it is the first time content is being made available for subscription streaming, bypassing cable, but it is a move based in the format’s anticipated potential, and just how “huge” that potential is remains to be seen.
To Netflix, DVDs represent major overhead, both in the physical space they consume and their astronomical annual shipping costs, so it behooves the firm to move quickly into the streaming arena. The rest of us have a little more time.
The likely scenario is that when the shift to digital delivery occurs, it will be gradual. Until then, we will continue to see a compartmentalized marketplace, one in which competing film formats are divvied up according to users’ preferred delivery methods, be it streaming to their TVs or laptops; downloaded to their smartphones or iPads for on-the-go viewing; or at home, slipped into their DVD/Blu-ray disc players or via premium cable subscriptions or video on demand (VOD).
There will, of course, be fluctuations in the marketplace, with sales of one format or platform dipping one quarter and rising back up the next—until the tides adjust to a more device-agnostic world and the media waters find a new equilibrium.
| The Netflix Edge
Historically, rights to distribute films have been presold to pay-TV networks for as many as nine years after their theatrical release, meaning that cable networks would hold films’ performance rights in exclusivity for what in all practicality might just be the entire “life” of a film in the collective pop culture memory. Netflix’s landmark deal with Epix gives it access to films under the Epix network venture umbrella—Viacom, Lionsgate Entertainment, MGM—while making them available for on-demand streaming just 90 days after the films’ premium pay TV and on-demand cable debuts. (While not affecting the DVD retail market, and thus libraries, which will still be privy to films first, the nine-year relative monopoly being cut to 90 days does pose a threat to cable TV.)Add to this Netflix’s agreement with Relativity Media, which allows it solitary rights to pictures whose distribution is controlled by the studio (roughly 13–15 major theatrical releases per year) 90 days after their DVD release, and this time (for these specific movies), cable networks get cut out entirely. This turns the tables, albeit fractionally, and gives Netflix something premium cable can't touch, perhaps marking, literally for Netflix's money, a continued shift in how major motion pictures are distributed. Still, the cable/digital/streaming landscape isn’t going to be remade instantly, nor will Netflix be the only player at the table. Earlier this year, HBO, which reels in 41 million subscribers vs. Netflix's 13-plus million, launched its own streaming service, HBO Go, and Redbox parent company Coinstar recently announced it will be entering the streaming business in 2011. |
Timing is everything
Whether DVD, Blu-ray, streaming, VOD, premium cable, or Etch a Sketch®, it all begins and ends with the studios. They make the rules and dictate the pace of the game. In order to understand better the impact of their decisions, how cable/pay TV fits into the equation, the life expectancy of DVDs, and the future of “home” entertainment, one needs to understand release schedules. Or, in other words, who gets what and when—and right now, DVDs still come first.
In 2009, theatrical releases generated $9.87 billion, DVDs retailed in excess of $8.7 billion, and pay TV accounted for $1.27 billion of sales; additionally, premium pay-TV deals brought more than $100 million per year to each of the major studios. The money tale thus dictates that, following a film’s theatrical release, it goes first to DVD, then to VOD, then to premium cable.
A film’s posttheatrical release window is typically about three months. While some studios have flirted with the notion of same-day theatrical DVD/VOD/streaming releases, there is just too much profit to be made by the studios (which count on this money to put out the latest and greatest technologically advanced movies each year) in keeping releases sequential, with each distribution medium making its piece, and often further paying percentages back to the studio at each rung.
Delayed releases
Exceptions to this three-month rule apply in the case of Oscar hopefuls—whose release dates studios might delay in order to capitalize on their popularity and hold out for inclusion of those magic words “Academy Award Winner” on the packaging—with independent films, or if release is delayed in the rare case that rights aren’t attainable or copyright was infringed upon, something occurring mostly with TV shows and with older release films whose rights are owned and can be held at will.
Fans of NYPD Blue, for example, have been waiting on Season 5 for four years now, and Chris Elliott’s 1990s cult hit, Get a Life, an episode sampler of which Rhino Home Video released on DVD in 2000 but is long since out of print, may never see the laser light of the DVD player again because of conflicts surrounding rights to the show’s theme song.
Sometimes, films are held back from release by their rights owners, too. Walt Disney Home Video cycles titles through periodic release patterns—Cinderella one year, Dumbo the next, but then neither may be available for another decade (or at least until a nicely rounded anniversary) to build collectivity and demand. In other cases, films are simply withheld with little or no explanation, like Orson Welles’s The Magnificent Ambersons, a 1942 classic owned by Ted Turner’s TMC that has yet to be released on DVD in the United States.
In still rarer cases, you might want to be careful what you wish for. MTV’s quirky 1990s sketch comedy The State was finally released on DVD last year in its entirety, but owing to numerous copyright conflicts, the discs had several occurrences of key soundtrack removal, music replacement, and well-after-the-fact overdubbing that left many fans of the cutting-edge comedy staring at the cutting-room floor.
Assuming the production process proceeds normally, all effort is made to get the film out ASAP—while there is still anticipation—and a DVD release can draft the theatrical release’s advertising campaign: ideally, within three months of the cinematic run.
Rental readies
In an effort to speed things up and narrow the gap between cinematic run and DVD release, many studios are now releasing “rental ready” copies of films. Rental readies are basically DVD versions of films that are rushed to the presses for early release and so don’t contain any extras. Essentially, you pay more for less, all for the privilege of getting it quicker. (Common among “special features” is the widescreen format, so in many “rental ready” cases, the edition’s aspect ratio may be “formatted to fit your screen,” i.e., chopped.)
Rental readies are advertised to appeal to rental companies and libraries with early release being the attraction. Many titles are going to be originally released in this bare-bones format, with enhanced editions coming out later in the hopes that you’ll buy both versions.
Release date resources
Beyond posttheatrical release DVDs, when considering the very circumstantial, relative, and particularly unregulated DVD release process, it can be difficult, then, to find out exactly when an anticipated feature film or program will be available for purchase by your library.
Amazon can be marginally helpful, though it will often include a title that has been out of production for years and is not scheduled for rerelease. Baker & Taylor (B&T) is preferable, as it only includes titles that are set for release, informs of incidences of production “moratorium,” and will give you a street date (down to the day) for titles already scheduled, though the search functionality can be tricky.
Another DVD wholesaler that fits the bill is Midwest Tape, whose monthly print catalog of new releases and searchable online database are both valuable tools. Additionally, Midwest Tape provides useful supplemental info like box-office sales figures.
Two go-to websites for early release-date information are VideoETA and Box Office Mojo. The former often announces production dates well ahead of even some major retail sites, and the latter includes a very comprehensive DVD release schedule incorporating titles from studios of all sizes as well as a feature film cinematic release calendar. Other useful resources for tracking down release dates include the Internet Movie Database and Ain’t It Cool News.
Technology is moving fast. Our delicately organized, Jenga–like balanced motion picture economy, however, is not. Where money in hard times is concerned—be you developing studio, title distributor, or front-end consumer—the preference is minimal risk, with a mind toward sustainability. Consistent (and rising) DVD circulation stats reflect this fiscal conservatism, and certain intrinsic factors—namely, a financially confident consumer encouraged by an accessible, durable, and consistently performing premium product—just aren’t in place yet.
The big picture
We are still very much in a transitional period, trying different formats and delivery methods on for size. Many distributors have only just begun transferring titles to Blu-ray disc, fewer have expanded to streaming. Change will come, but only when the economy and technological environment (namely, an improved standard for broadband) are ready to support it. For now, librarians are encouraged to improve for patrons the quality and breadth of their DVD collections while also notionally embracing the inevitable format evolution, however long it takes.
|
Singular DVD Selection Building a well-rounded DVD collection that caters to patrons'; evolving interests, curiosities, and tastes takes a considerate and adventurous selector. Mainstream movies will feed you for a day, but viewers can't live on fast food alone. Just as actors and directors often veer left of center to expand their craft or crack typecasts, librarians help patrons move past homogeneity and find titles that speak to their distinct preferences. Beyond the usual suspects (e.g., MGM, Sony, Fox, Paramount, Columbia, Warner), below is a sampling of 15 producers/distributors of edifying DVD fare to help you tailor your collection to your community’s unique needs. All offer public performance rights (some, also streaming rights) for select titles. Of course, the list is hardly complete—other noteworthies include A&E/History, BayView Entertainment, Docurama, IndiePix, Kultur, and MPI Home Media, to name just a few. Acorn Media Group Bullfrog Films Cinema Guild Facets Multi-Media Fanlight Productions First Run Features Image Entertainment Kino Lorber Edu Magnolia Pictures New Yorker Films Palisades Tartan PBS Video Shout! Factory Women Make Movies Zeitgeist |
| Author Information |
| Benjamin Malczewski, MLIS, reviews film books for LJ. He is Adult Services Librarian at Ypsilanti District Library, MI, where he oversees DVD collection development. |
