Some time back, there were articles online and in newspapers that Blockbuster edited the films it markets, or has them edited by a third party.
So, I went to Blockbusteronline.com and asked point blank if this were true. The reply (emphasis added):
No, BLOCKBUSTER does not edit the content of its films. We offer all movies for sale exactly as we receive them from the studios.
Is this true?
It’s possible that they request that the studios edit movies, though (although I’m not saying they do this). The question is whether the movies are shown as intended by the director.
The explanation is very simple.
Blockbuster refuses to carry NC-17 movies.
Blockbuster is the country’s biggest video chain.
To get your NC-17 movie in Blockbuster you have to edit it down to an R.
Never look for a conspiracy when it’s easier to follow the money.
Thanks, all.
Weasle reply. They don’t edit the movies themselves, but (like Wal*Mart) they set the policy which results in bowdlerized movies on their shelves.
The last time I was in Blockbuster, I rented Ken Russell’s Whore, eviscerated and retitled as If You Can’t Say It, Just See It. After that, I always took care to travel the extra distance to go to a proper video store. Otherwise, why not wait for the movie to show up on American free-to-air television? Bleh.
Note that they also say that** “We offer all movies for sale exactly as we receive them from the studios.”** If you read that as I do, it might mean that the rental movies could be altered, just not the movies offered for sale and shrink-wrapped by the studio.
StG
Yeah, but you’d be reading it wrong.
I was a manager of Blockbuster for 7 years, and I can vouch thaat the rental tapes are the same as the sale tapes, and come in factory sealed boxes until your slaves open them at the store (97% of the time - occasionally they’d come “prepped”, but hardly ever.)
**Justin_Bailey **has it right.
Wasn’t there a third-party company that sold edited movies? IIRC, the Hollywood big shots forced them out of business.
YDNRC, I’m sad to say.
I remember back when Hellraiser came out. I saw it in the movie theatre. A year later I rented it to watch with a friend. We rented the video from Blockbuster. There were a few scenes in the movie that I was waiting for to see again and somehow, magically, they never appeared. I don’t remember what exactly the two scenes were but I think they were particularly gory. I thought I had completely imagined those parts.
Years later I saw the movie again, this time I think it was on cable, and those scenes were there again. I realized I hadn’t imagined the editing. It would be many more years before the news that Blockbuster rented edited films came to light, and the discrepancy between what I had seen in the movie theatre and on video made sense.
I don’t know about DVDs, but I’m sure they rent edited versions of those too and not just the NC-17 movies. In fact one time my friend and I were in a Blockbuster, buying a new DVD, and we almost made it to the register before I noticed on the box that it said something like “edited version” (I think it was Requiem For A Dream). Obviously that isn’t a movie for kids, but we wanted the movie we saw in the theatre and not some sanitized, family-friendly version.
Now there’s that whole “unrated version” marketing trend and I bet Blockbuster doesn’t even sell those. Then again I haven’t been inside a Blockbuster for years.
Blockbuster massively and majorly requires changes in the contents of films. Frex, the version of “Romance” you will find at Blockbuster is massively different from the version you saw at the theater. Ditto, several other major releases with strong sexual content.
And it’s a lie that Blockbuster requires editing films down to an R from an NC17. In point of fact, Blockbuster frequently requires editing down of softcore movies that show on cable TV as R films. Frex, there’s a softcore title called “Hotel Erotica” that features a scene of two lesbians having sex in a kitchen. I noticed it when it aired on cable because it had a very nice jazz tune in the background and because some of the lesbian sex was notably silly – like the scene where the two of them are kneeling on their hands and kees, facing away from one another, bumping their butts against each other rhythmically. For some reason, they cut that from the Blockbuster version.
There’s a very nice consensual bondage scene between a sheriff and his wife – they do predictable things with handcuffs – that was completely cut from the Blockbuster version.
Oh, it’s a long list, it’s hard to say how long because the only way to know for sure what’s been cut is to watch R movies on both cable and rent them from Blockbuster, and who wants to suffer like that twice (I did it mostly for some online reviews I was writing). But Blockbuster definitely requires cuts in movies that have already fetched an R rating.
Totally irrelevant but I was like, 12 when I first saw that and even I thought that was stupid. But that thought didn’t last long. BOOBIES!
A bit of a hijack, but does this principle have a name, like (Someone)'s Razor?
I’d call it “The Deepthroat Principle”. Deepthroat says “Follow the money.” in “All the President’s Men.”
No, you’re wrong. If it was made for cable or television, it’s not rated by the MPAA, and recieved no R rating. Unrated movies are viewed by a department of Blockbuster who does their best to determine IF the movie would LIKELY have recieved and R rating, and if it determines it would, it is puchased as is and is not touched. If they determine it would recieve an NC-17 (or no rating at all, like “X”), they will not purchase it.
Again, it’s the **studio **that prostitutes itself to the market - studios know that the largest rental chain in the nation won’t carry their product, so they butcher it themselves to make more money. THe studio offers video stores (all video stores, not just Blockbuster) the option of a “Rated” and “Unrated” version. But Blockbuster does not and has never contained an editing department!
I’m no fan of edited movies, either. But to keep insisting that Blockbuster edits movies is ridiculous and ignorant. Put your blame at the true source: the studio distribution system which values sales over art.
He means “Ockham’s” Razor.
Talk about silly editing… some years ago, I rented “Bird On A Wire” from a different video place, saw it in it’s entirity, and liked it enough that I wanted to buy it. The next time I went in Blockbuster, there it was (VHS) in their pre-viewed video bin. I paid my $5.00 (or whatever they cost then) ans brought it home.
Imagine my surprise when , upon viewing, every “goddamn” was edited out. You’d still see Mel mouthing “God” , but only “damn” was coming out. It’s npot like it was any big deal to me one way or the other, I just found it… odd.
They don’t show NC17 and R rated movies on Cinemax. They’re always labelled “R”. And don’t try to shift the blame to the studios. They wouldn’t bother if Blockbuster hadn’t knuckled under to Wildmon and his crew and forced them to.
The blame is irrelevant. The fact is that the answer given to the OP was factually correct: Blockbuster does not and never has edited movies.
I just followed Larry Mudd’s link, and saw that they boasted of removing, among other things, all sexual content.
Which is in addition to all nudity, graphic violence, and profanity. I can just imagine what they’ll be doing to Romeo & Juliet.
Or, for that matter, they’re offering Doom on their coming soon window. I expect they’re going to leave you with a fifteen minute movie, then.