I have heard through the grapevine that Blockbuster edits the movies it rents out. I’m not sure if this would even be legal. Perhaps they put pressure on the production companies to edit the movies. What is the straightdope on this?
They don’t edit them themselves, they ask the studios to do it for them. The studios are more than happy to comply, since they’d rather not miss out on the largest rental chain carrying their movies.
How often do they do this though? Of all the movies I’ve rented at Blockbuster I don’t think I’ve seen a movie that looks like it’s had something taken out. Plus, ever since I’ve been a member there they’ve had unrated movies so what’s the point? Are there any examples of movies that have been edited, and what was taken out?
They neither edit films, nor do they explicitly ask the studios to edit films. In the past, Blockbuster Corporate was very concerned about maintaining an image as a family-friendly store, and refused to carry some titles, including NC-17 and movies that were unrated. In response, some studios voluntarily released edited and rated versions that Blockbuster agreed to carry. In time, the studios realized that it was in their best interest to release both unrated as well as rated versions if they wanted their movies to be carried by Blockbuster. An issue of semantics, I realize, but an important distinction.
I worked for Blockbuster both corporate and franchise locations for 5 years in the late 90’s/early2000’s and during this time, to my knowledge Blockbuster no longer carried these edited versions, and carried the full unrated versions. Many stores also started carrying more risque and violent titles during this period of time as well, labeled as YRV, or youth-restricted viewing. The practices of carrying studio-edited alternate versions of films haven’t been in use for quite some time, at least in any of the 20+ locations I worked in during this time.
Ms. Magazine quite a while back had some discussion of blockbuster’s editing. They rented movies from there and some other places and there were scenes altered. I don’t know if that is still the case.
What **XJETGIRLX **said. I don’t think this is even an issue anymore since they switched to DVD. Studios used to offer rated and unrated versions of some films so that Blockbuster and other family-friendly stores like Wal-Mart and some small mom and pops or smaller chains in conservative areas would carry them. Blockbuster was often muttered about within the industry for “forcing” the studios to offer rated versions, but those versions were available for any store to purchase, and lots of non-Blockbuster stores carried them as well. The “force” was never a matter of mandate, just purchasing power. If you sell movies, you want to biggest chain in the industry to buy them. If they won’t, you offer them something they will buy. Simple business.
Blockbuster did indeed have a No X, NC-17 or movies without MPAA ratings that Blockbuster’s ratings board determines likely would have received an NC-17 rating had it been submitted to the MPAA - like some independent, made for TV or foreign films policy. Their purchasing decisions weren’t limited to rating, either. Once upon a time, they wouldn’t carry The Last Temptation of Christ, which was rated R. It wasn’t always about the rating, it was about the “family friendly” image and keeping scandal out of the store. This got more and more lax in the years I worked there.
I stopped working there in 2000, and we were already seeing a lot less rated and a lot more unrated titles coming in on VHS. The rated (that is, different from the theatrical release in content) versions were always clearly labeled on the rental insert in three different places (front, back and spine). It would say the name of the movie and the word RATED in the same size and font as the title, like this:
FIRESTORM, THE - RATED
It was also listed in the computer that way, entered as part of the title itself. The idea (which inevitably comes up in threads that ask this question) that Blockbuster surreptitiously edits movies without telling anyone is just plain wrong.
How would you know? Every movie contains thousands of edits – every scene change is one, all sound effects are. What did you expect, knife marks on the DVD?
Maybe he expected it to be like TV.
“Hey, forget you, mother-lover.”
Badly dubbed.
I have Blockbuster Online. I just finished watching “Spun”, and it was most definitely edited. (Pixelation of private parts.)
Does it say it was edited anyplace on the cover?
Well, I would assume that they would be editing scenes that contain sex or violence. And that I might notice that a scene I remember from HBO or the theatrical version isn’t there.
Actually, the studio’s couldn’t really give a shiite, because they make far more selling DVD’s to consumers than they do to BB video.
Hell, there was even a fight between BB and Wal-Mart back in the 1990’s about DVD pricing. WM wanted them “priced to buy”, i.e., around $20, and BB wanted them “priced to rent”, i.e., around $100. Studios didn’t care what BB wanted then, they sure don’t care now.
Anyway, if they care so much about edited movies, why all the “unrated” stuff like for Jackass and American Pie?
IMDB lists the rating for Spun as follows:
Certification: Hungary:18 / Iceland:16 / Argentina:16 / Australia:R / Canada:18A (edited version) / Canada:R / Denmark:15 / Finland:K-18 / France:-16 / Germany:16 / Ireland:(Banned) (original rating) / Ireland:18 (re-rating on appeal) / Italy:VM18 / Japan:R-18 / New Zealand:R18 / Norway:18 / Portugal:M/16 / Sweden:15 / UK:18 / USA:Open (rating surrendered: 2002) / USA:R (original rating) (cut) / USA:R (video rating) / USA:Unrated (theatrical release) (uncut)
bolding mine.
Again, what you have here is a studio deciding to edit its own movie for a rental release. I was unaware that they were STILL doing this, but I get it goes to show that Blockbuster really has nothing to do with it. As Blockbuster will now purchase unrated films, the studio’s decision to offer a rated one on DVD means they’re being swayed by some other store’s purchasing power - probably Wal-Mart.
In short, the studio thinks they can sell more copies of their movie by offering a rated R version.
Blockbuster Online offers both versions of Spun. (follow the link and click “All Editions” tab in the description - I can’t link directly.) In fact, when I search for Spun off the main page, the UNRATED one comes up. Only by clicking on “All Editions” does it show me that I can choose the rated R version. Did you click on that and choose the wrong one? Possibly. Did you click on unrated and they sent you the wrong one? Possibly. But they offer and promote the unrated one, sure enough.
I didn’t think to look for a different version of “Spun” when I added it to my queue. I’d didn’t really have a problem with the pixelation–I just found it rather amusing, considering the stuff that **wasn’t ** edited. I have other issues with Blockbuster Online that don’t belong in this thread…