How do you find out when a movie is going to be released on video? (Other than calling your local video store and asking them.) Is there a good website for this?
Also http://www.videoeta.com.
Good rules of thumb:
Generally 6-8 months after it premered in the theaters, longer for popular moneymakers, shorter for the duds. (Extreme cases can fall way out of this range, I’ve seen some stinkers come out on video 4 months after premere)
Films that get a second run in the theater (often the studio will do this if the film wins major awards) get the six month clock reset to the date of the re-release.
Holiday themed films usually ignore the six month rule, and will instead hit the video shelves the next time that particular holiday season rolls around (unless the studio thinks they can come up with some sort of “Christmas in July” promotion)
For VHS, there’s the dual track pricing scheme refered to as “Priced to Rent”/“Priced to Own”. Unless a studio is absoutely sure they can make a truckload of money on consumer sales, they won’t put it out “Priced to Own” untill around 3 months after it’s been out “Priced to Rent” (where it’s priced so high only rental places want to buy copies). However, rental places have deals with their distributor that let them start selling off used rental tapes about a month to a month and a half after a title’s hit the rental shelves.
I remember seeing ads in the trade pubs for “Deuces Wild” about 2 weeks after it was released in theaters. Then again, it had sat on the shelf for over a year before release…
hrh
Are there any numbers on the longest it took to release a successful film to video? For some reason I seem to recall Jurassic Park being out of theaters a LONG time before it hit video. Or maybe it was just playing in bargain theaters of which my area had none at the time?
I’m guessing Disney is a chief offender at this, what with their oppressive release-and-lock-away schemes for their animated films.
I use this site to get information on when DVDs and videos are being released.
http://moviescene.myvideostore.com/content/new/video_month.html?client=moviescene&month=2&year=2003 They’ve only been off on two occasions- both movies were delayed at the last minute- and I like the view by month modes even more than the standard search feature.
There were articles out a few months after JP hit theaters claiming that the studio purposely waiting a year to release it on video for some whimisical reason of Spielberg’s. AFAIR they did wait an entire year, despite criticism about the miss of the Christmas sales season.