Are DVD Consumers Getting Weary of "Double Dipping?"
Have you ever bought a DVD, only to have a new "deluxe edition" crammed with extras appear only months later? According to an article in the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, this practice, known in the industry as "double dipping," has become a mainstay of the DVD biz.
Now granted, replacing some of the more spartan discs from the early days of DVD is one thing, but lately, the studios have been pushing the envelope, as the article points out:
But increasingly, for new movies, the period is just a few months -- and with no advance word that a re-release is planned when the first version comes out. It's not just today's three releases from Fox, whose representatives declined to comment when asked. For example, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment put out the "Underworld" DVD on Jan. 6, 2004, not announcing until after its release that a two-disc special edition was coming just a few months later, on May 25. Warner Home Video did the same with the Halle Barry thriller "Gothika," out on March 23, 2004, and again on Oct. 12.
Talk about disappointing your customers -- eventually, they're going to figure out the game. In the meantime, here's what some of the studios are doing to minimize the inevitable backlash:
But there are right ways for the DVD companies to do such quick-turnaround re-releases while keeping consumers in mind.
When New Line Home Entertainment announced the DVDs of "The Lord of the Rings" movies, it noted at the same time that special extended editions would be coming later in their respective release years. Before Sony released the first DVDs of "Hellboy" and "The Grudge," the makers of each film had already been widely quoted online and in articles that souped-up versions would be coming soon afterward.
Philosophically, we agree with giving the customer what they want when they want it. That's why approaches like New Line's (or 2929 Entertainment's recent day and date release of 'Enron', for that matter) will supplant practices that aren't customer-centric.
[Via the Star-Tribune]
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Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, one of the best movies I saw last year, did that exact thing. The 1 disc widescreen edition was released in September, and the 2-disc special edition was released in January.
There are not many DVD releases that could fill the extra DVD out.