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Swabbleflange posted:I was so obsessed with Aliens as a kid that all I wanted for Christmas the year it came out was the rental VHS tape, at a bargain price of £88. My mum basically had to refuse it to me in place of my own common sense. The funny thing is, I rented it so much the fees probably approached that price anyway. I was too, but I had a copy of the tape. Speaking of which, I wonder if video piracy would be as big as it is if the studios didn't charge near $100 bucks for rental copies of video tapes in those early, forcing most people to just rent and dub a copy if they wanted to keep it.
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Feb 1, 2015 03:16
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"I say to you that the VCR is to the American film producer and the American public as the Boston strangler is to the woman home alone." - Jack Valenti, President of the MPAA 1966 - 2004.
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Feb 1, 2015 03:31
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Mister Chief posted:"I say to you that the VCR is to the American film producer and the American public as the Boston strangler is to the woman home alone." - Jack Valenti, President of the MPAA 1966 - 2004. Haha, "the American public" being like the Boston Strangler's victims, really? More like "the American public with VCRs" being more like serial killers in this analogy.
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Feb 1, 2015 03:59
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Erebus posted:
Partly because of consumers mass-copying those early movies in the 80's and selling or trading them to other people like crazy. It scared the crap out of the studios to lower their prices.
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Feb 1, 2015 04:42
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On the opposite end of the spectrum, Fred "Mister" Rogers was responsible for Congress letting people tape TV shows by saying he was for it because he wanted parents to be able to record shows so they could watch them with their kids.
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Feb 1, 2015 05:11
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Mister Chief posted:"I say to you that the VCR is to the American film producer and the American public as the Boston strangler is to the woman home alone." - Jack Valenti, President of the MPAA 1966 - 2004. And let me tell you about another thing ruining movies! 
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Feb 1, 2015 05:32
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Erebus posted:And let me tell you about another thing ruining movies! Will racism against robots ever end? In-universe Jurassic World posters announcing the new hybrid dinosaur.   
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Feb 1, 2015 06:16
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Skwirl posted:Blockbuster being idiots is what killed Blockbuster. The creators of both Netflix and Redbox approached Blockbuster first with their ideas before going out and creating their own companies.
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Feb 1, 2015 06:31
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I still find it funny how there's still two Hollywood Videos open, sort of gone rogue after the chain was shut down.Wikipedia posted:As of late 2013, two Hollywood Video locations remain open in the US. In Jackson, Mississippi one store reopened in half of a former Hollywood Video under the same name and logo. The other half of the store became a coin laundry under the banner Hollywood Coin Laundry. In Cedar City, Utah, a Hollywood Video accompanied with GameCrazy opened in a retail strip center both operating under the same name and logo as the former chain.
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Feb 1, 2015 06:46
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The Blockbuster that used to be a couple blocks away from my house was still open until like mid-2014, long after all the others had shuttered. I always thought that was hilarious. They had a going out of business sale that I could've sworn lasted for a couple months. I thought for a while that that place would never die because it was still holding on a while after all the other Blockbusters had gone extinct.
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Feb 1, 2015 06:49
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FlamingLiberal posted:I know that's the case about Redbox, but I don't think Netflix tried to sell itself to Blockbuster for a pittance like Redbox did. Blockbuster's execs promptly laughed them out of the room. Holy poo poo, you got any more news on that? It seems like it would be the easiest route for Blockbuster to take in the post-streaming era and being offered on a silver platter and being thrown out of the office is like some goddamn joke on Blockbuster's management. Echo Chamber posted:I still find it funny how there's still two Hollywood Videos open, sort of gone rogue after the chain was shut down. I wonder if they operate like Movie Trading Company and do rentals, trading and resales. I know Family Video still runs in a lot of places down here, but their secret is that they rent out porn.
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Feb 1, 2015 06:50
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Young Freud posted:I know Family Video still runs in a lot of places down here, but their secret is that they rent out porn. I live about a five/ten minute walk from one and it's awesome. They can usually fill in the gaps that Netflix instant has and I like browsing the physical shelves. Makes me feel nostalgic for when I was a kid looking for stuff with my parents. No porn section in mine though!
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Feb 1, 2015 08:21
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There are several Blockbusters hilariously still open in LA.
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Feb 1, 2015 18:10
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Is it fair to say "Blockbusters are still open for old people." ?
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Feb 1, 2015 18:13
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The MSJ posted:
(Stares at its arms and the back of its neck...) What happened to "no feathers"? 
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Feb 1, 2015 19:27
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Rahonavis posted:(Stares at its arms and the back of its neck...) What happened to "no feathers"? They are spikes, not feathers.
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Feb 1, 2015 19:43
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Rahonavis posted:(Stares at its arms and the back of its neck...) What happened to "no feathers"? Feathers are actual cool and good if you aren't a luddite PriorMarcus posted:They are spikes, not feathers. Dammit
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Feb 1, 2015 20:48
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Improbable Lobster posted:Feathers are actual cool and good if you aren't a luddite. I was quoting the infamous "No feathers" tweet posted by the director. Look at my avatar; accurate maniraptors rule. And those could always be feather-spikes a la Concavenator or Psitticosaurus. Doesn't change the fact that the one dinosaur with any kind of interesting integument is the friggin' fictional species. Rahonavis fucked around with this message at 22:05 on Feb 1, 2015 |
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Feb 1, 2015 22:01
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Power Rangers movie update: It's animated. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AcVGweMtJDY Edit: False alarm, this is a proof of concept back from 2012. Waffleman_ fucked around with this message at 22:10 on Feb 1, 2015 |
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Feb 1, 2015 22:01
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Rahonavis posted:I was quoting the infamous "No feathers" tweet posted by the director. Look at my avatar; accurate maniraptors rule.
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Feb 1, 2015 22:24
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Young Freud posted:Holy poo poo, you got any more news on that? It seems like it would be the easiest route for Blockbuster to take in the post-streaming era and being offered on a silver platter and being thrown out of the office is like some goddamn joke on Blockbuster's management. When Blockbuster first started having serious problems a few years back, some goon in here kept posting about how Blockbuster was going to be fine and they had some secret plans to wow everyone and stay relevant. I guess everyone from the top down was drinking that kool-aid.
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Feb 1, 2015 23:08
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Mister Chief posted:"I say to you that the VCR is to the American film producer and the American public as the Boston strangler is to the woman home alone." - Jack Valenti, President of the MPAA 1966 - 2004. Ironic given that the flood of money coming in from the VHS/Rental/Home Market is a huge factor in the explosion of indie movies in the 80's/90's.
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Feb 2, 2015 00:35
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CaptainHollywood posted:Is it fair to say "Blockbusters are still open for old people." ? I wish blockbuster was still around as I hate Redbox as I'm an old man that hate using my credit card.
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Feb 2, 2015 01:22
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sbaldrick posted:I wish blockbuster was still around as I hate Redbox as I'm an old man that hate using my credit card. Really dude? Redbox take dollars and coins like a vending machine.
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Feb 2, 2015 01:27
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sbaldrick posted:I wish blockbuster was still around as I hate Redbox as I'm an old man that hate using my credit card. Does it take your Coinstar receipt?
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Feb 2, 2015 01:31
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Young Freud posted:Really dude? Redbox take dollars and coins like a vending machine. Really? What keeps me from just keeping the movie then?
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Feb 2, 2015 02:30
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Young Freud posted:Really dude? Redbox take dollars and coins like a vending machine. No Redbox I've ever seen has done that.
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Feb 2, 2015 03:24
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Feb 2, 2015 03:28
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Feb 2, 2015 05:28
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I'm not comfortable with this.
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Feb 2, 2015 05:32
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It was tweeted by the actual official Spongebob movie account.
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Feb 2, 2015 05:33
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This is my favorite poster of the year 
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Feb 2, 2015 06:30
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Feb 2, 2015 07:24
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Hahaha, that is wrong, but great. But wrong.
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Feb 2, 2015 09:07
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Young Freud posted:Holy poo poo, you got any more news on that? It seems like it would be the easiest route for Blockbuster to take in the post-streaming era and being offered on a silver platter and being thrown out of the office is like some goddamn joke on Blockbuster's management. Grantland did a pretty good piece on Blockbuster when it closed. There's a section about Netflix in it but the whole thing is worth a read. quote:The beginning of the end came a little over a decade later, in Santa Cruz, when an engineer named Reed Hastings returned a long-misplaced VHS tape of Apollo 13 to his local video store and was charged a $40 late fee. Then he went to the gym. “I realized they had a much better business model,” he’d say years later. “You could pay $30 or $40 a month and work out as little or as much as you wanted.” After that Blockbuster just makes bad decision after bad decision and seemed to rest on the fact that they would be fine because they're Blockbuster. They got rid of late fees (Though not really) and tried to win Netflix customers back but it was all too late. Also amazingly is this part. quote:Blockbuster’s first distribution center, the one David Cook built in Dallas for $3 million in 1986, was designed so that every piece of a new Blockbuster store — the tapes, but also the fixtures, and even the toilet paper for the restrooms — could be loaded onto a truck in eight hours. They had the capacity to do this three times in 24 hours. The trucks were packed so that when they arrived at their destination, a new Blockbuster could be up and running within a day. http://grantland.com/hollywood-prospectus/blockbuster-video-1985-2013/
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Feb 2, 2015 15:50
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Video stores can still be a viable option in places with high foot traffic or small driving distances. There is a market for it beyond people who are 'old' or out of touch. As someone who worked in Blockbuster during the final years, there was no reason to keep stores open in the middle of nowhere whose daily deposits were less than $500 a day.
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Feb 2, 2015 16:15
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effectual posted:Partly because of consumers mass-copying those early movies in the 80's and selling or trading them to other people like crazy. It scared the crap out of the studios to lower their prices. And the studios thought it was the worst thing to ever happen. I mean, what if the consumer could actually dictate the prices they're willing to pay and lift the stranglehold the studios had on the market? Alright that's pretty amazing.
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Feb 2, 2015 17:07
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Harlock posted:Video stores can still be a viable option in places with high foot traffic or small driving distances. There is a market for it beyond people who are 'old' or out of touch. Seattle has a place called Scarecrow Video which was famous for having a huge collection with literally everything no matter how obscure, including stuff Netflix didn't have and would likely never have due to those DVDs being long out of print, etc. They were beloved in the city. Even with that, they were going to go out of business until someone did a Kickstarter, now they are a non-profit relying on volunteer help. So I'd say no, independent video stores are no longer viable. Redbox seems to be doing OK, but that's partly because they were started by Coinstar so they already had relationships with retail stores and could just put boxes there, and the selection is good enough since they don't care about the long tail. I've seen a few grocery stores with video rental areas but they are leftovers from pre-Netflix, and probably have decent margins because there's no video store clerk, you pay at the same window where people return stuff.
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Feb 2, 2015 17:43
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Harlock posted:Video stores can still be a viable option in places with high foot traffic or small driving distances. There is a market for it beyond people who are 'old' or out of touch.
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Feb 2, 2015 17:45
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For my teen years I lived in a super small town in southwest Minnesota. It had, while I lived there, a locally owned video store called Palace Video, and then the Family Drug also rented movies. I found out from my parents last year that both of them are now closed. If even a tiny town full of mostly old people and surrounded by farmers can't sustain a viable video rental place, I don't know where reasonably can. College towns seem like the exact kind of place that poo poo would crumble in a second, because everyone is either on Netflix, has a room mate/friend who is on Netflix who's account they can use, or is just straight up pirating and file sharing like a fiend.
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Feb 2, 2015 18:47
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