Lag Time to Home Video

[Nardpuncher]

Remember (if you're over 30) the lag time between a movie being in the theater and then when it came out on home video?
I have fond memories of my friend down the street calling me on a saturday nigth in early 1985 telling me they'd rented The Empire Strikes Back and so I ran down the street to watch it. I hadn't seen it in 5 yers at that point!

I think the first movie where we didn't have to wait more than a year may have been Tim Burton's Batman as I think it came out on tape only 5 months later. I think.

And don't get started about the prices! I never bought it but I think when Star Wars came out it was $120US! And that's 1982 money!

 

[Mr Light]

I remember back when the VHS tape was originally $100 and then a few months later it went down to normal prices. I think that happened with the first TMNT movie.

 

[Hermiod]

You used to be able to buy VHS tapes intended for rental in some UK stores but the prices were ridiculous.

DVD pretty much killed that as the theatrical release window continues to shrink.

 

[Garm Bel Iblis]

i remember when it was atleast a year before the video was released, then it was 6 months, now even giant movies like avatar are coming out 4 months after they did in theatres.

Hell, most movies are on Hbo within a year now and Basic cable within 2.

 

[John Picard]

i remember when it was atleast a year before the video was released, then it was 6 months, now even giant movies like avatar are coming out 4 months after they did in theatres.

Hell, most movies are on Hbo within a year now and Basic cable within 2.

Hell, first it was forever *if* the movie made it to television (edited, of course) and then it was at least 6 months before it hit HBO.

 

[Trekker4747]

It used to be it'd be a good, solid, year before a movie would go from the theater to VHS rental. You could buy the tapes intended for rental but they cost over or around $100. Then, maybe, sometime after the rental release either the retail-purchase would come-out or the rental stores would sell-off excess tapes for movies whose rentals had slowed down. Both of these were more reasonable prices.

As time went on and home-video got more popular and affordable the lag time decreased to 6-8 months and it was almost a certainity that the retail version and rental would hit the streets at the same time.

It seems that DVDs decreased that time way down, I think now the average is something like 4-6 months depending on the popularity of the movie. Hell, look at Avatar it came out in December, made 2-3 billion in theaters and hit the streets on DVD in late Apirl.

Yeah, the "lag time" has certainly shrunk a whole lot.

 

[Silent_Bob]

i remember when it was atleast a year before the video was released, then it was 6 months, now even giant movies like avatar are coming out 4 months after they did in theatres.

Hell, most movies are on Hbo within a year now and Basic cable within 2.

It's beginning to reach the point where 'Spaceballs'' joke about instant videos out in stores before the movie is finished doesn't seem that farfetched.

 

[Garm Bel Iblis]

i remember when it was atleast a year before the video was released, then it was 6 months, now even giant movies like avatar are coming out 4 months after they did in theatres.

Hell, most movies are on Hbo within a year now and Basic cable within 2.

It's beginning to reach the point where 'Spaceballs'' joke about instant videos out in stores before the movie is finished doesn't seem that farfetched.

That and the fact that millions of people probably watched Iron Man 2 in their living room this weekend.

 

[Hermiod]

Maybe I'm too much of a purist, but I don't consider having watched something recorded by a video camera pointed at a cinema screen the same thing as having actually seen a film.

 

[Mike Farley]

The recent Cheech and Chong concert movie was released simultaneously to theaters, Video on Demand, and DVD.
I think George Romero's SURVIVAL OF THE DEAD is hitting (or might have hit) Video on Demand before it's theatrical release later this summer.

 

[Trent Roman]

Hell, look at Avatar it came out in December, made 2-3 billion in theaters and hit the streets on DVD in late Apirl.

I went to see Avatar in March. I think I started to see ads for the DVD the very next week. Of course, most films don't last as long in theatres as Avatar did.

Fictitiously yours, Trent Roman

 

[Owain Taggart]

I'll steal this which I found on another forum I visit.

Window After Release:
Month 0 - Month 3 - Theatrical Release
Month 5 - Month 6 - Video Rental / Sell Through
Month 5 - Month 9 - VOD
Month 6 - Month 9 - PPV
Month 10 - Month 12 - Pay TV
Month 27 - Onwards - Broadcast/Specialty

 

[milo bloom]

I remember back when the VHS tape was originally $100 and then a few months later it went down to normal prices. I think that happened with the first TMNT movie.

That $100 or more was the "normal" price. Initially, there really wasn't any concept of people owning movies in this fashion. Tapes were sold at this price because the rental stores would pay it, and they would pay it because they would recoup it in a decent amount of time. That's just how the business worked.

Now, what apparently happened is that the movie studios got wind of what some of you have noted here, where rental places would sell off older tapes at a lower price when they had reached a point to where they weren't rented very often. The studios would, of course, want a piece of that pie so they got the idea of the "sell through" price, $20-40. Still a decent amount of money for that time, and esp for a pan and scan VHS with no special features.


Personally I guess I was never really aware of the lag time as there was always something interesting to rent. If the latest Trek movie wasn't available yet, then there were still episodes of TOS I could rent.

However, when DVD was first getting started, I would eagerly check the forums for the new releases and wait for when they were available, but I've realized I was kinda skipping over a lot of life. And the older I've gotten, the more I just let them come when they come, I have close to a thousand DVDs now, and still haven't watched a lot of them. Even when I go weeks without buying something, there's always something to pull off the shelf and watch.

 

[Greg Cox]

Maybe I'm too much of a purist, but I don't consider having watched something recorded by a video camera pointed at a cinema screen the same thing as having actually seen a film.

Amen!

 

[Klaus]

One of the things the lag time used to do was make a movie's broadcast TV premiere a lot more of an event... like when CBS first aired Star Wars, IIRC.

 

[Tulin]

I will be happy when the film's release at cinemas and release on DVD is the same day. Until thenm the studios can suck it crying about piracy.

Do your damned jobs and understand the 21st century market or continue losing ground to Chinese pirate factories.

 

[Hermiod]

^I do still think there should be a gap between the release of a film in theatres and on home formats.

However, region locking be it on DVD, Blu-Ray or just checking your IP address should be illegal. It should be illegal to sell any equipment containing such technology.