Blu-ray and DVD Sets – A Worrying Trend

August 11, 2010 · Posted in Opinion   

Where The Wild Things Are

Blue-Ray & DVD Set


I have to admit since moving to Japan I haven’t bought many DVDs. I left a collection in the hundreds back in England where DVDs are comparatively cheap with sites like play.com and regular sales in HMV etc.
But in Japan at ¥4000 a pop they’re just too expensive.

I’ve not yet managed to find the equivalent of play yet, and sales of anything are small and infrequent here.

But occasionally a film comes along that I definitely want to add to my collection, and this year it was Spike Jonze’s Where The Wild Things Are.

I was eagerly waiting for the DVD release and then, to my huge disappointment, I found Warner Bros. Japan have released it as a Blu-Ray/DVD combo set ONLY! They have separate versions but they’re for Rental only.

What the?

This is just a bizarre idea to me. I cannot see who this benefits least of all Warner Bros sales department.

The way I see it there are 3 scenarios.

  1. I have a Blu-ray player so I buy the combo set.
    I now have a DVD I don’t want or need.
    I know I’ll give it to my friend who doesn’t have a blu-ray.
    Warner lose a potential sale.
  2. I have a DVD player but no Blu-Ray.
    I buy the combo set and give the unneeded Blu-Ray to my brother.
    Warner lose a potential sale.
  3. Third and my case scenario. I don’t want to spend ￥4000 on a combo set so I won’t buy it at all.
    Warner lose a previously guaranteed sale.

This seems to be a lose/lose situation for Warner and their customers.

I also worryingly saw District 9 (a great movie I was considering buying –
not now ) and Sherlock Holmes are also released in combo sets only (both unfortunately on Warner Japan ).

This seems to be only in Japan as far as I can tell, Europe and America have separate releases.

Can anyone explain the logic behind Warner’s decision here?


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One Response to “Blu-ray and DVD Sets – A Worrying Trend”

  1. olddogg.com on November 10th, 2010 3:23 pm

    Blu-ray and DVD Sets – A Worrying Trend | It’s Only A Film! – Yet Another Movie Review Website…

    Who needs a DVD/Blu-ray twin set anyway???…

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