Blu-ray and DVD Sets – A Worrying Trend

August 11, 2010 · Posted in Opinion · 1 Comment 

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?

3D Movies are a Scam by Movie Companies and Cinemas

July 27, 2010 · Posted in Opinion · Comment 

Let me start by saying I like 3D movies.
I remember as a kid when they showed Fort Ti (1953) in 1982 on ITV with free 3D glasses from the TV Times, the first film shown in 3D on British TV.
I even had a couple of 3D comics and Captain Eo at Universal Studios was great.

3D Cinema Audience

3D Cinema Audience

But I guess I was one of the few people who saw Avatar and thought nice tech demo but why is it 4 hours long? Anyway that’s a different post. The point today is I went and paid the extra ￥400 ($4) for the loan of the glasses as it was the event that was Avatar.

Last weekend I went to see Toy Story 3D and this is where the scam started to reveal itself.
Yet again I had to pay extra for the loan of the glasses. Two things bugged me about this.

1) Do I have to pay this everytime I see a 3D movie?
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