hoDS/NoDS DVD Release?

[Cousin_Barnabas]

I am also slightly concerned about the date of this release.  October 30?  They could have had a whole month to sell this thing in October when people grab random, spooky films.  Are they trying to separate it from Depp Shadows as much as possible?  Why not market them together?  What is it, exactly, that they are trying to accomplish by releasing these the day before Halloween?  Thoughts? 

[Mysterious Benefactor]

I suspect the timing is just like when things are specifically timed right before Christmas - WB is hoping to cash in on last minute impulse buying when the spirit of the season is its highest.

[Gerard]

One has to remember that Hollywood uses current corporatist thinking:  how much money can I make right now?  It doesn't plan ahead, looking at all the benefits and consequences.  It just wants lots and lots of money right now.  Not wanting to invest anything in the restoration, but just dumping out the DVD's/BR's right now, it wants to make that money right now, and then move on to something else because right now comes and goes quickly.  To them, making a hundred bucks right now appears better than making over a thousand bucks over the next week.  Hollywood doesn't want to spend money on the restoration because spending money is not what it's all about; it's about making money.  Of course, the old, correct, tried and true axiom of you've got to spend money to make money is forgotten.  Instead, they follow what Thurston Howell III said on Gilligan's Island:  "Money is something you do not spend; you just make more of it."

What's really sad, is that when they do stick a crowbar into their wallets and spend it, they do so foolishly.  Look at how they blew it when it came to marketing DS-2012.  And these guys get eight-figures-a-year salaries.  Now that's foolish spending.

Gerard

[Darren Gross]

Scroll down to post# 33 for the cover "art."

http://www.hometheaterforum.com/t/322116/whv-press-release-house-of-dark-shadows-and-night-of-dark-shadows-dvd/30#post_3947554

[Cousin_Barnabas]

I suspect the timing is just like when things are specifically timed right before Christmas - WB is hoping to cash in on last minute impulse buying when the spirit of the season is its highest.

But who buys a Christmas special the day before Christmas?  If it were released three weeks before, it would still be there for last-minute shopping.  This is really idiotic and is going to hurt the sales of these discs even more.  Impulse buyers have two days to buy?  Get DS out of the hands of this horrible company. 

EDIT: 

Darren, thank you.  I see NO MENTION of the new movie on the covers?  Wow.  Wonder if it will be incorporated somewhere else in their marketing.  If not, that is telling. 

And I see Grayson gets the center picture.  Even more interesting.  Would've thought by looking at it that they were planning to release a picture with more of her in it.   

[Darren Gross]

We were initially told that these would be coming out in 2013, 5 months from the release of the Depp/Burton movie on DVD in order to keep them separate, then shortly before the theatrical release of the Burton film we were suddenly hearing that the date was being moved to October and they weren't interested in the restoration.  The late October date is probably the fastest they could squeeze it into the schedule, as obviously September would have been better.  Studios usually need 5 months from having completed masters to release date.

[tragic bat]

Scroll down to post# 33 for the cover "art."

http://www.hometheaterforum.com/t/322116/whv-press-release-house-of-dark-shadows-and-night-of-dark-shadows-dvd/30#post_3947554

Ugh, not very nice.  And giving NODS a tagline of "one bite is never enough" to fool people into thinking it's a more straightforward 'vampire film' sequel to HODS is lame. 

[Mysterious Benefactor]

But who buys a Christmas special the day before Christmas?

You and I may think it's strange, and we may not impulse buy in the situation - but apparently enough other people do or it wouldn't continue to be a marketing strategy that seems to always show up for the holidays. And with online shopping, it's only only gotten even more widespread.

I see NO MENTION of the new movie on the covers?  Wow.  Wonder if it will be incorporated somewhere else in their marketing.  If not, that is telling.

The Depp/Burton film may be mentioned on the backs of the cases. Who knows? But even if it isn't I don't know how telling it might be. If the decision to move the release up to October and not to do the restoration had been made after the Depp/Burton film came out, then maybe one could make a case that it had something to do with the Depp/Burton film. But as the decisions were made before the film was even released, it seems more like what I was saying yesterday - WB has had the inclination all along to release both films without extras and not to do the restoration. The Depp/Burton film has pretty much been immaterial. In fact, if as Darren indicates that the previous decision to hold off the DVD/Blu-ray release of the original films until 2013 so as to keep their release separate from the release of the Depp/Burton film was made even earlier than this latest decision was, then in all likelihood WB never had a plan to tie the original films to the Depp/Burton film.

[Mysterious Benefactor]

The "One bite is never enough" line nowithstanding, I like the packaging.  Both are certainly better than the ways the VHS releases were packaged.

[Cousin_Barnabas]

Well, this is all I know.  We were supposed to get the unrestored releases on DVD years ago.  They were delayed because of the new Dark Shadows.  The thinking is they would be released around the same time, but then they were pushed back so as to separate the titles. 

Then Depp Shadows is being promoted and something caused Home Entertainment to change the date of the release again. 

Now, the packaging plays up the original series as opposed to Depp Shadows.  Like you said, MB, there could be something on the back or, like I said, there could be some marketing tie-in.  But I find it strange that all of this went down and now the TV Show is being used as the promotional tool as opposed to Depp Shadows.  What does that lead us to believe?  I have no idea, but I think it's clear that Depp Shadows played a part. 

Why wait to release the movies until Depp Shadows came out, then opt to separate the release dates, then reverse that decision, release them closer to the debut of Depp Shadows, and then fail to mention Depp Shadows on the front covers?   

As for the art, I don't dislike it.  It's actually what I was expecting. 

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Though the original films should be tied to the original series because that's what their based on. They have a tangential relationship to the Depp/Burton film at best - and it to them. And tying them together could even confuse the non-DS public in sort of the same way that people have been confused in the past when it comes to the Buffy TV series and the original Buffy film. So personally I think keeping the original films and the Depp/Burton film separate is a smart move. But maybe that's just me...

[michael c]

true...

other than an old mansion called "collinwood" NODS and DeppShadows have absolutely nothing to do with one another.

[Cousin_Barnabas]

I agree, but we could have had these released years ago.  It is my understanding that they were pushed back because of Depp Shadows, presumably as a tie-in or as a follow-up.  So when the decision was made to hold off on them (and later reversed), it is my interpretation that this decision had to do directly with Depp Shadows. 

It is tangled, as you said.  It is my hope that we will learn everything at some point.  I understand that it can't be discussed now, but the whole thing is so strange and frustrating.  GAH! 

[Mysterious Benefactor]

I could be wrong, but given how this has played out it seems as if, against their own beliefs and their own desire to move forward, someone in WB's video division was somehow persuaded to hold off releasing the original films on DVD/Blu-ray because the Depp/Burton film was going to be made. And if the person who did the persuading was Pierson, it's certainly no secret that he can be persuasive. However, in truth they were fairly indifferent toward the Depp/Burton film, they didn't care if it did well or not, and they never really wanted the original films to be associated with it - and in the end they finally decided to go with their core belief that they should just release the original films in their original form using the transfer they had already done before the Depp/Burton film was even announced and let the chips fall where they may. We could certainly argue that their actions are exceptionally shortsighted. But it does seem as if much of that is quite possibly how things went down.

[Gothick]

Maybe they just really don't have a clue what to do with vintage genre material, and the Burton/Depp project simply muddied the waters?

Not a fan of the box "art," btw.

G.