Arrow Video - Unlimited

[Prince_Vajda]

Almar's post confirmed my worst fears - things are going downhill...

Greetings!

[PaulD]

Originally Posted by Almar@Cult Labs

Hello everyone - apologies for my absence on here for a while - I'm still reading and the mods are the heroes that keep everything going. I'm on here less because in the past few months the industry has literally fallen off a cliff - media outlets are going out of business, journos being laid off and on the film industry side some staggering cost cutting for survival and that folks is where we're at (and it's keeping me busy, working on the calculator or lying awake at night wondering...)

Whatever our opinions (and mine is that surely there is always a market for great cult releases otherwise why would I have helped invent Shameless and Arrow?) the truth of the matter is that sales simply don't bear it out and we can theorise on that until the cows come home but the economics of lavish editions of cult films really aren't working as well as any of us would like.

Most other labels don't bother anymore with this market - it's really hard and the economic realities make it now nearly impossible to justify so a careful approach and different editions for different pockets can potentially keep this market viable.

So folks from my perspective inside the industry and what I see happening around me we're lucky to have the option to buy lavish editions at all and I think the key through here will be to try and communicate as well as possible how you can get them and how many there will be so you don't miss out.

God that's such a shame, sorry to hear that. Makes me realise it's a little selfish moaning about such changes when it's your livelihood on the line

[Almar@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by Prince_Vajda

Almar's post confirmed my worst fears - things are going downhill...

Greetings!

Downhill isn't the word I'd like to use because that suggests - to my mind - a lack of effort or caring where really what we're seeing is a reflection of how the world is working (or not!) and what you do to keep offering the best you can and to that end if you can still get a lovely edition of a cult film I call that a minor miracle in this day and age.

[Nosferatu@Cult Labs]

As Almar said, times are tough and businesses are really hurting. In that respect, it's a minor miracle cult films are being released at all, let alone in packages we couldn't have dreamed of a decade ago when, in the UK anyway, it was almost Vipco or nothing.

[Baseball Fury]

I don't understand the negativity towards Arrow over this decision at all. Lots of companies have things that go out of print with no warning to be reissued later in a different way, or never again (BFI with Flipside/Pasolini release, Masters of Cinema with the initial BD only releases, Criterion with countless releases, Disney with Pinocchio/Snow White off the of my head) and nobody moans.

Would you rather that they carried on only printing expensive to produce special editions, thereby limiting any future releases due to financial constraints? Or that they went OOP completely, with no alternative? Shameless couldn't release a deluxe version of Cannibal Holocaust recently because the mainstream demand simply wasn't there, therefore they couldn't even afford to do a slipcase.

I for one would rather that Arrow carry on releasing a limited edition for the people that want one/early adopters and a new standard version for Mr. Joe Public/non-packaging enthusiasts. Surely that's better than the inevitable alternative, which would be to drop the deluxe editions entirely, and release simplified versions from here on out?

[PaulD]

Same here. My main disappointment was that the news wasn't something a bit bigger, like the release of the ArrowDrome range.

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

As its only Blu's i couldn't give a monkeys.

[Stephen@Cult Labs]

I know it's early days, but does Arrow know how many units of the slipcase versions will be released?

[Almar@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by Stephen@Cult Labs

I know it's early days, but does Arrow know how many units of the slipcase versions will be released?

A statement is on the way shortly I believe with more info...

[ReturnToZero]

To me it sound like good news to they skip the ugly posters (do someone outside UK actually use these?) and the slipcases. I don't mind slipcases in general but i have windows on my walls so don't need them in my DVD shelf.

Good luck Arrow and Shameless.