Alan Smithee

Here is what happens at the end of "Bloodshot" on both the 4K and regular Blu-Rays:

You Tube

It automatically disappears after about 10 seconds as shown here- if you click "Extras" then all of the extras play in sequence- though I honestly don't think anyone who would skip the end credits would largely care about them. They also play if you let the movie run to the very end. The main menu is already accessible at any time using the Top Menu button.



The pop-up menu here is different than the standard one that appears when you hit the Menu button- that one also lets you go to the main menu or extras but also lets you select languages and scenes. I've played around a bit and this menu is set to ALWAYS appear at that point- putting the player on A-B repeat brings it up again for example.

As someone who has ALWAYS (for more than 37 years) let movies at home play COMPLETE to the end, and stayed til the very end in theaters longer than that, this is just unacceptable. I'm sure some here will say it's "no big deal" but this makes it impossible to show the complete movie with zero intrusions. I've always thought the regular pop-up menus were cool because they show off what the format can do, but they ONLY appear when the user hits the Menu button and aren't seen otherwise. I don't even know what good these pop-ups will do anyone else. Streaming services doing similar things is a big reason why I still prefer discs, but ironically redeeming the digital copy of Bloodshot will allow for an experience free from any annoyances. If Sony is trying to discourage people from buying disc media, I would say they are doing a good job here.

Other titles that I have heard do this include Mask of Zorro, Bad Boys For Life, Fantasy Island and the Resident Evil 4K set. Regardless of how minor an annoyance this may be, it is unacceptable and I will not be buying any more Sony Pictures titles as long as it continues. I'm glad that many of their older titles are being licensed to other labels which likely won't be doing this.

Why So Blu?

First world problems. The new Resident Evil 4K set has this and all you gotta do is press the directional button down on the remote and they go away.

Alan Smithee

Why should I have to do that? Why shouldn't someone have to hit a button if they want to bring it up?

Funny how this always gets called "first world problems". News flash- that's what these message boards are about. But if you want to talk about first world problems, it's troubling that someone is getting paid to do this while plenty of other people are out of work.

Gizmo

Wow. Just wow.

Adam Tyner

You should write a letter. I don't mean that in some snarky, condescending way; handwrite or print out a letter, and mail it to SPHE. Emails, tweets, and the like are well and good, but if you do that, send a physical letter as well. Boycotting Sony's releases without communicating to them why won't be as impactful.

Why So Blu?

Honestly, you've got bigger problems. Although, I now do wish all studios started doing this, so that you can stop buying media.

Alan Smithee

Believe me, I've done that. There's been some other discussion about this online and I've seen a couple tweets about it, but it hasn't been formally called out (and I just KNEW some people were going to be rude about it since it doesn't bother them, see my "complaining about complaining" post in Other a while back.) True that this isn't nearly as annoying as Netflix's credits-shrinking (which within the past year has finally been getting the attention it deserves with a few articles) but it's ENTIRELY unnecessary (the regular pop-up menu gives you more options and is available at any time) and who knows what other annoyances they'll add if they get away with this.

The absolute worst I've seen though was the original VHS of Hellraiser, which broke into the end credits to promote a bunch of stuff you could mail-order. Even then though that was made for the casual renter audience; one would think they would show a bit more respect to those willing to pay extra for a 4K disc.

That would get me to do that. Funny that in this case the digital option is the preferable option (I'm far more tolerant of technical limitations in quality than deliberate annoyances like this.)

DJariya

I agree with Adam. Compose a good well thought out email or letter and send it to Sony.

That’s better than complaining on a DVD message board that barely 100 people use and hope that people agree with you.

But then again DVD and BD menus aren’t necessarily produced by Sony or any studio. They tend to hire post houses to oversee and produce them.

andicus

It's not a deal breaker, but yes, it would annoy me, as well.

Anything 'popup' that's not specifically invoked is irritating.

This happens a lot on websites, these days. You're just reading something and 'boom' a popup in the middle of the screen.

Even worse are the websites (I see this on a lot of car dealer websites) that have a popup with a 'support person' ready to answer your questions. I say it's worse because every time you go to another page on the website, it pops up again, even though you've already dismissed it.

Coral

Even if I cared about end credits, it still wouldn't bother me since it goes away quickly enough and doesn't get in they way of any real content.

A major annoyance bordering on criminal was when a Canadian studio about 15 years ago added forced/non-skippable car ads that played before the movie started.
Imagine plopping in the DVD years later and having to sit through ads for cars that aren't even available for purchase.

andicus

This reminds me of the most annoying part of all, regarding unskippable items... You know who doesn't see them? The people that pirate the stuff. It's always shit for the people that actually pay for content. Talk about a deterrent.

rocket1312

I know people like to crap all over Alan and yeah it's a first world problem blah blah blah, but come on, this sucks. There's no reason for it. Nobody asked for it. Who exactly is it benefiting? I have the same reaction to those discs that start playing as soon as you put it in instead of going to the menu. Is it the end of the world? No, but even if it reduces my enjoyment of the disc by .01%, that's too much for something so superfluous.

Dan

I agree with Alan that this sucks. I think I've only come across it once or twice so far.
​​That said, I also agree that writing a letter (one for each title) would also be a good way to go for those who are upset by it.

Me? Nah. I'm just ripping backing up my feature films now, and playing those. If I'm inclined to watch special features, I'll bust out the discs.
(Program name redacted) has been a godsend with its latest version that finally maintains the Dolby Vision content of a movie in an MKV, even though I don't have a Plex device that plays them back in full DV glory... yet. But once I do, those files will work.

Alan Smithee

These discs do NOT let you skip the FBI warnings BTW- so you’re forced to watch those but prompted to skip part of the actual movie. I don’t like being forced to let anything play through either- I stopped buying Universal DVDs back when they had previews you had to manually scan through, chapter skip and Menu buttons were disabled so you had to at least see part of them every time before you could start the movie. At least my Oppo player gets around those now.

Jay G.

A bit old, but still relevant:
Every website in 2018

clckworang

Eh, I kind of like it. I can't remember what recent movie I watched where it came up, but I remember liking that they were pushing the extras. I went to the bathroom and came back as the credits were ending and was pleasantly surprised when the extras started.

I think I'm going to write a letter for each release I come across that has it praising them for the decision.

PhantomStranger

I don't like it. I normally don't watch credits most of the time unless it's for a review, so it's not a huge pain for me. But I fear this could be the canary in the coal mine, forced pop-up ads as the movie plays. I can bet you there's an accountant in California right now that works for Sony or one of the other big studios salivating at the idea of forced ads or whatnot popping up on unsuspecting customers.

Shooba

Disney did this at one point, Beauty and the Beast had a more intrusive pop-up inviting the viewer to insert disc 2 for the special features.

Some people don't mind these, and that's fine, but we ultimately pay to have the movie presented in its original format when we buy it, whether digitally or physical. I don't like this.

Alan Smithee

I heard about that when it came out- thankfully I hate that movie, and haven't heard of Disney doing it on any of their other titles. (Someone said it only did that the first time it was played also, as long as the disc was in your player's memory it wouldn't be displayed again. These Sony titles will display the pop-up for all eternity.) If someone isn't going to watch the credits, why would they be interested in the extras anyways? On discs I've borrowed, I usually don't even look at the extras but I've never not let the end credits play out completely- they're part of the movie.