Fox releases "Down With Love", which, for all intents and purposes, looks like a fun flick that would catch audiences and be successful.

Well it didn't and wasn't.

So I expected, to recoup costs, they would release it on DVD at a low price point to find an audience in the home video market. Nope, $20 a pop in most places.

So then, we get League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. Same story once again.

This is the kind of flick that would sell out at 14.99, but at 19.99 will just gather dust.

Why don't many of the studios try and build DVD audiences when a movie fails in theaters?


---still waiting for Real Genius to come down in price....

No offence, but I think Fox's well-paid marketing department are more likely to know what will make them the most money than you are. It sounds to me like your only evidence is the fact that you'd rather pay $5 less... which doesn't really prove anything about how much profit Fox is going to make from these DVDs.

Both of these DVDs retail at $27.99, which is pretty much inline with other new release price points.

Down with love can be had for

At this point it should really come as no surprise to anyone that DVDs aren't priced based on the intrinsic quality of their content --If they were, these titles would be free with the purchase of a happy meal.

If well-paid meant intelligent, this country would be in better shape.

Profit goes beyond how many DVDs you sell.
Sell many more, you build an audience and you can sell ancillary products, including sequels and such.

What price are you waiting for it to come down to?

You can get it at Best Buy for $15.99. Well worth it in my opinion.

None of these things make you an expert on situations such as these. I maintain that there is no real evidence to support your opinion that Fox would be better off in the long term if they charged less for these two DVDs.

Warner recouped some losses from bombs by giving new releases low price points, such as Battle Field Earth and Rock Star.

I agree with the OP, and thought about this when I saw GIGLI "sale" priced at 19.95. Come on now, that movie's got WAL-MART DUMP BIN labled all over it.

We really need a sequel to "Down With Love", don't we?

I fail to see the big deal. $20 is an acceptable price point for this DVD (which can usually be found cheaper if you put a little elbow grease and gumption into the affair.)

Down With Love is at my local blockbuster with a PVD price tag of $9.99. It may be the same at yours as well.

As far as Movies & DVDs, One mans garbage is another mans treasure. Some of us will buy at any price, others search for the deal, & still others will not buy at all. SRP of $27.99 = $18 or $19 actual price & probably with researching, sales & coupons can be had for $13 - $15! Wide range of $$$ for 1 dvd! This is pretty standard in my experience.

Ancillary products? Sequels? ... for Down with Love?!?

Yeah, I guess Fox is probably kicking themselves now, wishing they had priced the DVD at $15. All that lost revenue from the proposed action figure line and ticket sales from Down With Love 2: The Quickening.

...The Quickening

Both sides of this argument make good points, but here is the bottom line. It is obviously true that a lower price scale would likely move more DVD's on a per-unit basis. However, Fox's pricing model is based on two factors: 1) there is no certitude about the absolute profitability of a new DVD title (or any other item) that is new in the marketplace, and 2) hence, in such a situation, the best pricing strategy is to go with a previously set standard (as Fox apparently is doing by setting these at the typical MSRP).

When the realities of the marketplace (as reflected in unit sales) become apparent, the price will at some point inevitably be adjusted to reflect that demand. In other words, Fox may in fact sell many more of these than one would expect at the higher price point. And even if they don't, they can always price downward sooner or later and capture whatever market they would have if they had initially used the lower price point.

So the best pricing strategy is always to price as high as you think you may possibly sell an item at, and then go downward from there as necessary to increase sales. It is the most elementary principle of a free market system.

Well said.

Yep, they know there are some people who actually enjoyed these movies and would be willing to pay full price to get their hands on the DVD. Might as well recoup some profit from the rabid fans by charging "normal" prices instead of a lower price point. Those people would buy anyway. There's no guarantee that pricing the discs at $10-15 are going to cause the majority of people who stayed away from the movie in theaters, to even look at it twice on the shelf.

I think this has less to do with Fox setting the high prices, and more to do with major chains not using them as low-cost loss leaders. A first-week $14.99 sale on Down With Love just isn't going to bring in the masses.

All DVD releases will make a decent amount in their first week regardless of content-anyone remember Ballistic: Ecks Vs. Sever? I believe that made the top 10 last year in its first week. Also I was in a shop this weekend that routinely puts stuff out early, and they had sold multiples copies of Gigli.

I expcet LXG to sell well in spite of its content.

I don't know, quite a few people picked up Fox's FIREFLY DVD as a blind buy just because it was marked down to $19.99 accidently instead of $49.99 ($39.99 on sale)... people who might not have picked it otherwise. Probably gained a lot of new fans for the series who would have otherwised passed, but now Fox has them hooked in to maybe buying more of the series if it was ever continued or buy a ticket to the upcoming movie.

Wasn't Firefly a Fluke? Also, considering the savings there, a lot of people probably saw this as their only chance to see it for relatively cheap before it became too expensive to blindly buy.

Um, Down With Love was $12.99 during Black Friday. Its the stores you shop at that price it at $19.99. And besides if you didn't like the movie then to quote The Dude "That's just your opinion man"

I guess nobody remembers Fox's first couple years, when most of their DVDs were priced at $34.99! Before DVD their laserdiscs were even more ridiculously priced- most movies were $39.99, and went up to $49.99 if the movie needed a second disc due to length (over 2 hours)!

there you go, fixed the title for you...

Down With Love is getting a price drop on 1/27. But many of the online places have already brought the price down.

The SRP will be $19.99, so most places will have it for $14.99.