Why are these studios charging so much for Special Editions now?
 

Ray Limited Edition is priced way out my price range. As is the I Heart the Huckabees set. Why are they doing this? Plenty of special editions have come out with more features and have been priced way less. Criterions are more affordable than these 2 releases.

Mostly it's been Universal that's been doing this practice with titles like Ray, Master and Commander, Seabiscuit, Red Dragon, and The Terminal. Most other studios have been sticking to the normal one release of a title, except Sony who will simply re-release a title ad nauseum.

It's to take advantage of people who absolutely must have the version with the most extras.

Actually Master and Commander is a Fox title, so Universal isn't alone.

And doesn't the Master and Commander give you more than its non SE version? For example not much is included in the Ray SE version that would have you justify the double in price.

Because they can.
At first the SEs were a draw to get people interested in DVDs. Now that DVD is the format of choice, and sales are through the roof, and it's been proven that people are interested in double-dips, CE's, remasters, special editions, etc, it's logical to charge more for the 'added features'. Pretty soon we'll probably have to pay more for the bonus feature of OAR.
How much are Ray and Huckabees?

Personally, I think forums, like the DVDtalks' Bargain Forum, are becoming mainstream and a lot more people are surfing to find deals. This leads to a lot more people collecting DVDs, especially for movies they really like, which makes them want the "special editions" even more. Have you noticed how every movie nowdays gets a special edition? 5 years ago, special editions were hailed in the same manner as Criterion Collections. Now, you can't release a movie unless it's a special edition, or extended edition, or ultimate edition and in some cases you release all three. The movie studios have figured this out and also realized that a small bump in price will also be accepted. Thus you have the higher price.

So? The quality of extras has always been variable. The point here is the big bump in price and IMO Fox is right there with Universal.

Oh I am not saying that Fox is right for doing this. Just was wondering if Fox gave you more. But really for an SE version I expect LOTR caliber. And even that was still cheaper than Ray or Master and Commander.

Master & Commander I believe was $24.99 on release day unlike Ray which was $36.99. I Heart the Huckabees is priced as high as the upper tier priced Criterions. I hope this does not become a trend, at least Warner Brothers still does it right.

My mistake. I was confused since Universal was one of the distributors on the front of the trailer, but I guess that was for overseas markets.

Even at the higher prices they don't come close to the price of Criterions.

But the prices on Criterions are justified by the amount of thought and work that clearly goes into producing each title. Something like the LE of Ray was clearly just thrown together, placed in a spiffy package and doubled in price. That's crap.

I'm beginning to see a very bad pattern of the movie studios: inferior quality on purpose, so that a Special Edition will need to be purchased in the future.

Maybe Ray, but I'll put up the Master and Commander, Black Hawk Down, and other special sets against Criterion any day. Take away personal opinion on the quality of the movie and I don't see how Criterion is any better than any other company on special releases.

Look at the new Raging Bull Set. Thankfully MGM has the rights to the movie instead of Criterion, and we can pay $20 instead of $40. Criterion has become the "pay more for the name" brand in DVD's.

And yes, I own my share of Criterions, but only because they have the rights and have the only SE out there for the titles I have. I suck it up, buy it anyway, and remain not very happy that I paid at least $10 more because it has their name on it.

Also, most Criterions can be found online for around $19-$25. Not so with the SEs of these Universal/Fox titles.

For example, 8 1/2 2-disc Criterion vs. Master & Comander 2-disc:

At dvdPlanet, 8 1/2 is $25, while M&C is $30. I'm not saying 8 1/2 is cheap, but M&C sure is expensive.

To be fair to Criterion, they don't charge more for the name brand. They charge more because they're not a movie studio and they have to pay just to get the rights for a film (among other costs). Not to mention, they help bring out films they may have otherwise been ignored.

Like Armegeddon and The Rock? -smile-

And Chasing Amy ;)

I hope Universal would cut price on the LE in the near future. The fastest price cut done by Universal was on the "Schindler's List" giftset, about a month after its release.

Bend over and spread'em wide, fanboys. There're hundreds of studio executives with cocaine habits to support.

:lol: :lol: :lol:

That's your answer.

Fox did it with M & C and upcoming with Huckabees and Kinsey. I'm not liking this trend at all.

Because they rarely produce their own supplements, of course. Not only do they license the movie, they license some PBS special about it, the radio dramatization(s), and as many articles as possible. Of course, not every release by another studio contains all new material, but the ratio of specifically produced video supplements from Fox, Universal, Disney, Sony, Warners, and Paramount compared to Criterion approaches infinity. Though there's always the ever-expensive Criterion audio commentary . . .