ModoReese

I don't know if this is the proper forum, but it seemed to make sense...

This was forwarded to me this morning. I wish I knew who wrote it and where it was posted, but it was interesting enough I thought I should post it here.



I know there are much bigger things going on in the world, but let's not let
this one slide under our noses. Your friendly neighborhood corporate
behemoth, Blockbuster Video, is right now eliminating 25% of its vhs
inventory in order to make room for more dvds.
Here's a story from an industry web sight, chock full of numbers and what
not:
http://www.videobusiness.com/news/09...es_dvd_convers
ion.asp
At first glance this might seem good, or at least okay. After all most of us
Cinema devotees these days are advocates of the crisp, clear, multi-angle
digital versatile type format, both for porn and even for mainstream titles.
But what the story doesn't mention is what Blockbuster is doing with their
vhs titles.
These videos are not being sold off to independent video stores. They are
not being sold to Blockbuster customers. They are not even being donated to
charity. Blockbuster has specifically asked their stores to THROW AWAY or
DESTROY them.
Keep in mind that we are not talking about the two hundred extra copies of
the Wedding Planner that rent out every night - we are talking about the
older titles that rent less often, many of them no doubt out of print and
never available on dvd. Think of all the weird martial arts movies in
ludicrous porn-sized boxes. The obscure independent comedies or low budget
horrors or cult favorite type pictures that are no longer readily available.
This is a market that isn't important to Blockbuster and their
film-illiterate renters, so they have every right to abandon it. But they'll
be DAMNED if they're gonna do anything that might help some small time schmo
somewhere to satisfy that market, even if it means losing the profit they
would make from selling the videos to collectors.
So you will not be able to rent these videos, and you will not be able to
buy them. They will not be sold as charity for Red Cross, or donated to
shelters for homeless teens and AIDS clinics. Blockbuster feels that a
better idea would be for them to rot away in landfills. (How long does it
take for an old Lee Marvin video to decompose, I wonder?)
I have heard from Blockbuster managers disgusted by this move, and afraid
for their jobs for even talking about it. Please Harry, look into this. At
the very least, call up your local blockbuster and ask them if they are
going to be selling the vhs films they are cutting down on.
I urge all Ain't It Cool Newsies to write or call the blockbuster corporate
offices, and to keep an eye on their local blockbuster dumpsters. It is your
duty, as true lovers of the films of Cinema, to liberate these videos.
What a lot of people don't realize is that video rights are slippery things.
There are titles that are on tape that haven't made deals for DVD release,
stuff that only came out once, stuff that may not even exist anymore in a
useable negative. Did you know that Kathryn Bigelow's great B-vampire movie
NEAR DARK is officially "lost" now? That was in '87, and that movie has
simply been allowed to deteriorate. That means that those video copies out
there are the only record left. How many films is that true for? How many
films are you never going to be given a chance to see? If MISS CONGENIALITY
is your thing, great... go with God. I wish you well. But I want to know
that I'm still going to be able to get obscure Shaw Brothers titles or anime
compilations or lousy werewolf knockoffs. I want to know that if Blockbuster
isn't going to keep these films stocked, they'll allow someone else the
choice to stock them. Destroying the movies... there's something profoundly
wrong with that.

source: www.aint-it-cool-news.com