Serenity DVD rental check-up. by jonathan

GENERAL DISCUSSIONS

Serenity DVD rental check-up.

POSTED BY: JONATHAN
UPDATED: Sunday, January 8, 2006 06:43
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VIEWED: 4457
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Wednesday, January 4, 2006 11:44 AM

I already own the dvd (of course), but I went to my local Blockbuster today (Wednesday morning) to try to rent a copy and support it that way too - and to ask the clerk how it was doing... There's good news and bad news.

The good news: All of the copies they had at that store were already rented out. When I asked the clerk about that, he said they were ALWAYS rented out. They can't keep them in the store. I didn't look closely at every selection in the store, but Serenity was the only one I noticed where every single copy was checked out.

The bad news: They only had eight copies available to start with, and they were located on a bottom shelf where they were very difficult to find (although people are obviously finding them anyway). Other movies (like Wedding Crashers) had two full racks (maybe 200 copies) displayed very prominently. When I asked the clerk about getting more copies of Serenity, he said that they didn't have that capability - they were stuck with what they were sent, which obviously isn't enough to meet demand.

Anyone else have any similar/different experiences?

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Wednesday, January 4, 2006 12:35 PM

CBY

Quote:
Originally posted by jonathan:
they were located on a bottom shelf where they were very difficult to find (although people are obviously finding them anyway).

I know what you mean. When I bought my Firefly Box in a German multimedia store the boxes were hidden underneath boxes of other tv shows. I had to play stupid DVD hide and seek

I left the stack more visible, don't know if that had any effect though.

°°°°°°°°°°°°
http://www.byond-trax.com - my selfmade ambient/lounge/chillout music

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Wednesday, January 4, 2006 12:52 PM

DONCOAT

Quote:
Originally posted by jonathan:
I already own the dvd (of course), but I went to my local Blockbuster today (Wednesday morning) to try to rent a copy and support it that way too - and to ask the clerk how it was doing... There's good news and bad news.

The good news: All of the copies they had at that store were already rented out. When I asked the clerk about that, he said they were ALWAYS rented out. They can't keep them in the store. I didn't look closely at every selection in the store, but Serenity was the only one I noticed where every single copy was checked out.

The bad news: They only had eight copies available to start with, and they were located on a bottom shelf where they were very difficult to find (although people are obviously finding them anyway). Other movies (like Wedding Crashers) had two full racks (maybe 200 copies) displayed very prominently. When I asked the clerk about getting more copies of Serenity, he said that they didn't have that capability - they were stuck with what they were sent, which obviously isn't enough to meet demand.

Anyone else have any similar/different experiences?

Let's see if we can spin this into a positive.

Maybe it's evidence that the Serenity DVD is selling so well, they can't make them fast enough -- so they don't have enough available to fulfill the rental store orders.

Yeah, that must be it!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ain't about you, Jayne. It's about what they need.

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Wednesday, January 4, 2006 2:12 PM

WAGEDOMAIN

My local Family Video has a half-shelf of Serenity. What I mean is, you know those big 8-shelf units or so? They had 4 of those shelves on one unit, with about 3 DVDs behind it. Guess what? Been constantly rented out since release. Not a single copy left, and I rent a lot of movies.

Also, before Christmas they had one of each Firefyl disk available, and they were always there. Now they have two of each disk, and they are also constantly gone.

Blockbuster didn't have as many copies, maybe about 10-15, but they are also constantly gone.

So my experience is a bit different, in a positive way.

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Wednesday, January 4, 2006 5:07 PM

ANONYMOUS1

Quote:
Originally posted by jonathan:
They only had eight copies available to start with

I checked out 5 Blockbusters and only 1 had 12 empty placeholders. All the rest had 8 empty placeholders.

Some had 1 Serenity left for sale. Some had none left for sale.

None of them had Firefly for rent or sale.

Have not found any Blockbuster gift cards yet.

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Wednesday, January 4, 2006 5:13 PM

PHOEBE

It's so odd seeing you guys complain that there are only eight or twelve copies... in all the video/dvd rental stores I know, a film's successful if there's more than one or two copies available for rent. The idea of having eight copies of one film in one rental store just BLOWS the mind!

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Wednesday, January 4, 2006 5:17 PM

OMELET

Due to the difficulty finding our BDM on the shelves and Firefly put behind other lame shows in comparison, I suggest we go to Blockbuster at night and secretly place every Firefly-related object front and center for everyone to see. Or you could just do that at the store when you're by yourself. People might stare though.

Jayne: Are you saying River's a witch?
Wash: Yes, Jayne, she's a witch. She's had congress with the Beast.
Jayne: She's in Congress?
Wash: How did your brain even learn human speech? I'm just so curious!

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Wednesday, January 4, 2006 5:19 PM

SAMEERTIA

Our local video store brought in 5 copies. They've been constantly out since they got them, and the clerk tells me he believes that two of them have been 'stolen'.

(We're in a vacation town. People rent ski cottages, rent movies for the weekend and then take them home. Not like they're gonna have to live here, right?)

The bonus is, how often are people gonna say, "But I REALLY wanted to see that movie! Oh, look, Best Buy is on the way home. Let's swing by and see how much it is to just buy it."

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Wednesday, January 4, 2006 6:04 PM

ROCKETJOCK

Report from Northern California: Our local Hollywood Video had a full wall display, approx 20 copies--all rented, according to my daughter.

Just proves it:

Firefly ain't Star Trek;
Serenity ain't Star Wars;
What we are folk, is The Little Engine That Could!

"She's tore up plenty. But she'll fly true." -- Zoë Washburn

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Wednesday, January 4, 2006 7:20 PM

ANONYMOUS1

Quote:
Originally posted by Phoebe:
It's so odd seeing you guys complain that there are only eight or twelve copies... in all the video/dvd rental stores I know, a film's successful if there's more than one or two copies available for rent. The idea of having eight copies of one film in one rental store just BLOWS the mind!

Do you have Blockbuster stores in your area? They usually have like 75 or a hundred copies of each new release in my area.

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Wednesday, January 4, 2006 7:24 PM

UNSARDONIC

Quote:
Originally posted by Omelet:
I suggest we go to Blockbuster at night and secretly place every Firefly-related object front and center for everyone to see.

YOU, my dear egg-concoction are some sort of demented GEEENius...

All Browncoats should reshelve all those video stores "or your friends will think you're stupid, inbred stacks of meat"

hehhehheh

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Friday, January 6, 2006 2:32 PM

OMELET

Quote:
Originally posted by Unsardonic:
Quote:
Originally posted by Omelet:
I suggest we go to Blockbuster at night and secretly place every Firefly-related object front and center for everyone to see.

YOU, my dear egg-concoction are some sort of demented GEEENius...
hehhehheh

Why thank you very much. I am kinda sneaky and evil, aren't I.

Jayne: Are you saying River's a witch?
Wash: Yes, Jayne, she's a witch. She's had congress with the Beast.
Jayne: She's in Congress?
Wash: How did your brain even learn human speech? I'm just so curious!

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Friday, January 6, 2006 7:57 PM

UNSARDONIC

Quote:
Originally posted by Omelet:
I am kinda sneaky and evil, aren't I.

HAHHAHHAH!!!

I just read your profile... between that & your reply, you just made me laugh so hard, I can't even tall ya...

Make me LAUGH, dudes, LAUGH

..."LAUGH," I said... "or your friends will think you're stupid, inbred stack of meat."

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Friday, January 6, 2006 8:00 PM

OMELET

Quote:
Originally posted by Unsardonic:
Quote:
Originally posted by Omelet:
I am kinda sneaky and evil, aren't I.

HAHHAHHAH!!!

I just read your profile... between that & your reply, you just made me laugh so hard, I can't even tall ya...

Make me LAUGH, dudes, LAUGH ..."LAUGH," I said... "or your friends will think you're stupid, inbred stack of meat."

I'm glad to have brightened your day.

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Friday, January 6, 2006 8:34 PM

NOSADSEVEN

Quote:
Originally posted by DonCoat:
Maybe it's evidence that the Serenity DVD is selling so well, they can't make them fast enough -- so they don't have enough available to fulfill the rental store orders.

Yeah, unfortunately I remember reading something about Blockbuster in particular having some kind of contract issue that needed to be worked out with Universal that resulted in all of their Uni. titles being of relatively limited supply. I can only hope that they keep the few copies they have prominent over a long period.

~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ain't. We. Just.

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Saturday, January 7, 2006 10:07 AM

MIMA

What gets stuffed in people's faces= popular.

ex: recording studios paying radio to play tunes that suck until they hit the top 10.

blockbuster not stocking a lot of serenity= bad.

I took my firefly and serenity to a new years party of 16 people. 2 had heard of firefly. none had watched the dvd. none had seen the movie. they played the first ep and (while mingling) everyone said they liked it, would go get it/rent it. but NONE of them even knew about the movie. never heard of it, missed it when it was out, never saw ads, trailers, ANYTHING. this is 16 30somethings who like gaming and movies.

on dec 21, day after opening day: i go to a b&n and a borders. The b&n says "oh we've sold out of serenity." i'm like, "WOOO HOOOO!" How many was that and when were they restocking? They had got in 4!!!! copies and were going to get 4!!!! more the next week.
4!

where's the glory of being sold out in that? i go to borders: how's it selling? not too well. they have copies everywhere, on gazillions of endcaps, because the manager is a huge fan. he ordered 100 copies. sold 20.

quite frankly, marketing is SOOO important, and i think our bdm bombed in that aspect. move those dvd's to front and center, omelet, and i will too!

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Saturday, January 7, 2006 10:23 AM

JERRYT

Well the good news, I guess at my local BB, is that they went from having zero copies to one copy!

It wasn't rented, but it's always easier to rent a title if they have at least a shelf's worth. That way people rent based on the; oh there are quite a few of these, might be worth a try.
Guess I'm in one of those areas where Sci-Fi isn't that big a draw.

JerryT
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"I'll be in my bunk"

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Sunday, January 8, 2006 6:43 AM

DONCOAT

Here's a thought, for those who can afford it: rent Serenity, then drop it back in the return box as you leave the store.

It counts as a rental but doesn't prevent it from being re-rented to a potential new Browncoat as soon as the staff restocks the shelves.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I don't disagree on any particular point.

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