[dvd] Sin City out today...but don't buy it

I'm glad I read this article. It'll be awhile before the dvd with all the extras is out. This one is a quick release.

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/headline/entertainment/3311194


It'll cost fans extras to see Sin City hit DVD quickly

By BRUCE WESTBROOK
Copyright 2005 Houston Chronicle


Sin City fans must be ecstatic — and frustrated. Today's release of the bold action film comes just 4 1/2 months after it hit theaters, but the DVD has just one extra: an eight-minute making-of featurette.

Austin's Robert Rodriguez knows their pain. Having co-directed Sin City with Frank Miller, author of the source graphic novels, he felt special obligation to the material. But most Sin City extras — including new footage — must wait for its "real DVD" down the line, he says.

Don't blame Rodriguez. Blame Hollywood, which is shrinking the window between theatrical and DVD campaigns from six months to four. It's doing this to combat illegal downloads, exploit first-run marketing campaigns and cash in more quickly on the lucrative DVD market.

There's even talk of selling bare-bones DVDs of films at the theaters where they open.

''I know of a packaging company that's come up with a prototype of selling a no-frills disc when people come out of the theater," said Larry Jaffee, editor of New York-based DVD trade magazine Medialine.

At the least, he thinks studios ''will be putting out more plain-vanilla releases sooner, on the tail-end of a theatrical release."

That seems to be the plan at Disney. With his studio's theatrical arm losing money, incoming CEO Robert Iger says he wants to push Disney films quickly to DVD.

Discs remain a huge cash cow, even if their milking has leveled off. Movie DVD revenues are expected to top $24 billion this year, compared to $9 billion at theaters.

The trade-off is that more folks are likely to say ''I'll wait for the DVD" and skip theaters entirely.

If fans can wait a little longer for Sin City, Rodriguez is planning something special for them, in a first for DVD.

''I miked Sin City's Austin premiere at the big Paramount Theater and recorded it in 5.1," he said. When a two-disc Sin City special edition arrives — perhaps by December — such ambience will be an audio option.

''You'll click a button and get to hear the Austin audience reacting to the film for the first time," Rodriguez said. ''You'll hear what took them by surprise, made them gasp. It's gonna be really cool."

But if DVDs keep coming out earlier, will anyone be left in theaters to react?

"The era when movies could command a major share of public attendance at a set date and time is becoming a thing of the past," said Tim Lucas, editor of Video Watchdog magazine.

"People can afford to be more selective about what they want to view, and many home entertainment systems are now the presentational equal of what you'd get in a movie theater — and environmentally superior, without the talking neighbors, strangers' cell phones and sticky floors."

Such things help explain Hollywood's recent 19-week box-office slump. Beyond annoying crowds and bad movies looms the DVD factor.

"If it's a choice between spending $25 for tickets to a movie and almost that much again for drinks and popcorn, it's understandable people are opting instead to buy a movie on DVD for $15, even if it's no-frills," Lucas said. Besides, he thinks the cost and convenience of DVDs are bigger selling points than extra features.

''The extras on most major Hollywood product are rarely worth wading through," Lucas said. ''Only the real fan-driven titles need extra detailing."

Sin City is just such a title. But if its fans buy now, they face buying it again for a broader experience.

Rodriguez said he was busy on another film and "didn't have time to do all the extra stuff for Sin City for that short of a window before DVD." When Bob and Harvey Weinstein launch their post-Miramax studio, he wants to work with them to ensure this doesn't happen again.

"I don't like having two versions (of a DVD)," Rodriguez said. ''People will buy the first one and not buy the second, and that's the one I want them to see."

His advice is to rent Sin City now and wait to buy it in fuller form. That will include ''all kinds of stuff," he said.

Working with actors against green screens, then adding backgrounds by computer, Rodriguez quickly shot stories for three graphic novels, then entwined them in one film. To hold that film to two hours, "we had to lose a bunch of scenes."

For Sin City's eventual meaty DVD, one disc will have the theatrical cut, and another will sport all three stories in stand-alone form, while adding unused footage.

Other extras will be commentary by Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino, who directed one scene.

The latter's Kill Bill films also hit DVD with minimal extras, and they still haven't returned with bulky bonuses. Tarantino had the same problem: insufficient time to do extras for the first DVDs.

"I hope to have more control over that in the future," Rodriguez said. But with faster shifts to DVD, he may face a battle. Lucas thinks it's more likely films will start reaching DVD at the same time as theaters.

"Imagine a no-frills DVD sold only in theaters to patrons on the way out," he said. "This would be an exclusive form of sale until the official DVD release date, at which time a fuller disc could be available."

Or imagine getting the fuller disc right off the bat. Now that would be the best of both worlds.

 

I'm guessing the extras will be really sweet on this dvd, or at least I'm hoping. Any extra footage containing Alba has to be good, right?

 

For those of you who don't listen to the commentary track you are missing out on some great stuff.

Old School and Anchorman are two classic examples.