DVDs on demand: Warner dips into untapped vault (LAT, VAR, WSJ, THR)

By Nancy Tartaglione-Vialatte

Warner Bros. today will launch a service giving the public the opportunity to custom-order DVDs of films never before released via the medium. The move is seen as a response to dwindling DVD sales and also to customer demand for titles that while not totally obscure, didn't necessarily generate enough heat to merit a full-on DVD release.

The Warner Archive Collection, available at WarnerArchive.com, includes films dating back to the silent age and for $19.95 per disc Warners will burn, package and ship for receipt within an estimated five days. Currently there are 150 titles available with for a total of more than 300 by year's end.

The films will also be available for download at the site for $14.95. The discs, which do not come in Blu-ray form, will be made without any extras save an original trailer if available. The Web site also allows customers to preview each title to see how it looks in terms of picture quality, notes The Los Angeles Times.

The choice of the launch titles was based on the volume of consumer requests Warner has fielded over the years, says Variety.

"My dream has always been to find a way to get everything to everybody who wants it," George Feltenstein, senior vice president of theatrical catalog marketing for Warner Home Video, told The Los Angeles Times. "No matter how obscure or arcane, there is something in the library that somebody wants. But yet you have to hit a certain threshold of sales potential to justifying making a DVD the old-fashioned way."

"Just the cost of authoring, compression and menus, all of that kind of thing, can run into a great deal of money," Feltenstein added, "and with shelf space at retail being diminished - there is no more Tower Records, Music Plus..."

Some of the new-to-DVD titles listed at the site include "Possessed," starring Clark Gable and Joan Crawford; "Once Upon a Honeymoon" with Cary Grant and Ginger Rogers and "All Fall Down" with Warren Beatty and Eva Marie Saint.

TV additions to the new service are likely to include "Maverick," "77 Sunset Strip," "Bourbon Street Beat," "Bronco," "Lawman" and "Hawaiian Eye."

Debbie Reynolds will head up a publicity blitz for the service.

The Warner feature film library houses 6,800 theatrical films, of which just 1,200 have so far made it to DVD.

Related Links

DVDs to order from Warner Bros. (LAT)
Warners opens on-demand vault (VAR)
Time Warner Taps Film Archive (WSJ, sub)
Warner Bros. customizing DVD purchases (THR)