Warner Archive to offer on-demand DVDs of previously unavailable movies

(Credit: Screenshot by John Falcone/CNET)

Warner Brothers is releasing dozens of previously unavailable movies on DVD for the first time--but you won't be able to find them at your local Wal-Mart. Variety reports that the studio's new Warner Archive program will eventually offer hundreds of old movies and TV episodes for consumers to buy for $20 per title on an on-demand basis. Selected DVDs will then be manufactured, packaged, and shipped directly to customers within a week.

The program is launching with around 150 titles that were originally released from the 1920s through the 1980s. While some of the titles may not be familiar, many are headlined by such golden-age stars as James Stewart, Joan Crawford, Clark Gable, Cary Grant, and Jean Harlow. There's also a touch of '80s cheese, with such nonclassics as "Oxford Blues" (Rob Lowe) and "Wisdom" (Demi Moore and Emilio Estevez). Available titles are already on display at warnerarchive.com (though some genres and decades weren't correctly displayed while we navigated the site).

Warner is planning to add 20 titles per month (movies and TV episodes), which should give the Vault more than 300 titles by the end of 2009. As Variety points out, the Warner catalog has more than 6,800 movies, but only 1,200 of those have been released on DVD so far--so there's a deep field of available content from which to draw.

The demand for classic and cult movies on DVD is certainly there, so I'm glad to see Warner making these movies available at a reasonable price. I just wish it would also make them available as rentals through video-on-demand services such as Amazon or Netflix. I've always wanted to see Francis Ford Coppola's "The Rain People," for instance--I just wish that I could rent a one-time viewing for $4 instead of buying it for $20.

What do you think?

(Source: Variety)

[U. Tripps]

Good way to take advantage of the "long tail."

[zunemoon]

I would love it if Warner would release the 1940's and 50's Bowery Boys movies!

[johnbuker]

Agree with your comment for want of a rental or streaming option. There are probably several of these I'd like to see, but not too many of them (if any) that I'd likely pay $20 for- even if that $20 was for a Blu-Ray (which it won't be).

[blusky08]

I'd rather see these released in the normal way--$20 is very steep for a DVD movie. Guess this is their way of keeping the prices inflated since profits from DVDs are down.

[tikoro]

Honestly. I understand nostalgia and "cult classics". Putting these old movies on to DVD makes sense in making them available, but for #20.00 a pop? C'mon, no matter how much you re-master them, they're not going to be HD quality, they're not going to be all that great quality even by standard NTSC/PAL viewing standards. At this rate you might as well take some of the newer movies and put them in to 10 tape box sets on BetaMAX tapes. I can go get a brand new, just released movie for $20.00...From the titles above it looks like they're taking some of the titles TCM turned down for their fall movie line up and burning them to DVD..

[make_or_break]

It's not like they're counting on sales to the likes of you for this sort of marketing strategy. Grab the hardcore collectors first, then after those few are satiated, then consider dropping the price for everyone else (well, at least to those few miserly collectors who might jump off the sidelines at a cheaper price).

Films like these are NICHE sales, period. Why the hell should Warner put a bargain basement price when most consumers would ignore most of this stuff anyways?

"Cult" material often gets all sorts of people willing to pay top money for stuff, even if the material is new to the market. Why should you expect Warner or any other FOR-PROFIT entity to want to leave money on the table? Besides, if they don't sell from the outset Warner can always drop the price later on; given how they've long since gotten whatever real profit mileage they have from these old flicks to begin with, it's not like it's going to cost them anymore to do it this way from this point on...it's all just gravy from their long dead stock.

[wshwe]

I hope few people buy these outrageously priced DVDs.

[sld72382]

I would never buy any Warner product again after they crippled Youtube....

[Jay M]

I think it's true they will lower the prices after the initial feeding frenzy by obsessive collectors. I am one of those myself, but I will not pay these prices. Many of these films have in fact appeard on TCM and other places, so many of us already have decent copies.... What's more, these are said to be DVD-r copies and for that reason alone they should be about half the posted price. I do give them credit for issuing the films in original aspect ratio (assuming they really are doing that) :)

[Eludium-Q36]

Definitely a pricing FAIL, regardless of allegedly bilking collectors, that's hogwash. This is a wholesale, not retail operation, and should be priced accordingly. Availability + Unreasonable Pricing still = Black Market. They've STILL learned nothing.

[blusky08]

For some reason, it seems relevant that:
1) You can see a new movie in the cinema for $10 (or less).
2) They made their money off these years ago.
3) You can often purchase most older television series/seaons with over 10 hours of content for similar money.
4) DVDs are cheap as chips to manufacture.