The uber geeks

DVD special features are being shelved until later editions

Recently I’ve been noticing a trend. First-run DVDs no longer come with any significant special features. Perhaps this is a growing trend and not one you’ve noticed yet, but most recently many DVDs that Eliza and I have viewed have been sans special features.

A few worth mentioning are War of the Worlds and Batman Begins. The first-runs of both of these DVDs have come with either no special features (Batman Begins) or with only a single half-hour special features (War of the Worlds).

I can see how sometimes keeping some special features off of the initial DVDs would be beneficial not only to the production company, but also to the consumer, but I don’t think that this should start being the norm. Take for instance The Lord of the Rings trilogy. We own the Special Edition DVD sets, which are worth the money, but many average consumers would much rather the initial run due to price. Also, only die-hard fans of LOTR, or the movie-making process in general, would want to sit through 12 hours of special features per movie.

I think that some type of balance needs to be struck here and its definitely not what War of the Worlds and Batman DVDs are offering. But I don’t see this downward spiral going back in the other direction until people start complaining.

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