39.4 Once again, does Blockbuster pay the studios to cut out all the bad stuff?
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This article is from the Sex Movies FAQ, by director@gti.net (The Director) with numerous contributions by others.
39.4 Once again, does Blockbuster pay the studios to cut out all the bad stuff?
Nope. Blockbuster didn't commission anything. They didn't need to.
Recently, the video trade magazine "Video Software Magazine"
published a listing of the top 95 video chains. Not surprisingly,
Blockbuster was number one. What was surprising was the size of
their lead. Blockbuster is over FIVE times the size of the next
largest chain. I didn't total it up, but it appears that
Blockbuster, at nearly 3000 stores, is bigger than all the other 94
chains combined.
With a market that size, you find out what their rules are, and beg
for a chance to play by them. If the only version of your movie
has no rating, then you've excluded a HUGE portion of your market.
Since all the studios want to play by Blockbuster's rules, they'll
take their box art to BB for approval, and sometimes even go so far
as to pay the MPAA to rate their movie even though they have no
plans to ever release it in theatres. All so they can play by BB's
rules.
An example of BB's clout: About a month prior to this writing,
Live Home Video released the mainstream film, "Stargate". The
theatrical artwork, posters, etc. featured a ring over a pyramid.
This was to also appear as the box art. Blockbuster requested that
the artwork be changed to also feature the faces of the two
principle actors, Kurt Russell and James Spader. Live agreed to do
this, but cautioned BB that their alternate artwork would not be
supported by Live's publicity campaign. When word of this hit the
rest of the video chains, Live received so many requests for the
alternate box art, they dropped the original art, making the BB
alternate art the only box art. Next time you're in any video
store, look at the box, then at the poster. You'll see what I mean.
Here's another example of Blockbuster's clout: There is a
mainstream director named "Gregory Hippolyte". Hippolyte produces
and directs such grade 'B' erotic potboilers as "Animal Instinct
1", "Animal Instinct 2", and "Undercover". From reports in a.s.m.,
Hippolyte is none other than porn's Greg Dark, of the infamous Dark
Brothers. The Hippolyte films are released direct to video, and
never see the inside of a movie theatre. Therefore there is no
need for him to spend good money just to have the MPAA Ratings
Board rate his movie.
But if you'll check, you'll see that his films come in the two
traditional flavors - "R" rated, and unrated. Why is this? It's
simple - if he doesn't edit his movie down to an "R" rating, then
Blockbuster won't buy it. Nearly 3000 (2700 at last report)
stores, buying maybe a dozen copies each at $65 apiece - that
turns into over two million dollars from BB alone.... That's a
pretty good price for selling your integrity, if that's the way you
want to look at it. So who cut Hippolyte's film? Not Blockbuster
- Hippolyte/Dark did it himself.
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