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Paramount Gives Dance Flick BD a Headstart

Posted July 31, 2009 06:15 AM by Juan Calonge

Paramount Home Entertainment, recognizing Blu-ray as a growing segment of the business, has announced that it will release 'Dance Flick' on an unrated BD on September 8, four to eight weeks ahead of the DVD release. Special features will include outtakes, deleted scenes and an alternate ending. The DVD will initially only be available for the rental channel, in a barebones disc.

揥e have been strategically evaluating new and innovative ways to maximize retail opportunities for each individual title,?said Ken Williams, Paramount executive VP of sales. 揥e believe that a DVD rental window will increase revenue in that channel and that releasing a Blu-ray exclusively for sell-through will help drive adoption of the format, so it's a win-win scenario.?

Other upcoming titles may be subject to the new staggered-release policy. The studio will evaluate each title and implement the strategy on a case-by-case basis.

Disney was the first studio to try releasing BD versions ahead of DVD, with 'Bolt' and 'Bedtime Stories', but in both cases the release interval was under a week and many retailers broke the DVD street date, so the impact of the initiative was very limited. Now Disney is going a step further in the fall, and is releasing 'Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs' on Blu-ray on Oct. 6, seven weeks before the new standard-def DVD version hits on Nov. 24.

Note that unlike the aforementioned Disney movies, 'Dance Flick' will not include a DVD with the BD.

Overall, retailers believe it is difficult to predict how Paramount's Dance Flick strategy will play with consumers, considering the title's modest $26 million U.S. theatrical gross.

"It's hard to know what direction you should go or how to deal with it," said Zaganiacz. "Given the profile of the movie, it's not causing a lot of heartburn."