Focused on the Family?

Last week, Fox announced the details of the new super deluxe 3-disc DVD release of Avatar.  It has all the usual bells and whistles and more.  But what really caught my attention was the inclusion of a "Family Audio Track" that purportedly removes all objectionable language.  To my knowledge, this is the first time that the home video release of a major blockbuster has offered this kind of option and it reminded me of the controversy from a few years ago concerning ClearPlay and CleanFlicks.  

At the time, the movie studios and a group of notable directors objected to the idea that someone else could tamper with their creative work without the approval of the studio or the filmmaker.  ClearPlay, which offers a DVD player that allows parents to filter out offensive content without actually altering the film itself, was eventually protected by federal legislation in 2005.  CleanFlicks, which edited films and then produced and sold the edited copies, was effectively shut down by a lawsuit for violating copyright law in 2006.  In this instance, however, it is the studio itself that is offering a cleaned up version of the movie; and given director James Cameron's meticulous attention to every detail of his films, it can be reasonably assumed that he approved the new audio track as well.  Studios and filmmakers do this sort of thing regularly, of course, producing edited versions of films for airlines and for broadcast television.  But this is the first time that I've seen such an edit made commercially available (the general practice actually works the opposite direction, with DVDs regularly providing unrated versions of films that promise even more profanity, nudity, gore, etc.)

What makes this feature all the more refreshing is the fact that it is so unnecessary from a business standpoint.  Let's face it, Avatar is already the highest grossing film of all time.  There's not much room for significantly expanding the audience and the DVD will sell millions of copies regardless of the audio track.  But it's a nice tip of the hat to discerning parents who were maybe on the fence about letting their 9 or 10-year-old see the movie.  You may find other aspects of Avatar objectionable, such as the political subtext or the violence, and an alternate audio track won't fix that for you.  But if you consider it to simply be a really cool sci-fi epic with a little too much rough language for younger ears, the family audio track just might give you a nice option for sharing the movie with your kids. And just as every big movie has jumped on the 3D bandwagon in light of Avatar's success, perhaps more films will follow this example and give families more home viewing choices.

Dancing with a Dinosaur

Last week, Warner Bros. announced a new deal with Netflix under which new releases from the studio will only be available to Netflix subscribers 28 days after they've been released on DVD.  Warner Bros. hopes that by creating this exclusive window more consumers will buy the movie on DVD and Blu-ray and prop up declining home video sales.  By the way, Warner Bros. is not forcing this arrangement on any other distributor, such as Blockbuster, just Netflix. 

Netflix took the deal because in exchange for the 28-day window, Netflix gets greater access to Warner Bros.'s library of films for it's streaming service.  In other words, they're taking the long view.  They get more content that they can offer their customers via the distribution channel that's going to matter the most in the future.  They also probably understand that this arrangement will have next to zero impact on DVD sales and will be merely a minor inconvenience for its customers.  If a new Warner Bros. release isn't available, Netflix customers will simply push the new release further down the queue and watch something else instead, possibly a movie from another studio.   

Netflix has been successful because it is both affordable and convenient.  It's exactly the kind of service that can compete with copyright infringement.  Trying to resuscitate DVD sales is a fool's errand.  As Warner Bros. knows well, customers will still rush out to buy big movies that they want for their home libraries.  But rather than stubbornly cling to old business models, the studios need to embrace changing technology and accept shifting consumer demand.  Today's consumers expect movies to be available in any format they want at a reasonable price.  To their credit, the studios (including Warner Bros.) and some high-tech companies are exploring ways to do that.  But limiting the availability of your product on one of the most popular new home video formats (Netflix has over 11 million subscribers) seems like a step backwards.