The "How Did They Get in There?" Thread

[D'Snowth]

You know those discount bins at Walmart where you usually find lesser-known, box-office-flops, obscure, etc movies that are on DVD ranging anywhere between $1 - $6? Ever notice from time to time you'll see movies in there that you don't understand why they're in that bin to begin with?

Like for me, two movies I always see in the discount bins, yet I don't understand why are 13 Going on 30 and Radio.

Now, I usually don't go out watching chick-flicks, but 13 Going on 30 was quite an amusing and quirky little romantic comedy, and if I'm not mistaking, it was also Jennifer Garner's first starring role in a motion picture; also features Mark Ruffalo, Andy Serkis, and Judy Greer. I can even remember when this movie seemed rather popular with people, and like most other movies that are hits, it was broadcasted on cable movie channels (HBO, Starz, etc) with featurettes On Demand, etc for a while... now, it's reduced to selective broadcasts on FX, and the DVD is always in the discount bin... I don't know.

As for Radio... eh... I guess I can understand, because it was one of those movies that are based on the true life experiences of the "characters" within, in this case, the unusual, yet unique friendship between the mentally-challenged James Robert "Radio" Kennedy and former high school football coach Harold Jones. Unlike other movies, I don't recall this one ever being on the likes of HBO or anything, and it too seems to be reduced to occasional FX airings... but if you ask me, the storyflow, the directing, and the performances really made this movie something special, and I think it deserves a lot better, in my opinion.

 

[Drtooth]

The answer is nothing short of simplicity. No matter how big the movie was, even if it was a blockbuster... all you have to do is wait 2-5 years (depending on what movie it is... some big time flops actually jump right into the bargain bin within a year of its DVD release) and they'll need to clear out all the thousands of copies they printed when the film first came to DVD.

It all has to do with the way movies are sold on DVD. I was at Target yesterday and saw at least 2 rows of new DVD's all pushing each other off the shelves filled to the brim with Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs... and one tiny slot with 2 copies of everything else. More Movies are printed than TV shows, and the studios are under the impression if they put a hundred copies of a movie in a store the day it comes out to DVD, they'll all sell within a week. They don't. And of course, everyone gets backlogged with hundreds and hundreds of copies of a movie that came out a few years ago... so of course, they have to dump them in the discount bin after a while. It's the only way they'll sell any of them after a while.

Of course, for some strange reasons, animated films never actually go to the discount bin. Sure, they go as low as 10 bucks maybe, but you'll never find Curious George in one of those bins. Really, I want to see that one, and I'm always waiting for it to go lower.