Are Straight-To-DVD Movies Not Worth Watching?
Home entertainment offers people the best movies in the comfort of their own home. Additionally, renting a movie is a fraction of the cost of going to the theatres, and you can watch the movie as many times as you want within the stipulated time period. Since the early era of the humble VHS, it has become the dumping ground for movies that are predicted to make little to no impact on the big screen. Instead of labeling them complete failures, they are given a chance to prove their mettle on the small screen, giving them a second chance to earn a profit. However, it can’t be said that all direct-to-DVD movies are failures.
One of the reasons why a movie may be a VHS or DVD-only release is because it has become legitimate way of bypassing the traditional channels of reaching an audience, cutting out the middle man that is the theatre. While a packed theatre is a sure way to rake in the profits, getting the DVD version of the movie to the right audience can still bring in a good profit. This way, not only are the tanked movies given an exposure but can also become part of a very exclusive cult following if it does well on DVD. In today’s fast-paced movie market, promoting a movie can sometimes come with a price tag that costs at least half the expense of creating the movie itself. For small studios, that is a lot of money that could be spent on financing a story with a better plot.
It is not a case of only R rated movies being sold as DVD-only hits. In fact, many sequels to children’s movies and family friendly budget movies often find their way onto the small screen without hitting the silver screen first. These days, it has little to nothing to do with quality and more to do with how soon it can reach its intended audience.