A regular customer of mine came in during some down time in my day shift. We were the only ones in the store and when I'm around people I really feel comfortable with, I can be quite brutal in my opinions. (Y'know, like when I'm around you guys!) Anyway, this convo came up right after the BBV Crash of '09, and he, like 100 other people that week, asked if we were having trouble due to the economy, stock market, etc.
I replied that our main problem seemed to be the plethora of crap movies.
Has anyone else noticed that there seems to be a real issue with getting in "good" movies during any time of the year besides spring (last Christmas's big blockbusters) and winter (the previous summer's blockbusters)?
I first noticed it two years ago when our "big" title was "
Animal 2" with Ving Rhames, August '07. We got over 100 copies, and it was crap. It sat on our shelves and collected dust, through two or three CFDs, until there was one left for BSI. This past August, I cannot even remember what came out. All I remember is the mass of television series that came out in that month.
It's not just August, though. This past few months, even by our own CEO Jim Keyes' own admission, we've not had any "big titles".
When you consider that even the RedBox has titles that make you scratch your head and go, "WTF is that?", it's not hard to imagine how we're not getting business. Every Tuesday lately, I've been in the store and noticed how people just do the "loop" (run exclusively along the new release wall) and seeing nothing they can't live without, just walk out. The shelves are full, and we're standing at the ready with suggestions. But...nothing.
I've been listening to how BBV has made bad business decisions (Total Access comes to mind, as well as the never-ending terms changing), and I completely agree that we've had some mad scientists in charge. But if we actually had a product that, I don't know, customers actually WANTED, it would be helpful. It's hard to sell shit unless you run a farm supply store, in my opinion. We've been stuck with, frankly, shit.
Another bad decision BBV made that ties into my theory is the Weinstein/Genius exclusive. Not only could they not make it stick, thanks to not being able to lock down the exclusive sales rights as well as the exclusive rentals, but for every great title we got "exclusively" (Rob Zombie's
Halloween, Hannibal Rising, The Nanny Diaries, Zach and Miri...), we've gotten some real turds in the deal. I refer you to the aforementioned
Animal 2, and such "big renters" (ha!) as
I Want Someone to Eat Cheese With, and
Sixty Six, as well as the Dimension Extreme titles (
Triloquist, Pulse 2, Pulse 3, Feast 2 and
3) as examples of this.
Why is the recent slate of bad movies important? Other video retailers have been going in the toilet, besides Blockbuster. Want proof? Circuit City is no more. Hollywood and Movie Gallery merged, and are still closing stores. Netflix, who has been kicking Blockbuster's ass,
is currently not giving their leaders bonuses. TransWorld Entertainment, which is the parent company of FYE and Suncoast movie stores, is
currently trading at .70 cents per share, comparable to
Blockbuster's .77 cents a share.
My point is, Blockbuster is just the latest, and the best-known of a group of video retailers that are all having financial trouble. My personal vote on it is that the videos coming out lately are so bad (
Meet Dave?) or so obscure (
Let the Right One In, The Boy in Striped Pajamas), that people don't care or know about them.
It's fairly easy to blame the Hollywood establishment, except there is also a credit crisis to deal with as well. We could blame the shaky loyalty of our customers, except that with the money tightening, why wouldn't they rent less, or at least, not rent movies that they know are going to be bad? We could also blame the creditors, but they're currently reaping the bad investments they've sown in housing and junk funds. Things are tough all over, and we're just the most recent casualty.
Is it really over? Would a few good movies change it all? Or are we finally at oblivion?