VHS moves further out of the picture

At Amazon, some tapes are "special order"

By Jennifer Netherby -- Video Business, 1/28/2005

JAN. 28 | Several major studios and retailers started the New Year by cutting further back on VHS releases, pushing the older format closer to extinction.

Buena Vista Home Entertainment, meanwhile, told retailers earlier this month that it is raising its VHS prices to match DVD, presumably to reflect higher manufacturing costs and slackening demand for videotape.

The Incredibles, for example, has a suggested retail price of $29.99 and a minimum advertised priced of $20.95 on VHS, the same as DVD. Studio executives were not available for comment at press time.

With DVD now accounting for 90% or more of most new release shipments, it's no surprise that studios are carefully picking their spots in releasing the older format.

Sony Pictures Home Entertainment will release Sarah Michelle Gellar thriller The Grudge Tuesday on DVD only, notable for a film that earned a respectable $110 million in theaters.

Last week, Sony skipped a VHS release for critically acclaimed surfing documentary Riding Giants, and it will do the same for March 22 video premiere Art Heist starring William Baldwin.

New Line Home Entertainment is releasing Oscar nominees The Story of the Weeping Camel and Vera Drake on DVD only along with Nicole Kidman drama Birth. All three made less than $10 million at the box office.

"The demand for VHS for the smaller more art-based films just isn't there on VHS," said marketing executive VP Matt Lasorsa. "I think what we attribute it to [ is its being] targeted to a more affluent, educated audience. Those people have largely adopted DVD; they're not looking for films on VHS."

Lasorsa said New Line is evaluating VHS releases on a title-by-title basis and won't yet skip VHS releases for larger box office, mass marketed films.

Other studios also have axed VHS releases on select smaller films.

Paramount Home Entertainment put out rock documentary Metallica: Some Kind of Monster on DVD only. 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment is releasing DVD premieres Incident at Loch Ness and Volcano High on DVD only. Warner Home Video is passing up VHS for May 10 family DVD premiere movie Golden Blaze.

Internet retailer Amazon.com appears to be stocking fewer VHS copies of titles on which VHS is available, with titles such as Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow from Paramount, Cellular from New Line and other new releases listed as special order with a note to customers that Amazon might be unable to obtain them.

Blockbuster, meanwhile, has cut VHS from its rental inventory in a handful of stores, after dropping VHS from its sales racks in 2003, at the same time Best Buy and Circuit City dropped the format from their bricks-and-mortar stores. DVD accounts for 80% of rentals across Blockbuster, the spokeswoman said.

Wal-Mart stores carry only a small selection of top VHS releases, as do Target stores.

Stores that do carry VHS such as TransWorld Entertainment are essentially phasing down that business because of limited availability of titles. "It's drying up," said Fred Fox, senior VP merchandising.

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