This is an off-shoot from what we ended up talking about on the 'Underworld Awakening' thread.

I was in the supermarket today and saw 'Resident Evil: Afterlife' on DVD for £4 (I've seen DVDs for 99p, but £4 is pretty average bargain-bucket pricing in the UK). It turned a profit at the cinema apparently ($60m budget, nearly $300m gross worldwide). Without seeing the film I am quite sure that it is dross, but why is it being sold so cheaply?

I would have thought that cinema ticket money mostly ends up in the hands of the cinema rather than the movie label because of the cost of running a cinema, but I could be wrong, but surely once a film goes on general sale, that's the point where movie labels can really cash in - a hell of a lot of movies are sold for at least 20 years, so surely making a good-quality movie to ensure that it survives the initial cinema run, critically speaking, so that people buy it later (possibly as well as the cinema)?

I find it strange how films like The Shawshank Redemption has always been a bargain-bucket price after failing at the cinema, it's an extremely popular film, so why hasn't it kept some value on disc format?

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My PC spec

Someone will correct me if I am wrong, but I believe that ALL ticket revenue goes to the movie studios and the Cinema's make money by selling you over-priced snacks.

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"All civilizations become either spacefaring or extinct." -- Carl Sagan

The cinemas get a small, and from what I understand, SMALL percentage of the ticket sales. I'm guessing the actual amount may vary depending on the studio and/or the film. This is based off the fact that some films show on 4 screens a dozen times apiece while other are lucky to get 1 screen and a few showings a day.
A large portion of the cinema's profit comes from the sales of snacks and beverages.

As far as the initial question of why some films are so cheap.. I'm guessing your 4 pounds is equivalent to our $9.99 which is a typical bargain price on a DVD. I think it depends on the film itself and whether or not it made the enough money back in theaters. Something like Shawshank Redemption is a fantastic film, made boat loads of money but it is most likely not the first flick you think of when deciding to buy a DVD. Giving it a low price makes it a very likely candidate for an impulse buy. Resident Evil on the other hand probably sees a greater number of DVD sales out of the gate and since it has already grossed a ton of money the studio looks for quantity over price.

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"Too Soon from the Cave, Too Far from the Stars"

Kinda related to the Underworld - Awakening thread, but I found this amusing:

http://www.npr.org/blogs/monkeysee/2011 ... -a-classic

Back to this thread though - I wonder how many people buy a DVD for a film that they haven't seen already?

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My PC spec

I have done that on occasion, but only when the DVD is on sale or in the bargin bin and I was pretty interested in the movie to begin with.

Never have done that for a full priced DVD.

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"All civilizations become either spacefaring or extinct." -- Carl Sagan

Yup ditto to the above. I've bought plenty off the discount racks. I watch some pretty abysmal stuff keep in mind and I don't think it was ever "full priced". Back in the day of VHS and Suncoast video stores, the store would have a rack at the front of the store that the films started out at $9.99 but if you bought two, $8.99, three, $7.99 etc. I think the cut off was $4.99 a piece. Needless to say, I'd often walk out with 10 flicks in my hands. Usually 1950's schlock and 80's direct to video stuff.

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"Too Soon from the Cave, Too Far from the Stars"

You guys aren't factoring in the rental factor..