Foreign-Language Film Supply Lagging

Home-video enthusiasts know that most movies currently playing in theaters will be available to them on cassette within five months to a year. Unless it’s a foreign-language film they want to see.

In the giant home-video business, foreign-language films are a small, specialized division. Even if a foreign-language film is fairly well publicized and gets some critical acclaim, there’s no guarantee that it will ever show up on cassette in this country--or, if it does, that video retailers will stock it.

Industry analyst Dick Kelly, of Cambridge Associates, explained that there’s been limited research in this area but estimated that foreign-language films constitute just 0.5% of the home-video market.

A foreign film that generates orders from retailers and distributors of between 15,000 and 50,000 units is considered to be a big seller, said Orion Video executive Paul Wagner, whereas hit domestic movies sell hundreds of thousands of copies.

The foreign films that do make it to home video tend to have what Wagner calls a high recognition factor.

“If they have a famous director or cast members, or if they’re very well-publicized, they’re easier to sell to retailers,” he explained. “Films that get Oscar recognition are more marketable also. Films that are obscure may be excellent but they’ll be tough to market; they probably won’t make it to video.”

Orion is the only major video company that releases foreign films on a regular basis. Its recent releases include Italy’s “Devil in the Flesh,” Spain’s “Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown” and France’s “Chocolat.”

Explaining why the majors are so uninterested in the market, retailer Meir Hed, whose Videotheque chain is noted for its large foreign-film inventory, explained: “They’re too busy with hit American movies. They don’t seem to care about the foreign-film market. It’s too small for them to be concerned with.”

So the active players in the market are small companies like New Yorker, Connoisseur, Corinth, Cinematheque Collection and Video Yesteryear, which don’t have the resources to give foreign-language films much exposure.

Some industry observers feel that because of subtitles, which are difficult to see on small screens and are annoying to many people, foreign-language films will never be a major factor in the American home-video market. These observers think that dubbed films would get a better reception.

Orion, though, conducted a study that shot down this myth. “It showed that people favor subtitles 9-1,” Wagner reported.

Why don’t most video stores carry foreign films?

“Most retailers stock what’s most popular, which means the most recent movies,” Hed said. “Smaller stores have limited space. They want to stock what does the best business. In small towns, there’s not much of a market for foreign films on video. If you’re a (Ingmar) Bergman fan and you live in Iowa, you’re in trouble.”

This idea that there is a limited market for foreign-language films outside Los Angeles and New York may also be a myth, Wagner maintained.

Orion conducted a three-month study of rental activity in selected stores in 493 small cities, supplying foreign-language films to those that didn’t usually carry them. The results showed that 83% of stores not only wanted to continue to stock those films but also indicated that they’d buy additional foreign-language films, Wagner said.

“It shows there’s an audience out there for foreign-language films that needs to be cultivated,” he added.

Because foreign-language films are so hard to find, mail-order companies such as Home Film Festival have stepped in to fill the void. A rent-by-mail firm, Home Film Festival (at (800) 258-3456) offers about 1,300 titles--approximately 65% of which are foreign-language films.