To B or Not to B? Low-Budget Films Fading

A sad song reverberating through the home-video industry is called the “The B-Movie Blues.” It’s No. 1 on the hit parade of retailers and many home-video companies.

Retailers are buying fewer B movies--low-budget films without major stars that have had limited theatrical release or, frequently, none at all.

For the consumer, this means there’s less to choose from at video stores.

David Bishop, vice president of sales for MGM/UA Home Video, estimates that stores are buying only 70% as many B titles this year as last. Other industry executives contend that the situation is even worse--a 40% to 50% decline in the last year or two.

The main source of the problem is a shift in consumer renting habits.

“They’re just not renting B titles like they used to,” insisted Mitch Perliss, director of purchasing for the Music Plus chain. “So retailers are buying fewer B titles, or buying them very selectively.”

This slackening in consumer interest in B titles is part of the general leveling off process that has hit the home-video market in the last year.

“When VCRs were a novelty and people were buying them for the first time, they would rent anything--just about any movie (that) retailers would put on the shelf,” Perliss said. “But the novelty of VCRs and renting movies has worn off. . . . Consumers are more selective in what they rent. And they’re not as interested in B movies as they were a few years ago.”

But while the business has changed, the price structure of B movies hasn’t. Home-video companies continue to sell B movies to retailers and distributors at high prices--often at the industry-standard $90.

Complained Allan Caplan, who heads the Applause chain: “Why should some obscure movie or a box-office bomb that nobody wants to rent cost the retailer the same as ‘Look Who’s Talking” or ‘Tango and Cash’? The hits rent quickly while those other titles rent slowly and not often enough to make a huge profit.”

In a business driven by glamorous, big box-office hits, why are B titles still so important?

“You need a flow of new B titles into the rental market for variety,” said Perliss. “If you’re a big chain, offering a variety of titles sets you off from the small stores. Also you want to satisfy all your customers. Some people really like the B titles and we want to satisfy them too. But you also want to spend money wisely. B movies aren’t as good an investment as they used to be.”

The solution that Caplan and Perliss favor is for the distributors to drop their prices.

“With B movies it may take twice as long to get your money back,” Caplan explained. “If retailers were able to buy them more cheaply--maybe at half what they cost us now--B-movies would be more attractive.”

Other suggestions have been made--including selling some titles to distributors on a two-cassettes-for-the-price-of-one deal, or giving retailers several extra months to pay for B titles--but these are viewed as only stop-gap measures.

“There are things that can be done to make the situation easier but they probably won’t make a huge difference in the long run,” Caplan said. “Until the manufacturers drop the price on all the B movies--making the price match the rental interest in these movies--the problem won’t go away.”

Added Perliss: “The way things look now for the consumer, I’d look for fewer and fewer B-movies in the stores in the near future.”