Blockbuster Ousting Playboy Tapes From Music Plus

P ss s t. Wanna buy some soft-core porn tapes cheap?

The video departments of the Music Plus and Sound Warehouse audio-video chains are getting rid of their Playboy Home Video and Penthouse Video tapes at bargain prices. Most usually retail for $20 but now they’re available for about $5 for used copies and about $10-$12 new.

These aren’t obscure tapes either. Eleven of the titles--eight Playboy and three Penthouse--are in the Top 40 of the Billboard video sales chart. Two of the Playboy tapes are even in the Top 5.

The combined total of 235 stores in these chains are dumping these tapes in the next few months by order of the parent company, the video retailing giant Blockbuster Entertainment Corp., which has a policy of not stocking adult and NC-17-rated tapes in its video stores.

This recent edict, said Blockbuster Senior Vice President Ron Castell, merely brings the audio-video chain stores in line with company policy. The plan is for the chains, which Blockbuster bought late last year, to be rid of the sex tapes by the end of summer.

“Those stores will be converted to the name Blockbuster so they’ll have to conform to the policy we’ve had since 1985,” Castell said.

Though much of Playboy’s business is done in audio-video chains like Tower, Wherehouse and Musicland, the company’s Senior Vice President and General Manager Jeff Jenest said being bumped from Music Plus and Sound Warehouse isn’t a hardship.

“These chains account for less than 4% of our business,” Jenest explained. “Business is good. We’re up 25% over last year.”

What galls Jenest is that Playboy videos, by his judgment, are tamer than many R-rated videos carried in Blockbuster stores. “There’s a lot of hypocrisy here,” he said. “They carry slasher films and movies that are real crummy, that don’t compare in quality and taste to the Playboy product. Our tapes have nudity but, by comparison, they’re pretty innocuous and they’re done with quality and taste.”

Since the Music Plus and Sound Warehouse chains also sell music products, Jenest tried to make it a larger issue, raising the specter of censorship that might not stop at videos. “Can Madonna or Prince or Ice-T tapes and CDs be next?” he asked. “I think it’s a dangerous first step in an overall censorship effort.”

Responding to Jenest’s charges, Blockbuster’s Castell said: “This has nothing to do with censorship. We don’t plan to help them select playmates of the month, so we don’t need them getting involved in our selection of videos or music.”

Videobits

Those horrible copies of the 1946 James Stewart movie “It’s a Wonderful Life”--bad sound, fuzzy visuals--will soon be off the market. Since the title had fallen into the public domain, several companies have been releasing it. Some copies, often priced under $10, were obviously duplicated from woefully flawed masters.

But that’s all over now that Republic Home Video, which owns the original negative, has purchased the movie’s music rights.

The company, which also owns the story from which the script was adapted, is ordering other video companies to cease distributing the film or face copyright infringement suits.

The Republic tape, duplicated from a pristine master and selling for $20, has always been in the best version on the market. Soon it will be the only version. . . .

Exploring new ways of marketing wrestling videos, AIMS Media was marketing the tape of the two-hour “Clash of the Champions,” shown live from Norfolk, Va., on June 17 on TBS, even before the show was over. This is the first time the quarterly event is being offered on video--for $20--directly to consumers via a number, (800) 732-0700, shown during the show. Wrestling is borrowing a page from TV shows like “Nightline” that end with information about ordering a tape of the show you just watched. . . .

Though still reeling from poor first-quarter sales, the laser-disc player business got a boost from the release of May figures by the Electronics Industries Assn. Shipments are just over 15,000, topping the May, 1992, total by 44%. Also it’s the biggest sales month of this year.

What’s New on Video

Here are some recent releases:

“Bram Stoker’s Dracula” (Columbia TriStar, no set price). Director Francis Ford Coppola opts for style over substance, giving this gory horror classic the flashy, atmospheric look of a music video. Dazzling special effects sweep the movie along, somewhat minimizing its many flaws, which include confusing story and a miscast star--Gary Oldman in the title role. Often nonsensical but always watchable. Co-starring Winona Ryder, Anthony Hopkins and Keanu Reeves.

“Jennifer 8” (Paramount, no set price). A cop (Andy Garcia) tries to persuade his skeptical colleagues that a serial killer is on the loose. Meanwhile, he falls for a beautiful blind woman (Uma Thuman) who may be the next victim. The subplot love story is much more interesting than the dominant thriller plot, which is full of gaping holes and teeters to an unsatisfying ending. John Malkovich appears in an intense sequence near the end, as an investigating federal agent, that seems to belong in another movie.

Upcoming

Just announced: “Chaplin,” with Robert Downey Jr. (Oscar-nominated for the title role), is due Aug. 18. “Benny & Joon,” the romantic comedy featuring Johnny Depp and Mary Stuart Masterson, is scheduled for Aug. 11 release. The love story “Untamed Heart,” with Oscar winner Marisa Tomei and Christian Slater, comes out Aug. 4, the same day as the NC-17-rated “Bad Lieutenant,” starring Harvey Keitel.

Also: “A Few Good Men,” “Leap of Faith,” “Matinee” and “Peter’s Friends” (Wednesday); “Unforgiven” and “The Crying Game” (July 7); “The Bodyguard,” “Lorenzo’s Oil” and “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III” (July 14); “Malcolm X,” “1492: Conquest of Paradise,” “Passion Fish,” “Amos and Andrew” and “Love Field” (July 21); “Home Alone 2” (July 27); “Scent of a Woman” and “Nowhere to Run” (July 28); “Sommersby,” “Sniper,” “Untamed Heart” and “Swing Kids” (Aug. 4); “Falling Down” and “The Vanishing” (Aug. 11); “Mad Dog and Glory” and “The Crush” (Aug. 18); “Groundhog Day” (Aug. 25) and “Aladdin” (Oct. 1).