Home Entertainment : Retailers Miffed at Sony Over Streisand Tape

The exclusive deal cut by Sony and Blockbuster Video for the new Barbra Streisand concert tape--giving Blockbuster an extra song that other retailers won’t have--has made the competition furious.

Tower Video, which has 109 stores, has canceled its order for “Barbra--the Concert,” which comes out Tuesday. So has Philadelphia’s Movies Unlimited, and other retailers are considering joining the boycott or taking other punitive action.

They hate the deal because it gives customers another reason to shop at Blockbuster, already the industry heavyweight with more than 2,000 stores. They’re also afraid that this may happen again with some other video. They liken it to other sorts of exclusives that favor one outlet over another, such as McDonald’s buying the rights to sell old MCA/Universal videos at a cut rate.

What’s on “Barbra--the Concert” is her recent HBO special. Buy it at Blockbuster, though, and the tape includes an extra song, “What Are You Doing the Rest of Your Life?” The suggested list price is $30, but most stores will probably sell it for $20-$25.

According to distributor sources, about 200,000 cassettes have been shipped--a lot for music videos, which don’t sell at anywhere near the volume of motion pictures.

But no copies of the Streisand title will be sold at Tower.

“We don’t want to shortchange our customers,” Tower Vice President John Thrasher said. “We don’t want to sell edited product if the unedited product is available elsewhere and we can’t sell it.”

He was particularly critical of Sony, the distributor.

“What they’re doing is a slap in the face to the other retailers,” Thrasher said. “We’ve supported their projects in the past. It’s totally unfair for them to do this.”

The Blockbuster deal may come back to haunt Sony, he hinted: “We don’t have to carry Sony product. They have tapes other than the Streisand tape they need us to sell. I’m not saying we won’t carry Sony product, but when they need us, we may not be there.”

There isn’t likely to be widespread support for Tower’s course of action, but many retailers may follow the lead of Palmer Video, an 86-store chain based in Union, N.J.

“We’re not going to give this title the kind of promotional support we’d normally give it,” said Palmer Vice President Peter Margo.

Hearing that other stores might not carry the tape was music to the ears of Ron Castell, senior vice president of Blockbuster.

“A boycott helps us,” he said. “It means that if I’m a Tower customer and I can’t get it at Tower, I’m going to get it at Blockbuster.”

What those customers will find at Blockbuster are prominent displays of other Streisand product--old movies in the video outlets and CDs and audiotapes in the company’s music stores.

“We’re going to promote all her music and movies,” Castell said. “People who want the new tape are likely to want her other tapes and CDs. This isn’t about selling that one tape but selling a lot of other product too.”

Tower is boycotting only the video. It will carry both the CD and audiotape of the concert and the $50 laser version, which comes out Oct. 4--and will include that extra song.

Video Sales

Movies that premiere on home video in the rental market usually aren’t repriced for the sales market until six to 12 months have gone by. But Warner plans to reduce “Grumpy Old Men,” featuring Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau, to $20 on Nov. 2, only four months after its video launch.

Just a few years ago, the sales market was a small, secondary phase of a movie’s video life. But that has changed, with video sales booming as marketing techniques have become more sophisticated and more outlets have opened up.

The movies-for-sale market has expanded so much that even some old films, backed by shrewd marketing, can sell as well as recent hits. For instance, FoxVideo’s “An Affair to Remember” is a big hit--again. The company shipped 1.6 million copies of the 1957 Cary Grant tear-jerker, repriced at $10, making it an impulse-buy item. A spokesman said the company is planning to ship 500,000 more, which may be needed when the remake starring Warren Beatty and Annette Bening comes out next month.

MPI’s massive marketing push on “Hondo,” the 1953 John Wayne Western that just premiered on home video at $20, should make it a big seller. If the movie had come out five years ago, it would have been priced at about $30 and would not have been bolstered by a major marketing campaign. The result would have been a fraction of the business.

What’s New On Video

“Naked Gun 33 1/3: The Final Insult” (Paramount). With Leslie Nielsen back for the third time as the bumbling cop, there’s a high quota of laughs, particularly in the spoofs of the “The Untouchables” movie and the Academy Awards ceremony. For some fans, though, the presence of supporting actor O. J. Simpson may be a bring-down.

“Being Human” (Warner). This one came and went from theaters so fast you may never have heard of it. Robin Williams plays five different characters of questionable courage in various stages of history. He’s not the manic Williams his fans love but very subdued. This confusing, poorly written movie is easily the worst of his career--even worse than “Toys.”

“Mother’s Boys” (Miramax). Jamie Lee Curtis plays a psychotic who abandons her husband and children and then tries to reclaim them three years later. More silly than scary, it steals from other thrillers, among them “Fatal Attraction.” It’s surprising to see a quality actress like Vanessa Redgrave co-starring in such a grade-B movie.